Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-26
ENJOY PLUNGER FALLS
Gothamites Find Fun in
Spectators Failures.
NO PERSONAL RANCOR
HOW THEY GLoAT OVER THE NILS
FORTUNES OF FORMER IDOLS.
Sully and Schwab Notable Examples
How the Public Has Lauded and
Finally Condemned.
NO PERSONAL RANCOR
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| NEW YORK, March %, 1o04
| What New York loves most about a
plunger is the fun of seeing him knocked
over. The town keenly enjoys the specta-
| Gle of high-f1yer pushed to the wall and
| broken into a thousand fragments This
| enjoyment doesn't necessarily ,betoken any
| personal rancor against the plunger.
| 1t is simply a manifestation of that ele-
mental human instinct, particularly strong
In the midriffs of the groundlings, which
extracts acute, not to say gloating, delight
| in the contemplation of the fallen mighty.
The II told you So people are having a
| gorgeous time of it, now that Dan Sully
has walked the plank. Didn't they know 1t
all the time? Didn't they predict 1t long
before Dan had nudged cotton along to the
17-cent figure? Didn't they solemnly aver
| and asseverate, as long as six months ago,
| that Dan 'ud surely be shredded of his
| pile? Sure! Why. certainly they had.
| Oh, yes, it looked to shallow, undiscerning
| people as If Dan had such a grip on the
situation that no clique would ever be
able to get him on the run-but they knew!
And so on
| This is the kind of talk that has been
heard all over New York since Sully went
| to the mat for the count as the more
| sporty brokers express it. And the New
| York papers are drawing a solemn moral
| from the affair and dilating ponderously
| leads himself to believe that there Is any
possibility of cornering such a staple as
| cotton
| Less than a month ago some of these
same papers were devoting page illustrated
| articles to telling at what angle Dan Sully
! wore his hats, how and where he had his
! nails manicured the kind of cigars he
| smoked and how he smoked them, what he
ate and where he ate it, and so on
| Now, however, that Daniel Is busted
sensation, even If he is not in any wise
| financially busted, they are shaking their
| heads over the aforetime gall OF Dan.
Never hit man when he is down-jump
! on him." that's a pretty fair presentation
of the New York maxim.
There is however, one dismal fly In the
| ointment with respect to Sully. He ism
| Completely cleaned out That destroys the
picturesque effect of his failure for the
New Workers.. well, 1 haven't pawned my
| overcoat yet" said Sully couple of days
| ago, when a reporter asked him, grace
| fully, If he was so badly on the rocks that
| he didn't know where the next meal was
coming from. This really takes a lot or
| the fun out Of the Sully failure for the
New Workers..
IF a yellow New York newspaper could
only truthfully state that Dan Sully mao
been seen partaking of a I-cent meal at
Beefsteak Johns Bowery restaurant. why,
then New York would feel that 1t hadn
been cheated out of the full dramatic Ell
feet of the cotton manipulator's failure.
IT'S a great town for dramatic erect, Ht-
flo old New York. II they'd only sell at
auction the beautiful home which Sully pre-
sented to his wife last Christmas. ana
knock the pictures and works OF art 10
muddy-booted dealers trampling the FER
sian r,,gs-Well, that would make an ac-
ceptable tableau, and would help some.
But when 1t was ascertained. after the
first news Of the failure, that Sully still
possessed at least the price of shave ana
a shine and a haircut, New York sulked,
and murmured that somehow or other'
Sully hadn't exactly treated EN- right.
Now all of this, as said, doesn't mean that
New York has any sort of grudge against
Dan Sully. On the contrary. New York
has been rather disposed to re-
gard Daniel, since bis meteoric rise to for
tune, as a pretty good Teller. But little
old New York does so acutely enjoy the
sight of picked plunger!
Exploiting "Charlie" schwab.
About this time last year New York was
holding up Charlie Schwab as one of the
bulliest and brainiest young fellows ever.
You could hardly pick up Sunday New
York paper without seeing Schwab's picture
In many attitudes. Charles was portrayed
as a good Teller, boy of the people who
had won out, after having had no begin
ming whatever worth mentioning. oh. and
he was ION the level" too, from the crown
of his head to the soles of his feet
They held him up as an example TO I'M
springing youth. Not only was he ION the
level" but he was dead-game sport
Hadn't he broken the bank at Monte Carlo,
and hadn't ]. Pierpont Morgan tried to lee
ture him about 1t, and hadn't he told Nor
gan to mind his own business? Certainly
he hadi
Manly, independent Teller. Schwab. Wasn't
going to let anybody. Morgan or no Nor
gan, run him. Liked little old New York.
too Hadn't he given Pittsburg the go-by,
and wasn't he building a palace on River
side Drive? Schwab. less than a year ago.
was one of New York's favorite sons. all
right.
Then that shipbuilding thing came along,
and you'll never hear Schwab's name men
toned now unless that mention is accom-
panied by obJurgations. Schwab was held
up as a charlatan and daylight burglar
Worse than that, he was pictured as
man both mean and small-which he never
was. He was pillaried the robber OF
the widow and the orfifng. He was por-
trayed as individual capable of stealing
a rug out of a poor woman's baby carriage.
He was so crooked 1t was said. that he had
to sleep in an S-shaped bed. He had grown
rich by plundering the poverty-stricken.
He was four-fush and counterfeit.
Schwab lost good many millions through
the puncturing of the shipbuilding thing.
But New York never thought of that New
York was only sorry that he hadn't gone
broke" down to the last silver New York
was sore because he wasn't reduced to the
necessity of asking for job with the white
wings.
Experience Of Henry Ives.
It has always been thus In New York.
Ten or a dozen years ago the great name
on New York's lips was that Of young
Henry Ives. Ives went to work In Wall
street brokerage Office. as an Office boy.
when he was sixteen years old.
By the time he was twenty he mad clean
ed up nearly $5,OO0.000. Wasn't the young
Napoleon of finance'-the phrase was in
vented for him-a wonder then in the eyes
of the New Yorkers! They never finished
talking of the marvellous financial intellect
of the slender frank-faced boy.
The newspapers were ciuttered with
stories of his amiable extravagances-how
he lived on whole floor of New York's
most expensive hotel, how the fruits and
flowers on the tables of his living rooms
were removed every hour and replaced by
other lots. because he got tired OF looking
at the same things for as long as an hour:
how he matched quarters with George
Law, the devil-may-care street railway
young fellow. for $4,000 a throw for
couple of hours at stretch. and so on. |
They clamored to get him to write them his
recipe for becoming rich while you wait. |
and hats and cigars and shoes and cravats |
and things were named after him.
Just year after that. when Ives wasn't |
hor fuuon "a