Evening journal., 1895-07-08
THIRSTY NEW WORKERS
Another Dry Sunday Experience
ed on Manhattan Island.
TRICKS TO EvADE LICENSE LAWS.

NEW YORK, July Sit was n pitched
battle yesterday between the police and
the saloon keepers. On one hand there
was, generally speaking, sincere effort
TO enforce the excise law; on the other a
dogged determination to violate it. In
some instances it was plain that the police
were making the old compromise between
friendship and duty; but, taken all in all,
the struggle was genuine one, and
brought into play the relative powers Of
the opposing forces. Unquestionably the
saloon keepers scored a victory Hundreds
OF them did business in spite Of the police.
Arrests in plenty were made, and police
guards were placed at the doors OF rebel
lious groggeries.
Front and side doors were closed shades
were raised, revealing the interiors, and
all the outward evidences Of law and order
We're maintained.
Still the liquor traffic went on, and the
police apparently were powerless TO stop
il. That was the situation yesterday. In
the sense of a general enforcement OF tho
excise law 1t was not dry Sunday.
Yet there were thousands and thousands
Of thirsty mortals who could not see it
that way. TO such luckless ones who did
not know the man ON the door, - or were
not up 60 the innumerahle tricks that were
being played on the police, the day must
have seemed truly dry. But drink was
like money. There was plenty Of it, and
IN order 70 get IL you had only TO know
how.
The stranger might have Travelled the
whole town over and retired from the
search with u coated tongue. But tho
Monte Cristo with "man ON the door,
/ acquaintance found that world Of intox-
icants was his.
Tricks TO Get Drinks
1t was the saloons on the side streets
that did most Of the business, and tho
heathen Chinee wasn't IN It with them
\ for the dark tricks and peculiar ways they
employed TO outwit the bluecoats A good
example was furnished by the saloon Of
ex-Assemblyman Michael Callahan, in
Chatham squire. There is a cigar store
next door, and rear door Of this leads to
Callahan's back yard.
Never before IN tho history Of that to-
baceo shop did SO many customers pass
over its throshold-and customers with
market baskets, satchels, paper bags and
1 every imaginable receptacle in which a
l growler' Of beer could be carried; for
It was beer for which they went. OF
course thoy didn't get II in the cigar store.
/ Tho fountain of amber fluid was flowing
1 in Callahan hacz yard There an awning
had boon stretched, and all the category
| Of drinks was as free as air TO anybody
who had the price
The saloons that closed their front
rooms but sold drinks IN back apart
fnunt were numerous This was the most
general form Of deception To do this tho
saloon keeper in many instances had 70
take a next door noighbor into his conf
dcnce or his pay, and through the ndioin-
ing house the stream Of "growlers" and
| thirsty ones would mako their way TO the
rear room Of the saloon, climbing over the
haok fence on ladder The return trip,
after a prolonged courtship Of the liquors,
was frequently attended by hard falls and
broken heads.
The guards placed at saloon entrances
found that their intended tactics had
been forestalled. Hitherto the policeman
has watched his chance and dartcd after
"A customer into a saloon in hope of detect
ing the bartender in the act Of selling.
Side Doors Double Guarded.
This would be sufficient to constitute a
case Of exposure under the law. Some
times the door would be slammed in the
| policeman's face, but by putting his foot
against it he could catch glimpse Of the
interior that served him for the purpose
Of evidence. A great many Of the saloon
keepers put stop to this yesterday by
placing guard OF two or three men at
| their doors.
The customer would pass in and stand
ready 20 make a lightninglike entrance at
the inner door. At the same time the
saloon keepers forces would block the
doorway. At n given signal the inner
door would fly open and the customer
1 dart In. The bluecoat could not get past
the line Of buffers in time to put his No.
70 against the closing door II was re-
markably quick work, and as the day
wdfe on and practice brought perfection
there wasn't the slightest show for the in
truding policeman. 1t became game Of
freeze ont, in which the saloon keeper was
a sure winner.
One rumseller in the Fourth ward ear
ried on business in a loft at the top Of the
house. He did a rushing trade, and be-
fore the day ended this lofty barrOom was
dubbed the roof garden" Nearly every
saloon i'm the neighborhood sold more or
less during tho day, occasionally closing
up so as to get the police to move off in
some other direction. Scarcely would the
policeman be around the corner when the
side door, or whatever the way Of entrance
was, would open again, and drinks would
flow as before.
There was one place in the Fourth ward
that was really closed IL is the saloon
on the corner Of Oak and James streets.
1t was sold out Friday under foreclosure.
On the avenues there was pretty gem
eral observance Of the law. 1t seemed as
If the proprietors of those places had acted
upon a unanimous understanding and
had closed up all along the line. There
was break here and there, however, as
was attested by the occasional entrance
or exit Of a wayfarer from a hallway, or
the still more conclusive evidence OF sus-
picious looking market basket or port
manteau. Men and women with travelling
bags in hand were unusually numerous
on the streets.
The bars of the uptown hotels were all
closed Guests were served with drinks
only when they ordered meal. Some of
these repasts were too light to satisfy the
appetite Of a hungry sparrow, but the ho-
tel keepers said that nobody had the right
to dictate how much man should eat.
With this dictllm as their guide the sale
of cocktails, ginrickies and "cobweb chas-
ers" went ON without any serious inter
ruption. One ingenious device for eyad-