The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-14
FAST LIFE IN OLD LONDON.
The Scenes Along the Haymarket
Forty Years Ago.
J. a. Sala in the London TeIegrap

Forty Years Ago.
G. A. Sala in the London Telegraph.
The Haymarket of the present seems to
me thoroughly respectable, we'll behaved
and prosperous business thoroughfare !;
and in the daytime, if [ take walk down
the well-remembered street, | am never
tired of admiring the handsomeness of
the buildings and the display of articles
of all kinds in the spacious and well-ap-
pointed shops. But the Haymarket of
other days! From II o'clock p. m. to 3
and 4 O'Clock p. m. all the year round and
Sundays scarcely excepted, the Haymar-
ket was a wild scene Of bowling.
yelling, shrieking revelry and deviltry
Somewhere on the site of the pres
ent Criterion restaurant there was d
succmsal to the Haymarket, socially
speaking, III a horrible haunt Of
dissipation called The Piccadilly Sa-
loon" where rowdy people Of both sexes
danced, drank, smoked and fought to
their own content and to the delight,
should say, of the devil, who was watch
ing them from the gallery above. The
place was rather handsomely decorated
nor were the liquors adulterated but it
was impossible to prevent disorder in a
place the very foundations of which
were laid in defiance of all order, and
y
saloon became a convertible term for per
manent row and riot, the results of which
went, occasionally, far beyond the punch
ing of heads and backing of eyes. More
than one of the fatal duels which began
to shock society at the beginning of her
majesty's reign were the direct outcome
of row at The Pic" Bob Somebody's,
in the Haymarket itself, was another re-
sort of the nightbirds, quite as dissipated
pc ttrThn Die - bt1t holt CO rnicyT. q
proprietor being, apart from the equiva-
cal nature of his business, really
worthy fellow, who exercised some kind
of selection and control with respect to
his guests, male or female, whom he ad-
mitted to his establishment.
1t was in Panton street, however-Pan-
ton street, now so thoroughly unimpeach-
able from a moral point of view-that the
night houses did most thickly congregate.
They might be covered in the horSe-racing
phrase by a pocket handkerchief, so
closely did they pullulate together, and
most of them bore the name Of the gaily-
dressed dame de compton, who presided
over the revels Sally this. Nellie
that, Kate" another, and Jenny vet
another, these were the DANES who,
roughed and powdered and bedizened
with diamonds, leered and coquetted with
the favorite frequenters of these halls of
the spirits worse, the cigars vile and the
company was mixed; that's to say, noble
men and guardsmen rubbed shoulders
with racketty clerks and business men,
and young men from the country burning
to gain an insight into London
street life. The ladies were splendidly
dressed, and until they had
taken too much of the bad champagne
they usually behaved themselves. The
al 4
criminately opened to the public You
had to knock for admission. and before
ingress was conceded TO you, Judas
wicket or trap was opened in the portal
and you were scrutiniZed by janitor in
side; the normal qualifications which in
his eyes entitled candidate to be in
Quoted into the gay scene being that he
should be well-dreSsed, and that he should
not be either in an uprOlriOus or a help
less condition of intoxicatiOn. These
night houses had been in existence for
some years with the full cOgnizance of
the police, but without suffering any in
reference from the authorities, when
public opinion having begun, through the
agency of the press, to wake up in the
matter, steps were taken to overhaul the
licensed houses OF the Haymarket and
Panton street and ascertain something
definite as to the character of the feStiVi-
LlGS common INCONSISTENCIES W IlCl bilt
respectable shopkeepers of the neighbor-
hood had come TO regard as d scandal and
a nuisance.
A system was introduced of paying
police visits at irregular intervals during
the night to the moro notorious of the
Sally" Jenny" Kate and Nellie"
places of nightly resort. The lady and
gentlemen jewellers would be enjoying
themselves with delightful hilarity, say
A II .,
knock of authority would be heard at the
outer portal, and the ianitor would enter
the room with well-affected CONSERVATION,
and inform the beauteous dame de comp
tOir'' that the hobbies was come" ''Ad-
init them at once" was the stcrcOtyped
answer Of the lovely and for the nonce
law-abiding female. The ianitor took a
minute or so to open the heavy door, and
meanwhile the walters, who were in the
Joke. carefully removed every lady and
gent leman's glass of champagne or tum-
bier of aerated water with something in
It. and concealed these -bacchanalian
s'pieCe de conviction" behind the counter.
Then with solemn march and stern mien,
an inspector OF police, accompanied by
sergeant, made his appearance, to find
only large number of Well-dreSSed gen
tlcmen chatting and smoking, and an
equally large number of ladies', ALTERED in
Illt tll2llESL SlA IL VI ldStllOlls anu olllllltk
around with an expression of innocence
quite enchanting to behold. The inspec-
tor produced a note book from his pocket
and wrote something down. Whether IL
was the name of the house or the titles Of
some OF the noble lords present, or verse
OF the latest comic song, or the Slavonic
alphabet it did not matter much, the
whole proceedings being. as the landlady
knew well enough, and the police author
tiles knew even better, an ogregiOus and
preposterous farce. The attendant Ser
geant did little more than cough below
his right hand in a vaguely ominous and
mysterious manner Then the police
would retire and the revelries would be-
gin again. only through some curious
phenomenon IL was found that the wines
and liquors which had formerly sparkled
In tumbcrs and glasses had unaccomtably
disappeared during the time Of the police
invasion Perhaps there was night
house cat which drank up al that was
portable
Rudyard KIpling is reported 20 have ahan.