The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-10-17
THAN POLITICAL.
Things Of Which the People Of
New York Do Talk the
Most.
how Much Older IL Mrs. Frank
Leslie Than Her English
Husband.

Dates Recalled by an Impudent Man
Teaching Immigrants Mt Night
schools In New York.
Written for THE HELENA INpEPENDxNr.l
-HEORETICALLY NEW YORK rs
NJ talking about nothing but politics.
2lO But, ~ q matter of fact, the
metropolis takes its politics complacently
after all. II leaves the newspapers to do q
good deal Of the political talk and manages
to discuss a great many other things.
Nothing ID a nine days wonder in New
York. A wonder Of ~forty-sight hours dis
plays a superb vitality, 80 that In the time
elapsing between the writing Of these words
and the actual printing Of them at least a
fair sized wonder 10 likely to sprout, -four
ish and decay.
or course, everybody talked about Mrs.
I.eslis'a marriage. I can still write Mrs.
Leslie, for il ia understood between tho
two parties who have the right to reach that
understanding that the bride 10 still to be
known a. Mrs. Frank Leslie, 10 far, at
least, as commercial affairs are concerned,
and Mrs. Leslie is essentially q business
woman.
I. was funny that every newspaper in
Now York save one had Mrs. Leslie married
at the Church Of the Stranger. The truth
IL of course, that the rather impromptu
affair took place at Delmonico's. DR..
Deems, old Commodore Vanderbilt's favor
ito preacher, tied the knot. DIR. Deems,
who is editor Of one Of Mrs. Leslie's publ
cations, has delivered soms charming lee
lures ON matrimony. l remember hearing
one of these as long as fifteen years ago.
The fact that the dro,l little fellow, Mar
shall T. Wilder, the humorist. was n Of
the witnesses. gives everybody an opportu-
nifty to have a little joke about the groom
being Wilde and the witness Wilder. Some
said that the widest was the Marquis de
Leuville. Wilder once turned to me at din
ner and asked me ii heard the bad joke
that tho Londoner liked to get off whom he
was in England four years ago. The CON-
undrum was: Why is the Yankee humorist
like tho Irish leader. O'Connor? Answer
Ono il a wild M. p, while tho other M. p.
Wilder.
Wicked ,asl people like to eus %;ri how ,S mreh
They remember that the lady was married
to the late Frank Leslie in 1864, and that
she had been married = certain number Of
years before she secured the divorce that
made this marriage possible, Blu il Mrs.
Leslie ID as young "a she lOoks-in q photo
Rraph-it Ia really out of place to recall
these dates.
Another thing that has just been exciting
gossip ia Inspector Byrne's sensational raid
on the pool rooms. The law forbids pool
selling outside Of the race tracks. To over
como this little restriction the pool rooms
decided to take the ostensible position Of
agents for the track pool sellers, pretending
to transmit bets directly to the race tracks
and to be interested merely to the extent of
a commission. To heighten the illusion
was pretended that each bet was transmitted
directly to the track pool Office. The
"bluf" actually passed the scrutiny of the
courts, which decided that bets could DO
received by agents in this manner. In
fact, nothing Of the kind was done. The
betting was done in New York and the
money passed and repassed in New York,
and the betting man understood the situa-
ton perfectly.
Byrnes' device for trapping the pool sell
ers was ingenious. Detailing a corps, OF
his detectives he bad tho men set their
watches in harmony with the central office
c~hronometer. Then he sent a detachment
OF the men to the race track to determine
the exact moment at which each race
started. The remainder ofthe men located
uuoLAboAVob 0t 1OuE VI i've AA4cEcHU pOOl
rooms and placed bets on different
events, keeping record Of the time up
to which money was received on each race.
As was to DO expected. whom the track men
telegraphed the time of starting 1t was dis
covered bv comparison with the other rec
ords that money had been received in each
case after the time when selling was stopped
on the track, proving that the bets were not
actually being transmitted. Down pounce
the Byrnes men and the STATS of a batch of
pool rooms are locked up.
This, of course, Ia only in illustration of
those spasms of official morality with which
New York is periodically seized. II does
not mean, I am afraid, that the pool rooms
are likely to go out of business.
The remarkable furore accustomed BY tho
advent of ex-President Cieveland's baby
daughter gave way before the torrent Of
speculation concerning the probable infu-
ence of Parnells death upon the Irish home
rule party. New York, it is to be noted,
has always been to q considerable extent an
anti-Parnell center. Whereas either Phila-
delphia or Chicago might awe from time
to time given evidence of more or less SYM
pathy with the deposed Irish leader,
the empire state metropolis has shown
symptoms of GOODNESS toward Parnell, turn
ing with what to many may have seemed
like inexcusable ficklsness from the leader
to those whom he mad led. At any rate,
New York seems anxious to believe that
ParnelIs death will heal the differences be-
tween the two wings of the party. and has
been reader in his belief that the bitterness
would disappear than have many observers
in other parts of the country.