Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-30

There are great many people who think
they are not nearly so numerous as
The foregoing estimate. One who thinks
% is r. s. p. Mccall, and his
experience as prosecutor of illegal
sellers OF liquor makes him something
more than an ordinary authority on the sub
ject. But stspeak easies" are sufficiently
numerous. especially in the many and ex-
tensive s'dry'' districts of the city. and any
person in search of 'sspeak easy" if he be
sufficiently remote from official life to make
him appear reasonably ''safe, !" will have
little difficulty in finding friend to intro
duce him to one.
s'Speak eaisies" are of all kinds and con-
ditions, Just as zone star differeth from an
other in glory" It is the custom for people
unacquainted with these resorts to imagine
them all up narrow and noisome alleyways
or down dark, damp and disagreeable eel
lars. There are these kind, and they are
detected oftener than others, for the reason
that disturbances more frequently occur in
them. Some of these are very difficult Of
access. Some of more respectable charac-
ter. for there are
DEGREES OF REsPEcTABILITY
In all forms of law breaking, are equally
difficult of access. There is one in the
heart of the city, for example, that must be
reached by low door leading from an alley
way into low semi-tunnel, through which
a stream of water of no conspicuously
cleanly nature is flowing, or where,
when the water does not flow
it stagnates and smells bad.
The seeker after the evanescent
door, bend low and straddle the water till
ho IN anti n 70 bo
he enters the family room, and if he passes
inspection is admitted to the apartment
where the 'speak easy" business is done.
And those who know (of whom the writer
is not one), say that the whisky sold at this
particular "speak easy' is unexcelled, and
is acquiring so great a reputation that
people travel long distances for it, some in
neighboring towns buying almost their whole
supply there.
There are "speak easies" in Pittsburg
luxurious in their appointments-surpris
ingly so. People who imagine that insti-
tutions that sell liquor Illegally are not
often as gilded as the most choicely decor
ated saloons of the city, would be aston
ished to know that there are speak easies"
even more elegant and attractive. There is
one in one of the busiest sections of Pitts
burg the walls of which are hung
with choice paintings, the floor covered
with brussels carpet, the large table in the
center of the room of heavy walnut, the
curtains heavy and rich. the whole brill
liantly illuminated with electric lights. In
an inner room is the bar, served by two
men, the "proprietors'' of the place,
while q colored man is kept busy
nearly all his time opening bottles. Every
thing found at q well appointed bar is found
here, and Pommery Sec, Mumm's extra dry
and similar expensive beverages are handed
out as freely as beer to those who have the
price. Nothing is sold by the drink and
the bottles are in no case smaller than
quarts The barroom is backed by huge
refrigerator, and the whole is in keeping
with the elegance of the outer room.
WHERE SILENCE REIGNs.
From this brief description one may
readily imagine the class of patrons who
go there to drink. 1t is not club room,
but is free to anyone who is considered safe
and who has the price to pay. But after
midnight the common herd is excluded and
only certain ones are admitted. Then
select game of poker with emo limit" pro-
crosses around the walnut table referred to.
On election day this speak..easy. was
usually only at night that it does business.
Sunday, of course, is the regular weekly
exception to this rule at this and all other
'speak-easies, and because of the increased
patronage brought them by each recurring
Sunday, many "speak-easi6s" are detected
and come to grief At this genuinely bon
ton "speak-easy" the conspicuous feature is
silence and everybody seems to fall natur-
ally into the way of the place.
Do speak-easies pay? There is a story
told of one man who was given license at
the last License Court, and who. to use a
has been kicking himself ever
since, because he made more money without
it. And man who has a license to sell
have something equivalent to gold mine.
A question agitating some people is, what
will be the effect of the recent decision of
the Supreme Court ON ''speak-easies?"
Some say it will increase them. They point
out that certain wholesalers, brewers or bot
tiers were refused license because they
would not agree to ascertain what purchasers
proposed to do with the liquor they pur-
they intended to retail it;
ii they did to refuse to sell it to them. Now,
argue some. wholesalers will feel perfectly
free to sell to whom they please, and
l'speak-easies'' can get all they want.
But, say others, "speak-easies" have
been able to get all the liquor
they required and the result of the Supreme
Courts decision will be harmful to them,
tor wholesale places will be distributed over
she city and people will buy what liquor
they want for consumption in their homes,
rather than sneak around to back doors and
through alley ways. The offset to this is
hat there are wholesale places now and wet !
goods can be delivered freely from them to |
my part of the city.
There is but one thing certain: The |
'speak-easy" is with us and is no novelty. |
It's disposition is yet one of the unsolved |
1roblems SIMPSON