The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-03
ROW IN A HEBREW LODGE.
THE IREAsURER WOULD NOT AUDIT
THE BEER BILL.

Ne HADN'T Tasted Any or the Beer. or Seen Ht
m whiskcrs suner In the Discussion
which Followed. ana ne IL Deposed-His
Alleged Assaiisnts Arrested. hut Lst 60.
Cohen said Magistrate Meade from the
bench of Essex Market Court yesterday to tho
woll-known sleuth of tho Eldridgo street sta
tion, Cohen, you have TO stay down hore all the
time. II I should stay hero one day after my
thirty days term is over. I should go crazy.
How do you do itf'
Cohen grinnod apprcciatively. He had Just
arrntgned Joseph Mittleman Of z Avenue o,
BENJAMIN Mittleman Of the same address,
Rochman Lepansky of Brooklyn, and Max
6ternberg and Jacob Edelsohn Of gig Eldridge
street, all on tho complaint Of Herman Klein
field Of 73h Columbia street. Joseph Mittle-
man is tho President of Lodge 1853 OF tho indie
pendent Order of Birth Abraham, q benevolent
and social organization. Kleinfeld Is the Treas
urer. Sunday night tho lodge met in its rooms
at schyartz's Liberty Hall In East Houston
street. Up to tho momen. the financial affairs
Of tho lodge camo up for consideration all was
quiet. From that moment there was no peace.
This IL generally true, Cohen told tho Judge, Of
the meetings Of Lodge 1853 of Birth Abraham.
The detective told tho Magistrate that the
trouble can't about in this wise. President
Mittleman had handed to the Treasurer q bill
for beer consumed at the last meeting, and
hhkeQ INIT IL DO Huultou. hlelnIelu lOOkeu inc
bill over and handed 1t back to Mlttleman with
scorn.
when did tho brethren have that beeri' he
said In y'ddish. II had mono of 1t. I will not
put my name there
Brethren" said the President, you hear.
He refuses to do his duty. What shall you do
to hint"
Several members rose, among them the Treas
Juror. He is long bearded, but his whiskers are
divergent and run to tufts. He held the collar
Of his rusty black coat under his beard with
ono hand, and with the other-he made menace
ing gestures. Yiddish Is not a delibera tive
tongue.
Tho Treasurer ratified on in a violent haranguo
against all makers Of unauthorized bills, all
tyrannical Presidents who tried to bulldoze
Troasurers, and finally said that he would re-
sign from his office and from the lodge before
he would pass a bill for beer that he had not
tasted and had not seen. Meanwhile the
others that had risen were also addressing tho
President and the brethren. When Klelnfeld
made his threat about resiEning, the President.
who had been shouting current on
He says now that his wish is to get out.
Brethren. Is 1t your desire that he get outf'
The entire body rose at the suggestion with
whoops and howls.
tho Treasurer screamed, mounting u chair on
the platform and waving both hands over tho
heads OF the lodge. Six or ten men surrounded
him, and a brown, long;nailed, skinny hand
rose up from the struggling crowd and gath
cred in a segregated tuft Of the Treasurer's
whiskors. The hand came down and tho tuft
came away with 1t. The sight stirred tho
Misunderstanding instinct of the brethren, and
their haste to get u share Of the spoils. Tho
presiding officers gave!. propelled by the hand
of o person unknown, came hurting through
the air and cracked against the Treasurer's
head. Kleinfcld fell over backward into the
Just then the lights went out. When the
lodge, O s%quirming, interlaced mass Of Squeal-
ing, curslng humanity. writhed out into tho
street., kleinfeld's whiskcrs were not the only
pines that had suffered. The stairway and the
hall above were strewn with drifting punches Of
hair and bits of broken chairs.
Kleinfeld went to the Eldridge street sta
ZION as fast as his trembling legs and bewil-
hered senses weul3 let him. Cohen and Mono
found n mass meeting of damaged brethren
Df Lodge 1853 still on the sidewalk saying unkind
bhings of Kleinfeld, who had brought upon them
hl this distress of mind and body. The police
They persuaded the whole crew to 60 to tho
Union Market station. near by, and talk 1t
over. R!cinfcld said that the two Mittlo-
mans and Lopansky, Sternberg, and Edelsohn
weIo the five who had hurt him worst. They
were accordingly locked up.
By some out-of-court agreement. when the
case came up before Magistrate Meade yester.
day morning both the complainant and the
prisoners refused to tell what started the fight.
The prisoners said simply that kleinfeld was
the "'out Treasurer and an out member, but he
wouldn't go away out when no was made out"
30, they said, conclusiyely, they had put him
out. They. all told different stories Of tho
side to meet each defence they put forward.
Prisoners discharged" said the Magistrate,
and then he expressed his sympathy for Cohen.