Evening star., 1900-12-15
A New York Flat Dweller Who
Whipped the Janitor.
BOOKMAKERS HARD BIT at BENNING
The Doctrine of Incidence Has
Many Believers.
DORSEY FOULTZ AIN
,ial Correspondence OF The Evening Star.

There will probably be concerted move
nlent on the part of Harlem fiat dwelers to
present large, ornate gold medal to a
cheerful citizen who appeared in the Har-
lem police court on Sunday morning last
and paid 4 $40 fine for assault with as much
ccmp,aisance If he were really receiving
ten times that amount instead. This man
struck a great blow for liberty on Saturday
morning last. He thrashed his janitor. He
! thrashed his janitor so neatly and thor
ough.y that the janitor's own wife had very
great difficulty in recognizing him when 1t
was all over.
Down in Washington, where flats are nut
yet Sc numerous, and where the janitCrs, as
a rule, are measurably tractable it will be
he rd to appreciate what awful tyrants New
York janitors are. The New York Halter
fears the janitor infinitely more than he
does the installment collector. which is say
ing a great deal Now. while the New York
jaLitor makes 1t his particular business to
render the lives Of all of his tenants gloomy
and sad. he generally singles out one FAMILY
to pick on with peculiar righteousness, at
al hours of the day and night
The man who paid the fine in the Harlem
pc,ice court on Sunday morning last was
the head of the family for whom TINS par
ucuiar jantur had been eXhlbitihS an ,I, VI
cnno,IerahIe aversion for many m cons. Ihe
ian:tor really had no especial reason 10 dis
like this particular family. but there are
rift and crevices in the mental equipment
of janitors that are too deep 1or souiiuliis
He made the family very unhappy.
- 4,us.. me mi-tr, So II the fiat in the
absence of her husband. He bawled at the
Young ones as they came In from school-
He wicked the famtly's dog every tifne ne
rot q chance He cut off the family's steam
%oat He manipulat ed the gas meters SO
hat the man at the head of the dcsplsed
-anily had to furnish illuminate n for the
halls of whole floor. lie MADE rloald re-
,,arl-s to various members of the family up
he dumb waiter shaft. He eyed the fam
ilv's visitors with ccntemp'ucus glares. He
nlomped through the fiat without ever
'-noc}ing for admittance. He issued Hat
20 the effect that the children were not t.
nractice their music lessons on the piano
at any hour whatsoever-that music wasn't
an accomplishment of which he approved
anyhow. In these and N many other ways
7i1 the ianitor make the lives Of the var1-
ous members of the prosecuted family quite
~~rnfcrt1nSs and cherries.
When the Worm Turned.
Alb ut d month ago the head of he fam
ilv decided to do something. He put HIM
self in the hands Of a well-known physical
rulturist He spent four hours per diem
Al the gymnasium Of the physical cultur-
st, boxing wrestling, punching the bag,
rising the medicine ball and wrist machine.
printing around the rubber track for the
'.ottcrment Of his wind. and so on. He was
My a medium SIZED man of about forty,
whereas the ian't had an elevation of six
feet two and tipped the beam at % pounds
Vet the abused tenant was Uot without
= pe He was in the pink Of condition af-
'er his month Of gymnasium exercise. when
he dGci2ed. last Sat urday morning. that the
Ia. ra1 a~rfVnd
II" sent the children off to school and told
bis W that he wasn't feeling very
wei he thought he'd spend the dav at
no, He 9t he n fy, tI pet
4 check cashed for him. and at II o'clock
in the morning ne found himself in posses
s7n Of his tat. He methodica,ly piled the
furniture Of the sitting room up IN a cor
ner. removed such articles Of bric-a-brac
as might be endangered by what was to
q me- and then be whisted down the tube
for the jlnitor, The janitor. only too CAD
Of chance to treat the tenant Cor whom
he had an aversion with vituperation and
scorn. made his appearance in short order
The tenant let him in at the sitting room
d p2r and then he locked the door and
smilinely stuffed the key into his pocket
nasium pantaloons and his appearance
and the locking OF the door. somewhat
asst n'shed the janitor.
Say, wot's de g,ime here wit youse?"
inquired the ianitOr. sticking his unshaven
muzzle within two inches of the despised
tenant countenance 'Wot youse t'ink
gCi"' t happen 'roun desc woiks?'
"Ch. nothing" replied the tenant tex
mush of little or no consistency, you big
ioafer."
Surprise for the Janitor.
Whereupon the tenant let the huge jani-
tor have a hard one on the jaw with his
right. quickly following this up with lar
ring one on the janitors nose with his left.
From then on it was the tenant first and
the jtnitor nowhere. The tenant spent
about eight minutes in scientifically trim
ming the yelling janitor. Then he unlocked
the -0.r, dragg q the sadly mauled in anitor
out into the hal and threw him down stairs
IKE sack of bran. When he was arrested
on the slugged janitOr's warrant an hour
later he left cash collateral for his appear
ance N the police court. and on the f,I-
owing morning he turned up as related
ana paid his 80 like IA little man The
court room " as crowded with fatters who
Regarded the janitor thrasher with envious
eyes.
The tenant dispassionatey told the n,ap
istIaIe al about it, and the magistraIe
remarked that in imposing a tine he did NOT
desire it to be understood that he didn't
thoroughly approve of the prisoners con-
duct. The landlord of The fat was in the
court room, too, ard when he had heard
the tenants story he fired the Janitor on
the spot
The man who leads armies or explores
strange lands is public benefactor in
vice sense but this man who went deIfber-
ateiy to work to fit himself for the job of
u
brogans will remain a perpetual inspiration.
The blessed time may now be expected
when an abused Harlem fatter will tackle
his janitor with as little hesitancy as the
Cherry Hill youth jumps the new cop on
the beat
An Echo From the Bennlng Races
Washington must have abused the poor
bookmakers frishtfuliy during the Ben
ming meeting. Gloomy groups Of these
bookuakers have been standing around the
cafes since their return to New York on
Saturday last, comparing notes with each
other on their Benning losses, and all of
them wearing a sort of dazed look.
1T was about the worst break I've had
in eighteen years on the block said a
well-hnown member Of the Metropolitan
Turf Association-the bookmakers organi-
cation. They just took it off us so fast
down there that we had all we could do to
stave off pneumonia. Only about 60 per
cent OF the favorites caught the judges
eye first, that's all; when you put those
figures alongside the 80 per cent of favor
ites or thereabouts, that get to the wire
in front on the Metropolitan tracks during
the summer racing season, you can give
pretty fair guess as to how the Washing
ton folks handled Not only that but
most of the horses that won without hav-
ing been installed as favorites were shrewd-
ly backed so that there were mighty few
tl,1N 49,