The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-03
NEW YORK TOPICS
GOSSIP AND CURRENT COMMENT
FROM THE METROPOLIS.


New Tammany Police Commits
sfOner-He's of the Same Name and
Profession as the Man Who Is Fin
fishing "the other Tunnel" Under
the Hudson, But Not the Same Per
son-''The other McAdoO" Was As
sistnnt Secretary of the Navy In
der CIeveland-HOw He Captivated
Lot of Naval Omcers When Max
ing n Cruise of Inspection in West
Indian Waters, and Also How He
Made Life Interesting for Ger
tain British Lord.
New York. Jan. 2.-The most interest
ing of all the holiday gifts presented
to this town by its Tammany rulers is
William McAdoo. the new Police Com
missioner.
For years he has been known as
''The Other McAdoo." for the town
boasts of two William McAdoos. both
lawyers and both popular and promi-
nent. To highten the resemblance
they used to have their law offices in
the same building, until the Two Cen
tlemen of Verona" business became
too complex.
Long ago both of them learned to
ask strangers who called on them
which McAdoo they really wished to
see, and the new Police Commissioner
adopted the formula, mo, I am not
the Tunnel McAdoo, but the other Nc
Adoo." The tunnel McAdoo is presi-
dent of company that is finishing
the bore under the Hudson river
which is not to be used by the Penn
sylvania Railroad.
William McAdoo, the Police Com
missioner, has the rare fortune of be-
ing accounted a good lawyer among
lawyers and a good politician among
poIltlclans. Generally the thing is
vice versa.
He is a big man, with a face so
characteristic as to be handsome He
is damned full of personal magnetism.
and after luncheon in the LAWYERS
CLUB, his usual resort at midday, he is
pretty sure TO draw a crowd to listen
to his stories, which are not only good
IN themselves, but told with the happy
faculty that belongs so distinctivelV to
men with Irish blood
The Other McAdoo" is stylish. has
correct tastes, is a student of litera-
ture, and while not Society man -
is well known in the best society of
New York.
Tammany has made experiments
with gentlemen in Office" before, but
they have been gentlemen of com
PLEASANT disposition and generally guilt
less of political wisdom. The other
McAdoo" is a player of lone hands. He
likes fight. He isn't little bit guile
less in politics. His appointment is an
interesting experiment, and lots of poll
ticians are asking, What's deep be-
low this thing?"
Something that may be a factor in
the game is the well-known fact thar
THE Other McAdoo" is a fervent ad-
mirer of Grover Cleveland He was
assistant secretary of the navy under
him, and is credited with desiring
Cleveland's nomination for a third
term.
When the new police commissioner
held his federal office, he decided to
take trip around the West Indies
and through the Caribbean to study
naval needs, and naturally he had TO
travel on warships. The navy went
up in the air" at the idea, and one
very well known captain said that he'd
be whole lot of unprintable things if
he'd let any assistant secretary make
a ferryboat out of his ship. But be-
fore the voyage of inspection was over
the officers of the various vessels were
tumbling over each other trying to
lure him to become their guest
1t was while on this trip that Nc
Adoo met a British peer in Kingston,
Jamaica, at a dinner given by Sir
Henry Blake, then governor of the is
land. The peer was charmingly ig-
norant of American politics and Nc
Adoo strove to enlighten him, but he
couldn't help putting in a few jokes
in the right places. Unhappily, the
peer swallowed the jokes with the
same solemnity with which he swal-
lowed the facts, and the result was
that he fell into such a state of stony
amazement that the assistant secre-
tary of the navy was almost made
prisoner by the rest of the party, who
insisted on his giving the Englishmen
still more facts.
Among other things the peer learned,
to his mild wonder that there were
whole Congress district in New
York in which there was not a
single man who had ever read the
Magma Charta or cared anything
about it.
That trip made McAdoo most popu-
lar with the navy, and the tales told
stories aboard ship to this day; the
history of his conversation with the
peer is always reserved for the best
yarn spinner in the ship.
McAdoo, in return, learned to ad-
mire the navy even more than he had
before the voyage; and he has done
really valuable service to the country
since he retired to private life by a
constant use of his large influence to
help toward the increase of ships and
crews.
Here's a little incident that fits in
naturally with the McAdoo story: A
day or two before McAdoo assumed
office and Gen. Greene stepped out,
citizen went to a well-known sub ofi-
cial of the police department with a
note requesting a particular service
signed by Gen. Greene.
Who the Halifax is Francis Vinton
Greene?" queried the official. Il new
er heard of him.
This was said with such supreme in
nocence of demeanor that the well-to-
do citizen went away very much in
doubt as to whether the police official
really didn't recognize the signature
OF the man who had been his supreme
superior for year, or whether it was
his way of expressing absolute con-
tempt for a reform Police Commits
sioner.
On Friday-which, as you may re-
member, was New Years Day--a fat
dwelling citizen of the town embraced
the opportunity of putting himself