The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-07-13
THE OLD STONE HOUSE"
Is 1t a Place of Such Bad
Repute as to Be Re-
fused a License?
MRS. BEHRENs KEEPS A HOTEL.
And When a Couple Register She
Isn't Called Upon to Ask Them
to Show Their Marriage Certif-
cate.
JUNE 20, 1889.

To the Board of Aldermen:-
GEETLEMEN:-A resolution passed by your hon
sell liquor at No. lis Hoboken avenue is herewith
returned without my signature.
The information is furnished to me that the
person named is a woman, and that she has kept,
and intends to keep a disorderly house. This
fact was probably unknown to your committees.
The place is known as the ''Old Stone House,
OREsTEs CLEVELAND.
Its name, the "Old Stone House." bear
to the mind an almost graphic description
of the unsavory resort at the head of the
Hoboken avenue hill.
IT'S A HOTEL SHE KEEPS.
When 1 visited the place yesterday
found, as the Mayors letter had prepared
me to expect, woman in charge of it,
comely and well preserved German
woman of forty-fve perhaps.
sit is a hotel that l keep" said Mrs.
Behrens to me, ''and not saloon, and I
will show you the register in the Office,
This she did later.
DO men and women come here and re-
main over night?" asked
''Yes, sir. 1 keep hotel. Sometimes a
man may come alone, sometimes lady
may, and often a gentleman and lady
come together They ask for room, and
they are permitted to stay as long as they
please, either day or MONTH"
NO QUESTIONS ASKED.
81 give them board if desired. My hotel
is conducted the same as Taylor's Hotel
is. and if gentleman and lady ask for
accommodations | am not bound to ask to
see their marriage certificate. am |? Is
that done at any hotel?"
''It is said that fights take place here"
THAT is not true. The policeman on
this beat will tell you different. There
has never been fight in my house, and
/ have been here six years, and was five
years on the corner of Central and Hobo
ken avenues also want to say that /
permit no music or singing in the hotel,
and that my barroom is closed on Sunday
to the public, but, like any other hotel,
serve my boarders. I"
SHANNON THE GRowLER.
tits all the fault of one man." she
added.
Shannon" suggested.
eyes, Shannon. He appears to have an
idea that he can do as he pleases and now
he wants to prevent me from earning
living. Before | say anything | would
like to have you see Judge Beach, Judge
Aldridge, James Burke, the mineral
water man, and Mr. DonRelly, across the
street They are all neighbors and their
opinion might go further than what can
say They will all vouch for the respecta-
bility of my hotel"
DON'T ASK FOR MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES.
| Mrs. Behrens, when she had said this,
\ told me to follow her. She went to the
| wall, which was papered, touched small
| knob and door opened. 1t was papered
| like the wall and when closed would
never be noticed without careful sur
vey We finally reached the 'sofice." /"
| The furniture consisted of one desk and q
hotel register, well signed, showing
| guests daily Several beer tables could
| be seen in an adjoining room.
| When Mrs. Behrens showed
me her hotel register she exclaimed
"Now, mustI ask my guests to show
| their marriage certificates before can re-
| ceive them?"
| "QUIET' PLACE.
| Ex-Sheriff Heintze said to me that the
! "Stone House" was considered very
quiet. He had heard rumors about Its
| character, but he had no personal knowl-
| edge. He remembered when Meyers was
convicted for keeping his infamous dive,
| a number of women testified that they
went from there to the Franklin Hotel
| Police Sergeant Wolleben, of the Third
precinct, described the hotel as as quiet
a place as existed in his precinct.
II have heard reports about its being OF
| i'll repute," f" said he, but there never has
been complaint made here about 1t. Or
course we watch it,"
At the handsome house of Contractor
/ Shannon, fifty yards east of the Frank
| lin Hotel, Mrs. Shannon informed me that
her husband had gone to Chicago. When
told the nature of my errand she SAID
that her husband had told her that rows
frequently took place in the hotel and
/ that she had heard sounds of fighting at
| night. but she could not say that the
sounds came from the hotel.
my husband told me it was place OF
ill repute," she said, "but understood
from him that no female inmates were
there, but that people went and came as
they chose Mr.. Shannon has known the
place long time, for he has lived as a
neighbor for many years. He has clrcu-
lated petition to have the Aldermen re-
fuse the hotel license because OF It's dis
orderly character"
James Burke, whose factory is opposite
the hotel, declared the place eminently
respectable and fit place to be licensed.
''JUST LIKE TAYLOR'S."
Constable Joe Locke said he had known
the house ever since Mrs Behrens kept it,,
and it was always an orderly one.
1T was rum" said he. lust like Tay-
lor's, only it is not so large" He under
stood that any one could go there as at
any hotel only, and he never heard OF a
row He believed the hotel should be
given a license:
! SllS Iuc oLOlC l1OooCb oettet hS 11eset ~ ~
heard of any trouble or rows there, but
he had seen imputations on the character
of the house in the papers. He said fur
ther that once Mrs. Behrens was tenant
of his, and q good one.
Judge Beach told me-" said Judge
Aldridge, "that he had never seen any
thing wrong about the hotel and he had
no complaint to make" Judge Beach
also lives opposite the place.
WHAT THE ALDERMEN SAY.
Alderman Prigge, chairman OF the Ex-
else Committee, when asked how such q
place had been licensed, said he could not
tell what would become of Mrs. Behren's 3
application. 1t has been taken from the
committee to be considered by the full
Board. He did not know whether he
would vote to sustain the veto OF the
Mayor and could not tell until a hearing
in the matter takes place and the charac-
ter of the house is sifted-
Alderman Donnelly said he had been
asked to vote to sustain the Mayors veto
and he expected to do so.
Alderman Van Horn, the third member
of the Excise Committee, was absent
, from the last meeting and he knew moth
| ;Dc ahnnt the matter,