Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-01-13
SKELETONS IN CLUBS.
THE QUEER PERFORMANCES or THE
TWO BLANKS OF NEW YORK.

Mystery of the Man who Stole Food at
Free Observation-Disclosures Man with q
Historical Name Who Took to Wearing
Old Clothes and Was Dropped.
A decently dressed man, with sham
bling gait and shifty eye, walked down
Broad street one afternoon last week and
attracted the attention Of broker who
was standing in his Office window. The
broker watched the man closely until
The fellow had disappeared around the
corner into Wall street. He had called a
visitor attention to the man.
Have you ever seen that fellow be-
fore?" he asked.
Ellis face is familiar, and am sure
that have seen him somewhere, but I
can't place him. Who is hep
John Blank, said the broker, men,
tioning family name that was well
known. II am member of three good
clubs, = continued the broker, naming
three that one would naturally place at
the head of the list of New York clubs,
"and in the course Of a long experience
with the management of them have
seen some curious club skeletons. They
are unpleasant. Blank was skeleton in
the --- club until we finally got rid
Of him, and to this day none of the men
who knew the facts about his expulsion
has ever had any explanation of them.
$50 far as family connections are
concerned, Blank is eligible to any club
in this city, and we always understood
that he had good income. It was about
five years ago, when was member of
the house committee, that my attention
was first called to Blank. A member of
the club came to me one day and said:
"'See here. I've got disagreeable
duty to perform. You know that re-
freshments are served at every regular
meeting of the club, and have noticed
for several months back that John Blank
has slowed away a lot of things in his
pockets on every such occasion.
Why, that is absurd, replied,
and suspect that he has been drinking
too much. You know that these month
ly lunches are free to the members.
"sThat was the view that / took of
it the first time that noticed it, he
replied, but watched this man at the
last meeting very closely. He was not
intoxicated. He ate his lunch, and then
saw him wrap up piece of chicken,
some lobster salad and brick of ice
cream in separate packages, put them
under his oyercoat and leave the club.
It's an amazing proceeding, and think
that it is high time that something was
done about it.
'tThis man S complaint interested me,
and investigated it, Some of the club
walters told me that Blank had occa-
sionally taken articles of small value
from the club, and that he always car
ried away a package after a free supper.
There seemed to be no reasonable ex-
PLANTATION for his little steals. He was
and is lawyer in good practice, and,
as you know, he lives very comfortably.
I consulted with some of the other
house committeeman, and we decided
to look out for Blank at the next sup
per. He turned up promptly, and, sure
OuOuS11 M0 saw t14Itl 6tOct1UA11J l1ah0 u Y
a package from the lunch table and
walk out with it. There was nothing
left for us to do but to ask for an ex-
PLANTATION.
Charges were preferred against him
and formal notification was sent to
him. Blank paid no attention to it. We
thought that he might not have receiv-
ed it and we sent him another notifca-
ton and made sure that it reached him.
Blank ignored it, and then we dropped
him for conduct unbecoming a gentle
man. Blank never came near the club
house after his first notification, and SO
| far as know he has never given an in
dication OF resenting our action in drop
ping him. Now what do you suppose
was the explanation of his thefts? ]
never have been able to find one that
was satisfactory. 1t has been asserted
that despite his large income he is nat
urally very misery fellow, but that is
merely gossip. I meet him occasionally,
and he is always affable. 1t was disa-
greeable affair, and to this day an in
explicable one.
A man who had listened attentively
to the brokers' story said:
81 can equal that with an experience
in my own club The man in question
has recently died and it is only charita-
BILE to say that he was probably insane
for several years before he died. He was
Arthur Blank "--mentioning a histor-
ical name. "About three years ago this
man began to wear very shabby clothes.
He had always been very careful in his
dress, and this change was surprising.
He came to the club and sat around,
| looking like tramp. His linen was
ragged, and even the walters looked
askance at his clothes. / knew that he
had money, but it was not pleasant
task to suggest to him that he should
| get some new clothes. He was an old
bachelor, and he had rooms in an ex-
pensive bachelor apartment house. His
condition was disgrace to the club
and as a last resort half dozen Of his
old friends got up purse of 500 and
went to his tailor and ordered new
| suit of clothes for him. They told the
tailor that it was in payment of a
wager. When the suit was made, they
| packed it in box with new hat,
Shoes collars, shirts and two scarfs and
sent it to Blank. A letter was inclosed
which read:
s'DRAR BLANK-By express send you the
| outfit that lost by my last election wager.
1.-THE signature was such that no one
could read it. There was some specula-
tion as to how Blank would take this
hint Two days later he turned up at
the club in his new clothes, and when
be was congratulated on them he said
they were the result of an election
wager. The new clothes were too much
for him, however. He got drunk on the
strength Of them and staid drunk at the
club for the next two weeks, when he
was dropped from membership. New
York Sun.
Mot AI,uouc Understood