The Savannah morning news., 1901-02-04
THE END OF STEVE BRODIE.
Career of an odd BOEery Charac-
ter and His own Comment on 1t.

ter and His own Comment on 1t.
From the New York Commercial Adver-
tiser.
Steve Brodie is dead at San Antonio.
Tex, where he had gone to die when the
last stages Of consumption drove him
from his Bowery. Steve Brodie is a name
now along the line" and the loungers
back in the dingy barrooms are going
over again and again their stories of the
Bowery boy who pushed up TO a promi-
hence as bridge-jumper that brought a
saloon and a starring tour before the
foOtlights. They are talking about this
same Brodie in the uptown gatherings,
too, where gilt and plate glass abound;
for Steve" was an sll-around sport and
hObnobbed with the best of them. They
say uptown that Steve Brodie was ION
he level" and below the verdict is that
lie was AL right"
Brodie was born near the Bowery and
he stayed there. Long before the Brook
Ign bridge was thought Of he was scram-
bling with his push" OF newsboys and
boot blacks about French's Hotel where
the Pulitzer Building now stands. There
were others in this push" who came up
with the sharp-witted lad. Tim Sullivan
and a score OF the present celebrities Of
the east side started elbow to elbow
with Brodie in the old days of penny max.
ing. When the boy outgrew his papers
and backing box he went in for stunts"
He outwalked and outswam the best of
the 'Bowery talent" He had not dangled
and plunged off the piers of the river
front all his life for nothing. lie became
the head of the Aver Life Saving Corps,
and then his exploits began 20 creep into
the newspapers. Brodie was canny and
he worked the graft er buttin inter type
to the limit"
In 1886 Steve Brodie was made" Great
headlines proclaimed a jump from the
Brooklyn Bridge and Brodie as the jump
er. There are those who shake their
heads sagely to-day when this feat is
discussed and who mutter Il wonder did
hep But the Bowery is loyal to its own,
and for the most part the old push"
took Brodie at the word of che newspa-
pers and proclaimed him a hero.
Then came the saloon. The little build
ing still stands on the Bowery and on it's
dingy front the name of Steve Brodie still
hangs above great chrome of the
Brooklyn bridge Brodie's place was the
Mecca Of the sporting fraternity and it
fourished. Diamondstudded sporting man
and bum alike gathered to the little
place and gazed on Brodie, his sporting
prints and trophies. Dime museum pa
irons gazed on Brodie. too and later the
much-heralded bridge-jumper took the
road star in "On the Bowery," a show
after his own heart.
In later years there came back to the
Bowery tales of jumps from other bridges
and shooting the rapids at Niagara by
Brodie. But the wise guys" shook their
heads, and "along the line" the push"
refused to hear of any but the Steve
Brodie of the Brooklyn bridge. Then
came the report that Brodie was dead
and great newspaper space for his obit-
uary. Brodie followed the obituaries in
person and stoutly declined to figure as
a dead one"
But the talk went around that after all
Steve Brodie was not so far away from
his obituaries. The place on the Bowery
went into other hands and the man who
made it was forced to turn his back on
| the Bowery forever. There was a Brodie's
| place in Buffalo, but Steve couldn't
| stand for it no longer and made for the
| climate of Texas a broken man. His
| words to a friend whom he met on the
way came back to the Bowery and they
are telling them now.
well young feller," said Brode to the
friend, its hard ter say, even if yer say
| 1t fast, but me times come. I've got the
| con for fair, and I'm as good as a dead
corpse. Bridge-jumping? Say. You take
an old fools advice. If yer wanter get off
| the car, just reach up and pull the strap,
| and wait Till it stops. See?"