The sun., 1902-11-05
TWAS A WIDE.OPEN BOWERY.
THERE WEREN'T No TEN COM-
MANDMENTS YESTERDn.
fhe She'll Game as Free and ndisn,sy led
as n II We're NJ Country Fair And
Faktrs Of Al Kinds ReEardicss
Hardly . Cop in sight Al hay Long.

There was everything on Park row and
The Bowery yesterday but policemen. and
Il was much easier for the people. plain or
ornamental. to lose their money 10y walking
IN that noble thoroughfarc than by betting
on the Prohibition candidate for Governor.
The report AT Police Headquarters was
that the Bowerv was never Q,lieter and more
orderly. Police Headquarters was going
on the theory that no news il good news.
All of Col Par'ridge's men We're 80 busy
elsewhere that they had no time 20 bother
With shell gamcs, pickpocAe's and three
card crooks on the Bowery.
or the laws violated the Excise law. of
course. led all the rest Any man walking
In the Bowerv who had lost the run Of the
DAYS, would have been justified in thinking
that il was Sunday, so many saloons were
running full blast A. a matter Of fact,
II was a better business day for the saloons
than the most liberal Sunday. because the
lodging-house population was flush with
money. The Bowery saloon men didn't
provide enough sandwiches. The limited
supply wa. devoured 10y the voters with
the first two or three rounds Of drinks. 80
FOR the rest of the dav the saloons were
obliged TO sell without food
A shell game ma n appeared al the entrance
of a conveniently dark Bowery hallway
with fstful of bills and yelled.
100 TO on Manierre.
Who the hell is Manierre;" asked "A
man who had just won out in a fist fgh,
across the street and wanted more excite
ment.
Prohibition candidate for Governor,
said the crook, who had selected the joke
N CollaCf uha trick Wnrk,AA M
the she II game man retired to the shadow
Of the hallway. followed by dozen men and
boys. whom he promptly fieeced without
any unseemly noise or excitement.
The graft is great" he explained when
he had breathing spell between TWO sets
Of vict inns.
The shell game man with odds on Manierre
was only one OF a saable squad of crooks
who did business all day on Park row and
the Bowery. Most of them had their head
quarters in Railways. They We're over
modest in that. They might just as we'll
have done business on the curb, only they
would have been dreadfully crowded there
by the fakirs
Pedlers' licenses weren't at all necessary,
and from the beginning of Park row to
the upper end of the Bowery there were
unbroken lines, on both sides OF the street
OF men with things TO sell There was
everything from Il told you so" signs for
election night TO self-threading needles.
The fakirs came early and camped for
the day altogether oblvious of such a
thing az the Bureau OF Encumbrances.
Some fakirs drove TO the Bowery and
sold their rubbish from their wagons with
out going to the extra bother of unhitching
their horses. One man who had some new.
tangled kind Of needle TO sell set mp a sew
ing machine on the sidewalk TO illustrate
how his needle worked
IL was red letter day for pushcart and
hot.roasted chestnut men. They didn't
hear the dread move on now" They
didn't camp In the cutters, either. but took
equatters' claims on the sidewalks. The
cutters were good enough for those who
were just walking from one place 10
another.
The chestnut men didn't even stick 10
the curb line. Perhaps they were afraid
OF getting In the way OF Capt. Piper's curb
walker, 30 they set up their tin stoves In
the middle of the sidewalk TO catch the
crowds going both ways,
Big Tim Sullivan appeared on the Bowery
from time to time and IL cost him lot of
money whenever he showed himself Once
he was absolutely reckless and climbed
into a bootblack's chair at Grand street
and the Bowery. Before the bootblack
had time to attend TO the preliminary turn
ing up Of Tins trousers the candidate for
Congress was surrounded by mob Of
drifters who wanted drink money. Every
one Of them had either just voted for Tim
OF was Just on his way 10 do IL. And Dry
Dollar shelled out to all comers as long as
he was In the chair.