The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-07-26

to crowned heads and to upheavalS
that shake thrones, no sympathy seems
to be forthcoming for the king of beg
gars. He, too, has suffered. He has
lost his scepter, his palace has been
turned topsy-turvy, his queen" Is in a
reformatory, some of his ambassadors
are in prison, his cohorts are scattered
far and wide and-New York is said to
be freer of professional mendicants
today than in many years.
n The profession of begging was
never put upon solid business basis
In - New York until Earl Webster
Kempton, better known to the police
as Earl Williams, gave to the subject
the undoubted talent he has for organ
ization and administration. He divid-
ed the city into districts, kept track of
the doings of the charitable rich, as
signed his satellites to cover certain
territory and established lookout"
system whereby the mendicant was
warned whenever there was danger of
arrest. AT one time he moved thirty
"panhandlers" about the city as
chess master would move pawns upon
a chessboard. But now few of his
courtiers are out of jail to do him rev.
erence. All or nearly all of them were
swept off the board in the crusade
which followed raid made upon his
castle" in a back room in No. 204
Eldridge street year ago. Although
the queen" was sent to the Bedlow
reformatory for three years, the
king" through political influence, es-
capped going to Jail. He promised the
court that he would return to his home
in Schenectady and give up mendi-
cancy. But he remained there only
two days. Three times since then he
has fallen into the clutches of the po-
lice, only to be released each time, for
the kings" political friend comes to
his aid whenever summoned.
Within the laste month the king"
applied to a justice of the supreme
court for the release of the queen"
Perhaps the writ of habeas corpus
would have been granted and the wom-
an freed had it not been for the Char
ity Organization society. Without the
woman he is of little account His
kingdom is shattered. Last week he
was arrested in Brooklyn, but again
released. He says the police will give
him no, rest, but he intends to continue
to fight for the release Of the queen"
until he succeeds.
Williams and this woman are the
most adroit beggars this great city has
eVeroharbored. He Is less than thirty
and she is about twenty-eight He is
crippled in one leg, and o.;ed in an
electrical supply factory In Schenec-
tady until he was twenty-one years
Old.
!, Then his mother died and left $500
to him. He came to this city, sauan-
sdered the money and. when penniless,
turned to begging. 1t was so easy he
had no desire to return to work. Then
he1Tnet Mary Largo, Familiarity known
as Spanish Mary" She was a Waif
or stray from the Portuguese colony
at Cape Cod and drifted into the Bow
sery. 1t. was the woman who gave to
Williams the idea of organizing the
beggars Up to that time he had been
an ordinary "panhandler,' but she ex-
planned to him the possibilities of
profit if system and method were en-
ployed in directing the "f1oppers," as
the beggars who sit in the street are
termed. Together they planned to
create corps of "panhandlers," to or
them, to protect them and to tax them.
Spanish Mary" was of inestimable
service to him in organizing the corps.
She induced thirty Of the most skillful
beggars in the city to join forces with
him. Only the "stars'' were invited to
enter the band.
Williams was strong on detail. He
charted the city into districts, and as
signed his men to Cover territory on
much the same lines as the city is
policed. With each beggar he sent a
"spotter" to watch for police and plain
clothes men and to warn the mendi-
cant of danger.
What success the organization had
may be judged from the fact that the
rake Off Of the king and queen rang
ed between SIS and $500 week. Most
of the mendicants in the band were
cr1pples. They were shifted about so
frequently by the king that the police
and charity agents had little chance to
keep track of them. A man assigned to
Harlem one day would go to Brooklyn
or to Staten Island the next, to The
Bronx on the next, and perhaps to Jer-
sey City the following day.
The discovery and breaking up of
Ills Oeiiio leu 10 SUCH TdQlCdl dcIlOn
against professional beggars generally
that there are said to be fewer pan
handlers in New York now than within
the last twenty years. In the twelve
months ended on June 80 there were
675 convictions for mendicancy. OF
these there are $50 still serving time on
Harris Island and 116 on BlackwelIs
Island. In the limits of the greater
city less than 200 professional beggars
are operating at the present time, and
these spasmodically. This number
may be abnormally small owing, in
part, to the exodus of "fioppers" and
other kinds of beggars towards st.
Louis to be on hand for the Louisiana
Purchase fair
James Forbes, special mendicancy
agent of the Charity Organization So
ciety, whose knowledge of begging in
New York is intimate, asserts that
about half of the professional beggars
who appear to be suffering physical in
juries are fakirs. Twelve per cent of
the beggars are women. In the heyday
Of begging the BoWery resorts of the
beggars Witnessed many curious
scenes, but with, only a corporars
guard of them left the owners of these
resorts are finding times dull and bust
ness decreased. The proprietor of one
of the saloons on the fRowerv is said to