The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-03
NOTED CITY FAMILIES.
REMARKABLE STORY OF HARRIS
COHEN,
Cohen. the Only Original. started In Q Cellar
and Made Nearly . Million. His Neighbors
-, sAid-The Days OF His Splendor-Then He
Won 10000 on . Horse Race and the
Result 10 That He IL Broke To-day,

won olO,OOO on . morse Race and the
Result 10 That He Il Broke To-day.
Harris Cohen. the Original. the Prince Of
Baxter Street, the admired and envied Of HE
-Old Clio" contemporaries. is broke. His life
was spent in accommodating a fortune which
has slipped through his fingers, and when sum-
mer comes he will be acting manager of a hotel
at Rockaway Beach.
Cohen Is the youngest son OF a Hebrew farm.
or in Germany. He left his fathers home
In the early sos and coming 20 New York
started his business career In Baxter street In
a cellar. At that time Baxter street was known
a. Orange street. Cohen hung out a single
inviting the public to oomA In and have their
clothes repaired. As a repairer Of old clothes
he became we'll known among the sailors and
longshoremen on the river front. Soon he
drifted into the business OF buying old clothes,
repairing and altering them and then Offering
them for sale. He prospered and took larger
quarters. hiring a store on the ground floor.
Some Of his customers suggested that he might
increase his profits by putting In a stock Of
now clothes. He did so, and his business in-
creased. To every person who made q
purchase he presented a cigar, and sometimes
wet the sale by inviting the customer 10 nave
something In the corner saloon. He waited
until he had saved $1,000 and then he took
unto himself a wife. Betsy. a. he called her.
helped him In his work In the store,
,,i .shs sb !: a ,s Ss; soid he. x0 Ru.Sand ne 70 1 pas ap
blue sign reading This is the Original Cohen
because rival merchants on the street had
put , to Sp signs when SSsr 'a &. J RaarS Clothes bs:d Merchants hant:
followed Harris Cohen's example and added tho
word Original" to their signs, Harris Cohen
raised new sign that read This Is the Only
Several children were born TO them and the
couple spared no expense TO educate The new
eSmsh s"et enough money to purchase II.
building in which his store was situated. Then
he branched out and took another store, Envy.
was popular and he hnd 10 pay the penalty.
The other C0hens OF Baxter street, said that
Harris was making money By r mr rashi straw Tpn.
It was that Harris decided to go into politics.
He had twenty young men IN his employ, and he
organized them into 70 a p9,i TIC az t ths s,,i ne w so9n
His political club grew. until he had a MEMBER
ship Of about 400. Each member swore allegiance
% to the pr s;TsnatS Sof became and e h,s ,nnus WSsn aR he
proved to the leaders that he could elect or defeat
any candidate In the district who ran for local
showered iavors upon him, and this helped to
increase his clothing business. More room
was needed and two more stores were nired.
Baxter street, between Walker and White
streets. His enemies charged him with wor-
shipping Ct the shrine Of gold; The, Ky were re even yen
accumulated almost a million dollars.
His friends say that he was charitable. that
he was very generous n ne contrio9tSns TO
had proved himself to be a big.hearted man
by advancing money, to. poor Hebrews who
desired p launch I. on ma a business ,ha M'o, career ~i,h h b., enc me.
object in view-to get interest, However, he
believed he had accumulated enough money
s e. 1!v. .6 SS% so Ss decided der the To ts si%t t5ins. CT e.. h;
and not work so hard To each Of his children
he gave enough money TO enter nc business
never accept q political ONCE"
The tow is full Of eI-Assemblymen.- hs
said. -and the East Side has e1-Aldermen to
He advised bis four boys to interest them-
selves !n'matters pertaining, to civil govern
Louis Alexander and Hyman, took, their
fathers advice and orsanifed political clubs
day. The eldest son George. studied medicine.
and after graduating bought a livery stable on
Division street. Alexander continued ,eHdi In the
Esther. the eldest daughter. married Jacob
Cohen. her uncle. Annie. the second daughter.
married Joe Rosenberg, 8 Mott street dealer In
And such a wedding, 1t was the talk Of the
town, because Of the large amount Of money
the synagogue. Beth Israel Rokor Cholem. on
Seventy-second street, and the Wedding feast
street, where the roses for the decorations cost
g a dozen and the pinks ~ cents a dozen; on
the occasion Of Annie,s Wedding Harris Cohen
married to Barnet Morris. the East Side cracker
On July "a, 1894, the couple got into a l1 Chatham
Square cab and rode down TO the City Hall,
where they were married by soier Flynn: re
marriage until two months later. Then he in
sisted upon a religious ceremony. SO Barney. as
he was called: and Della were married again
marriage ceremony was performed by Rabbi
Siegel at R%ockaway Beach. where the Original
Cohen had a cottage. On this occasion $50
special train. Led BY a band Of East Side mu.
sicians the wedding guests formed in line and
Paraded from the Cohen cottage oyer the saIds
The fourth daughter. Sadie, married a Post
on Sn,' 9s slsEs a Ra, d nsms = year fs5.G lsset; T r.. T snn
daughter, Nellie. Is engaged now.
When Harris Cohen was at the zenith Of hs
They were men employed on The racetracks.
They talked horse TO him every time they called
at his store; One day a Jockey entered the
the name Of a horse that he was going to ride on
the following day. He explained that the horss
would surely win and that the bookmakers
Cohen would visit the Brighton Beach race track
on the following day, the jockey said. he would
have y til the chance Of big ltfs to win a fortune.
Come down and see how easy II IL 10 90
more. said the Jockey.
The next dav was warm and business IN Bax-
ter street was dull, so the Original Cohen de-
eided to take a holiday outing at the Brighton
Beach track. He had never seen a race be-
lore Accompanied BY his son Alexander he
reached the rscetrack viii $3.50 in his pocket.
french auction pools were selling at the time.
Leaving the betting ring he took his son around
IN front OF the grand stand and whispered.
How nervous ! feel! Maybe the horse wont
We better go homo now, said Alexander,
Wait a minute. said the Original "Thel
Ia the horae--that. gray one near the beginning
The starting place" corrected the son
Cohen went 70 the rail and shouted TO the
Jockey 10 drive the horse in front Of the bunch.
The crowd near him told him to keep quiet.
The flag dropped a minute later.
They're on" shouted Cohen. The one ! bet
on is last. Oh-h-hi"
Got the collie. old MANI inquired a by
stander.
He is way back yelled Cohen. 'Oh-h-hl
Alexander, what will We do? Oh-h-h,"
Father. come, home" pleaded Alexander,
and sighed, "Oh-h-h-hl Oh-h-h-h,"
The distance WINS a mile. The Jockey on tho
gray horse pulled bis whip and proceeded 10
use u. The gray horse passed one racer after
another until he had the third position going