The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-20
; SKIRT SLASHER AT WORK.
~u cows RUINED BY 4 MIscRE-
~ ON ELECTION NIGHT.

~. Crowds About Madison Square
r,p.rionoss OF Some OF His Vic
,n.-tndignation Among Women-fo-
T.. pon't Expect to Catch Him.
,,. ,onen OF this city could identify a GER
and catch him. he would be made TO
p W. ,nuleasant quarter OF nm hour. He
ipsHs rI.creant who vent through, the cleo
W. ~ ,igbt crowds in Broadway between Thir-
a-r,b md Twenty-third streets. cutting
"a ,sshirs and ripping women's skirts. ruin
AN,ha garments IN many cases. He worked
us, On probably a hundred dresses, perhaps
1.,hlO that number, and there isn't a woman
a, doesn't sympathize with his victims.
w.n,nsind stands united on ono question at
w. V" md that is tho .acrodness OF clothes, and
~, /, not surprising that women generally
.s,rla be very much stirred UP over his work.
II IA hard to find out anything definite about
.isction night slasher. The police say
,I,, ,bey know nothing about him they cer-
"" ~ cont tell anything. In the Tenderloin
1-,,. .t,ton a Sergeant said that no COM
80, had been made there by women who
s nod their dresses cut. though he had heard
n a man had been out that night ripping
~om.n's skirts into ribbons.
IT.. Art person TO make public the fact that
Nd bitter reason for remembering cleo
W. nI,ht in New York was a young woman
Ho,.rI In Fnclewood. She camo to the city to
u..r,,h friends and to see and hear what was
w ,,sn and heard in tho throngs eager for
'I.o,iop news. After dining she stood with her
I.nA. for acme time watching the bulletins at
p.o,luay and Thirty-fourth street, and when
- v,s a settled thing that Col. Roosevelt
I'D landed safely they made their way
I,rr Broadway through the dense crowds
- Twenty.third street. That was about half
90, 10 O'Clock. At Twenty-third street the
,,+r took a car for the Erie ferry. On enter
Inc the ferryhouse the young woman met a
,riend from Englewood. and as soon as she
,,poht sight OF her threw up her hands in dis
nav for shc saw that her friends dress had
hsen slashed across. up and down. zig gag. and
,r.ry other way. until there wasn't a piece OF it
"a hip a. a pocket handkerchief left whole.
I,tor calling her friends attention to 1t she
discovered that her own gown was in the same
snpdition. and they sat down together. a pair OF
yary indignant and faint women. In speaking
of this Young woman's gown the tailor to whom
abe took 1t said to a SUN reporter:
"I neyer saw a garment in such a condition.
The gown was a magnificent ono and had Just
come from one OF the finest dressmakers In
Paris. It cost no less than 5000 am sure. and
ia a total wreck. 1t was cut not only at the
AiInH. Iul All upNu lhb pdGhs III III Naly lib
from an inch to a foot in length. and running
In every direction. The owner told me that
her underskirts were all cut in the same way.
I've had three other W brought here, by
INV customers mutllated in the same way. but
there is absolutely nothing that can be done
with them except to throw them into the rag
kAc Ii is hard to conceive why q man should
commit such a crime. II | were his Judge |
should surely sentence him for life.
ericE S. Gibbs. talked very freely at her home.
i2l West ywenty-second street. about this
some one who did and she had this to say:
"A friend OF a very dear friend Of mine went
into a confectioner's at Broadway and Twenty
supper. and wien she came out she and her
friends stopped there in the crowd to watch he
irn,, She felt some one pulling at m hsr SKIRTS Grss 6e5
up close toward her. She thought he was
trying to pick her pocket. and as he moved
sTsy p sSt no She "os says s''f his s'0f face 20 i in p anssi
itself so on her mind in some way
.hat she could identity him anywhers
into shreds, and then she knew Just wheE, 1t
was done. She made no. complaint to the
police, for what good could it possibly DO when
did a man any good to go about running
vomen's clothing. we could overlook 1t IN 2
way. but 1t cant possibly do him any good
whatever. and so it makes it all the moro
Motive blocks away from Mrs. Gibbs lives a
woman who avoided the election night crowd
Is much as possible and yet she has a skirt to
show which almost brings tears 70 her eyes
It F id?a Ii Whole ed day ,yTaanndin night. and then She con.
Guided that tears wouldn't mend the rents ana
SO she stopped.
for al T sRs sow nave IN my nv Ra@ %er& fro 5e'' she 8 pager per
clarei earnestly. but II it will bring this out
rage to the ears of the public I'm perfectly
me SHOW YOU my gown" she added, disappear
ing from the room.
hCr return. spreading a handsome fawn-
1854 ses s S.o5 that. '7 Vii you % = It IS S'E ghG S ,
al i the eva way tap%u the back. some Of the
cuts are long. as you can readily observe.
and others quite short. I know the person who
did II was not after money he wasn't trying to
tfnd my pocket for he cut too low down for
that. And | feel sure that he did his work with
aral0r, because the cuts are so clean and SO
lar instrument. no matter how sharp, he would
nave trst had TO thrust 1t In and then cut.
a7a that n1t.ot w9HId . haze s d Rssa rd apt v6 52 at
can't tell you, how or when or where
this horrible thing happened to my. gown;
aiter the play was over walked through Mad
ihson square, across Broadway and down
Iwenty-lourth street to Eighth avenue. | then
walked down the avenue one block and went
into a drug store al the corner Of Twenty-third
street. There my friends and everybody in
Tie store exclaimed aloud:
Look At your skirt! 1t Is ruined!
almost tainted when, l saw it, for | real
Nedl In a fash that | might have been seriously
SounIed. ] was afraid to come into the house
Ehen | got home Tor fear that somebody might
o. lying in wait Tor me. OF course 1t was sheer
nervousness, and ] cried nearly all Of that
night and the next day. too. This gown pick
ing W the mutildted skirt. was not brand
new, but II had Just come from the dresSmak-
srs after being remodelled. and had cost me
ESQ, and | can't afford to dispose Of any sort OF
gowns In this way. Anyhow. no matter how
Ilch a woman is. she can't AFFORD to have a
handsome gown siashed into bits. for a hand-
ZONE gown represents more than mere money;
represents thought and. generally speaking.
ag0od deal OF worry.
II had been cut in the election night crowd
should have aid. There. now. you deserve
ohaye your clothes cut of your back. but |
wasn't | carefully avoided the crowds, and
~ not once get in one, and | walked right
gTyihlhd a police officer from the. Garden
theatre to Eighth avenue. I've heard of sew
eIaI women who had their skirts cut in the
rune way. and the miscreant must have done
w hls work in the neighborhOod Of Twenty
s.uilh street and Broadway, for all who suf-
ii,e1 We're there some time during the evening,
.h{ PIX pettIcOats were also ruined, and l
.IhlnK a short cotton skirt which | wore under
MN wa, AL that. saved my flesh. why the
v.at diln't cut a handsome imported cape. l
ntbklrts, really think 1t u pity that he did
h.ihtule sonc one slightly. for then he might
nsnne bten caught. ! sincerely hope that The
HpY1nrCg VII md him and that he will get the
punishment he deserves"
tb"gNetdl uther women were visited who had
Molr hElrls cut, Some were handsome gar
Nh, 9'ilero plain. but the owners OF all were