Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-29
There Were Great Doings at This
East Side Picnic.
DISGRACEFUL SCENES At WEDDING
Floating Death Traps That Ply in
New York Harbor.
S o NJ E "A RT RITICIS NJ
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star

NEW YORK, June 2S, 1901.
| The first of the summer series of East
Side barge picnics took place on Sunday
last The affair was under the happy. II
eccentric, auspices of a body of East Side
young men of an analytical turn of mind
| cieverly called The Critics. Their analyti-
cal efforts appear to have especial reference
to their analyses of the persons of their
friends while the latter still live but this
statement is a depression The excursion
consisted of three barge loads of 1000 per-
| sons per load. and each of these in turn
undivided, very shortly after the start
| into loads of another sort
The excursion went away in grand order
| with pennons flying and song, even at so
| early an hour in the morning, proceeding
| from all the decks. 1t all looked as aus
plclous as the auspices of The Critics could
nave been expected to make it. New York,
as whole population. knew no more of
the affair after the start than the rumors
that began to reach the town along toward
10 O'Clock at night. Then each returning
tug from the general direction whittier the
| excursion had proceeded sent word to the
| nearest police station that The Critics and
their guests had enjoyed themselves so
enormously throughout the day that at
least a dozen hospital ambulances could
easily be filled at the pier when the three
| bargeS returned.
The police, being wise in these matters
| at least, decided to go the suggestions of
the tug captains a few better, and when
the three bargeS appeared at the pier there
were sixteen ambulances from hospitals all
over New York waiting on the dock. These
were SO quickly loaded up with wrecked
persons from the three barges that the
| foresight of the police justified. Seven
more ambulanceS were called for, and even
| after these were loaded to the gun'ls with
| smashed excursionists who had partaken of
| the hospitality of The Critics there were
many of the returned merry-makers who
had to make the best of their way a-limp.
| to their homes. unattended by the bland
| young men who give first aid to the in
| jured on the hospital conveyances.
No Arrests Made.
About a hundred cops were also in at
tendance at the pier. The cops. however,
appeared to regard themselves as purely
superfiuous supernumeraries upon the scene
They made not a single arrest. In fact,
when they viewed the scenes Of carnage
upon all the decks Of all the barges, most
OF them grinned reminiscently, poked each
other in the ribs with their locusts. and
| recalled happy days of the same sort that
| they themselves had experienced in the
blithe, halcyon past. There were the
wounded all around them. but the occasion
appeared not to exist to take any Of The
Critics Of. their guests into custody.
"Uh-er-are you going to pinch any Of
the crowd?" timidly inquired a very youth
full and very inexperienced newspaper re-
porter Of a captain Of police.
The captain looked at the reporter as
one might gaze from Chimborazo to the
peaks 100 miles in the blue
Now, how de Ill., he inquired out Of a
corner of his mouth, kin We pinch any O.
de bunch zen we don't know who done de
jobs. hey? Can't youse see dat dey was
all in de mix?'
Wherein there reposed more Of truth than
oft Ans of he
mouth of a New York police captain. You
can't indict a whole nation, nor can you
arrest a whole East Side picnic. reg-
ment that decides to unanimously shoot its
commander in the back upon the occasion
of the first action, and does it. may be
suspected as to its ringeaders, but nothing
can be proved.
The Critics are going to give another
excursion late in July, and on the night
Of their return it is proposed by the hos
pital authorities of New York that instead
of compelling the attendance OF all the
ambuances in the city, the hook and lad
der companies ought to be brought into
reauistion to handle the dead and dying.
Mobs at Weddings.
The time is probably not far distant
when young men and women, whose names
are well known in society in New York,
and who have reached the matrimonial
agreement, will think long before deciding
to accomplish their union on Manhattan
Island. Some Of the high-class weddings
here lately have been made the occasions
for the outpourings of disgraceful mobs Of
curiosity seekers-persons in no wise known
to the principals in the weddings, nor even
attached to their persons in any capacity
of service. but the mere riff-raff of the
town. bent upon gazing at the ceremonies,
and even, as in several cases, upon ridl-
culing those taking part therein. If these
individuals would confine their attendance,
to the exteriors of the churches the matter
would not be SO bad, but they have in
numerous recent cases made concerted
rushes into the church edificeS. and In such
force that the police have been powerless
to prevent their entrance.
One of these weddings, q much advertised
affair that took place a while back pre-
scented features more in consonance with
the proceedings at the primaries of a no
toriously vicious ward than with wedding
between persons of some considerable So
cial name. The groom was a young Balti-
morean whose reputation a sort of hui
morously tolerated arbiter of form and of
fashion Is we'll known throughout the coun-
try, and the bride was a Philadelphia
widow of a famous name. A fake story
had emanated from Baltimore on the night
before the wedding that a certain enemy
of the groom had announced his intention
| Of making his appearance at the cathedral
for the purpose of spelling the proceedings
by the conclusive method Of puncturing
the young man with many leaden pellets
This story was absurd on its face, but it is
the absurd stories that make the big hit
| with New York crowds. The streets
around the cathedral were virtually i'm
passable long before the ceremony, and
the crowd was made up of as tough-look-
ing lot of men and women as even this
community can get together. They were
on hand for the announced purpose of see
ing the groom sent scurrying into the other
world.
A Disgraceful Scene.
They waited impatiently for the appear
ance of the wedding party, and the ex-
pectancy in each eye was great. When
the wedding party passed through the
great doors Of the cathedral the members
thereof were followed at their very heels
by these ruffians of both sexes. The police
stationed within endeavored to hurl them
out, but 1t was no use. The force Of the
crowd behind was too great, and the result
was that they were compelled to give I'D
and permit nearly 1000 of the toughs to
watch the ceremony before they were able
to close the doors. The toughs did eyery-
thing but whistle and cat-call during the
ceremony. They made audible remarks