The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-12-20
WHITNEY uNDER ARREST
Tried to Sell Five.Dollar Gold Pieces
for A Dollar on BROADWAY.


for Dollar on Broadway.
Washington Post: was thinking the
other day Of the occasion upon which I
saw William C. whitney, the ez-secse-
,ary Of the neyy, put under arrest" SAID
dn old-tIme New Yorker, who Is nov ID
one Of the departments, to some cronles
the other night.
whitney under arreEt!" the cronies
chorused. This Is where you've got 20
your nlnth-pill stage my boy. Whitney
was never arrested In his life. What are
YOU talklng about:"
II was thinking the other day Of the
occasion upon which saw William G.
Whitney, ex-seCretarV OF the navy, put
under arrest" repeated the Old-tlmer
from New York, with stern look all
around, I'm not maintaining that
Whitney ever was a tough, or that he
spent any considerable portion OF Ills
early career In jail But / saw him put
under arrest by plain, ordinary, red
muStarhed cop once, 1ust the same, ana
II you don't believe H. Fou can write TO
Whitney himself and ask him.
Whitney was dining with William r..
Travers. Larry Jerome ana q few 9th
ers Of us-that was before fell back In
the used -tO-was class-one afternoon
about twenty years ago. at Delmonlce's,
when the incredullty Of mankind IN
general and OF New York folk In partic-
ular came up for discussion. Finally
Whitney made a bet with Jerome that
he (Whltney) could stand at any prom
ised corner of New York and OFFER pas
sersby hve-doll0r gold piece In eX-
change for a silver dollar and find nary
a taker Jerome. more for the fun Of
the thing, took the bet, and Whitney.
who was Just twenty gears younger
than he Is now. and anxious to vlndi-
cate his assertion, walked out OF the
restaurant and around the corner OF
Twenty sixth street and Broadway
all Of us trailing after him within seeing
distance 10 see how he made out.
"Well, whitney, who was then as
swell looking a nan as there was in
New York-he Is yet, for that matter
began to offer the flve-dollar gold piece
he held in the palm of his hand for q
silver dollar to the men passing By.
They looked at him, some OF them. as II
he were crazy, and passed on without
replying to his proposition. Others re-
garded him suspIciously and looked
around for cop. Seeing no cop, these
passed on frownIDgly. For fifteen min
utes, with allofus standIug in doorway
and holding our sides, Whitney kept on
making his queer offer. with no takers.
and then little, squat, determined
looking chap came along.
VIII you give silver dollar for
this fve-dOllar gold piece?" Whitney
asked the pedestrian, holding out the
coin in the palm OF his hand.
THE man looked first at Whitney and
then at the coin. Then he wheeled
around and saw cop standing on the
corner across the street.
"Hay, there, you offlcer!" he yelled
to the cop. who came over.
Here's countecfeiter trying to sell
flve-dolIar gold piece for dollar
said the squat little man to the officer.
and then the cop gave Whltney's arm
the grip Of the Broadway squad man
and marched him to the Thlrtleth street
police station. all Of US following in
their wake. The captain Of the precinct
recognized Whitney as soon as the cop
took him before the desk, and then we
got up and the matter was explained,
and Whitney was turned loose. But he
never denies that he was arrested once
In his life all the same"