Evening star., 1901-12-14
their women folks, In no wise comprehend
ing word of their utteranees.

Ana yet there are from 5,oUO to 15OUO
men and women in the garden bawling and
screaming frenziedly and delightedly over
this sort of thing all the time, day and
night. and Saturday night, at the finish.
the bawlers and screamers will be packed
into the great building like those oft-em-
ployed sardines. During the long night
hours there are thousands of rooters who
remain until daylight, and who fetch their
lunches with them-strong stomached per-
sons these must be, too, to be able to re-
gale themselves with cold food amid such
surroundings Every once in a while there
Is horrifying crash as a bunch Of the
riders go down in an inextricably confused
mass, and then the trainers rush to the
scene Of the mix-up drag off their damaged
principals and probe them for spinters, at
tendants quickly clear away the wreckage
and mop up the blood, and the grind
goes ON.
Now, it may sound unbelievable, but
every time an accident Of this sort happens
there are hundreds of rooters for favored
teams who stand up on their seats ond
howl and cheer like maniacs. For why?
Because they perceive that the process af
eliminating is working their way, and that
the downed and bruised men being thus
damaged adds to the chances Of their fav
ored team by just so much. There is a
savage note in such screeched exultation
over fallen men-men that may be dead
for all the howlers know-that cannot
exactly be described as winning. 1t re-
minds one of that chariot race picture in
which the Roman spectators, men and wo-
men and young girls. look SO hendishly
cheerful over a collision that SO obviously
spells broken backs death to the drivers
involved in it, In truth, nothing short OF the
hard, cruel spirit that possessed the call
lous pagans who witnessed the gladiatorial
events Of old Rome seems to possess the
bulk of the persons who attend these six
day bike races in New York In the first
year cf the twentieth century. Few of
them appear to be moved by the degrading
nd ,hN1Iy ntn al Of 60
much acute agony or dull. sullen misery.
So that it would really seem as if the spirit
OF human cruelty were infectious. 1ndiyld-
ually, and contemplating the scene alone.
perhaps these persons would be moved to
compassion. Massed together, and swayed
by the latent savagery of each other, COM
passion is drowned out of them, and the
degree of their enjoyment of the spectacle
is evidenced by their frantic conduct. If
SiX-day bicycle race itself be barbarouS,
then the manifest spirit of the bulk of it's
spectators is more
Society Woman and the Beggar.
The Star told in its news dispatches early
this week of how a prominent New York
society woman, emerging from the home
of ]. Pierpont Morgan, where she had
been attending a luncheon. was accosted
and solicited for money aims by a young,
wefl-fed-looking and exceedingly we'll
dressed woman-a Russian-who had been
standing on that Madison avenue corner
waiting for the exit of the luncheon guests.
When the society woman declined to con-
tribute money to a person in such obvi-
ously good estate the woman turned upon
her like a panther and villified her and
called her gross names and followed her
down the street abusing her. The society
woman had the common sense and the nerve
to hand the abusive beggar woman over to
the first policeman she met. Had she been
a society woman of the ordinary type she
q tnd hn hrn ir,aif ifafi ION
mendicant to go her way, as most society
women do under such circumstances.
The female beggar the residential
streets of New York who preys exclusively
upon wealthy women engaged in taking
pedestrian exercise has become bold a
common and a dangerous nuisance during
the past year or so. She is of the exact
type of the woman who was gathered in
at the beheSt of the society woman the
other day-nearly always foreigner, well
dressed and bearing the stamp of woman
in comfortable circumstances with an ini-
tial wheedling way of narratng her tale of
poverty that is only less finished than her
explosive and misunderstanding manner
of abusing her victim who declines to SUBJ
nit to her attempted eXtortion. These Pc
culiarly offensive female beggarS have of
late taken their stations all up and down
the line on Madison and 5th avenues. Their
game is almost certain winner and they
make big money. When they "brace" their
victim and receive a "turn-down' (as they
expect, on account of their prosperous ex-
teriors) they have only to begin to roast"
. the victim in loud, declamatory tone to
bring about the desired effect Nine out of
ten Of the victims surrender under such
circumstances, and in panic, hand money
over to these daylight robbers in skirts
Purpose to Frighten the Victim.
These well-dressed women beggars take
a tone, when they are refused, that Is
craftily meant to lead passersby to believe
that the victim has injured her Ohe beg
gar) In her home or engaged in some scan
dalous indiscretion. and this method gets
the victim into such a state of fright par
ticularly as she observes that the sympa-
thies Of the non-initiated passersby seem
to be with her torturer. that she almost in
variably digs into her purse and hands out
money to the comfortably clad beggar who
then hurries off and waits for another
likely-looking victim to turn up. These
sklrted pests Of the finer thoroughfares of
New York have even gone so far as to at
tack women who have declined to yield to
their demand for money, and to claw at
their millinery and push them off the side
walk, thus affording delight to cab drivers
and newsboys, who not understanding the
facts of the situation, saw in 1t nothing
but the promise Of a highly edifying street
scrap between pair Of women of ap-
parenuy quite equal station. From every
point of view the game Of these bold high
waywOmen has been safe and profitable
reduced to a state of mind by the beggars'
abuse that makes it virtually impossible for
them to explain the state of the case to a
policeman, even should they have the
presence Of mind to accost one, and profit
able because the victims are In every case
selected by the beggars because OF their
obvious wealth, and because woman who
does not exactly know the value Of money,
put into such pass, Is liable to contribute
all or almost all she has in her panic to
get out Of such wretched street mess
The police now say, Of course, that they
are going to "chase them women" but the
New York police say so many things be-
sides their prayers that women who have
been vtctimtzed by the "stick-up" process
Of these broken-English villifers of the
avenues are naturally inclined to be skep-
tlcal. c. L. c..
Alcoholism Among Women.
From the London Doctor.