Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-03
has the restige of having been president

| has the / restige of having been president
of the boao1 of aldermen, congressman and
mayor. Ii defeated. he is a dead man po-
litically for all time. and he knows it. Then
he is said to be very tired of the abuse
which has been heaped upon him by the
newspapers. To his confidential friends he
is said to have explained that he is very.
very tired of the mayors office. He says
that no matter what he does. the news
papers appear to think that 1t is not done
right. These constant attacks have pro-
duced mental attitude, he says where he
does not care to be mayor another term.
even If he could be unanimously elected.
If he makes the race it will be because the
organization orders it-not because he is
anxious for the nomination.
This is all there is to the report that
Murphy and Mcclellan are out. If there is
a quarrel, it will be because Murphy wants
Mcclellan to make the race again and Nc
Clellan is not willing, not because McClel-
Ian wants the Office and Murphy is opposed.
| This is viewpoint which does not APP
pear to have dawned upon the vision of
even the most astute political writers for
the metropolitan press.
A Crime Epidemic.
Assistant District Attorney O'Connors
theory that a wave or epidemic of crime
sweeps internationally over Gotham, and
that the city is now in the throes of an
unprecedentedly violent epidemic of the
sort, Is backed by statistics which prove
that more cases of the sort have come to
light during the past month than during any
period of equal length in the departments
history.
The crime Is almost wholly confined to
two districts-the lower east side. between
Cherry and Houston streets, east of the
Bowery, and the west side between 18th
and 6Sth streets, west of 9th and Columbus
avenues In both these districts there are
countless tenements. The majority of their
occupants are respectable and hard working
people, but among them are also an unus-
ually large number of men whose peculiar
and degenerate temperament has placed
them on the list of human wreckage.
Foul hotsam and jetsam on the tide of
lifes failures, these men have drifted to
the tenement districts, where rents are
comparatively low, where food of a sort is
cheap and where 1t is easy to hide.
Strangely enough, it is not the ordinary
tough nor the unbalanced boy who is the
offender. Nearly all the men accused have
passed the earlier prime of life and reached
the age when sanity is supposed to have re-
placed the follies of youth The criminals
run in years from thirty-five to sixty-f1ve.
A Spiritualistic Tangle.
Not always do the benign shades who re-
spond to the magic call of Mrs. May S. Pep
per and whisper sweet messages of consola-
ton and wise thoughts of the world beyond
relatives and less gifted persons on this
mundane sphere, treat the medium with the
seriousness her vocation demands. Occa-
sfonally the mystic wires that connect the
head of the First Spiritualistic Church
with the spirit regions become tangled
That such was the case on last Sunday
when Mrs. Pepper gave her weekly seance
was asserted this week by a wealthy woman
who had attended that meeting
The unfortunate incident lost to the medi-
m q q G. h1lf .r
influence in Brooklyn.
A trio, composed of a wealthy widow
living In Monroe street, Brooklyn, young
woman friend and chemist were In the
church. They had drawn up a letter, which
was placed with many other missives hand
ed to Mrs. Pepper to read The note was
on pale blue letter paper. and read:
Am l going to change my plans? G."
The chemist, to make the Identification
more certain. wrote in one corner of the
sheet, ''Kno 81
The three plotters sat in the gallery to
listen to the revelations of the medium
The first letter Mrs. Pepper took from the
pile was the one they had prepared. She
crumpled 1t nervously in her hands and
called off the letters the chemist had writ
1.-The spirits tell me that in this letter
there is an inquiry about David and Chris
topher," Mrs. Pepper announced bIandIy.
There was litter in the upper gallery.
One of the trio remarked rather loudly
that the medium was way off" The
words could be heard throughout the
church. man arose down stairs and an
nounced loudly that the letter was his
"Ah, your letter. said Mrs. Pepper in
her most charming tones. David and
Christopher are your sons she continued.
The man appeared overcome by emotion.
Then she delivered the message of the
spirits about the welfare of the sons. After
the seance the widow stepped to the plat
form and picked up the crumpled note Mrs
Pepper had held in her hand while telling
otNA TNltrf n.,d hricf Cha
walked up to the man who had asserted the
letter was his, and said:
You must have made a mistake, sir 1t
was my letter you claimed
"Ah go see DR.. Funk" the man replied
and that was all the satisfaction the widow
received.
The incident has shaken my belief in
spiritualism" she said Mrs Pepper is
rapidly growing rich, giving private seances
for which she charges 81 or more. l tried
for three weeks to get private seance
with her, but was told / would have to
wait, as the list of those who had applied
before me was great It was physical
impossibiity for her to reach my name
for long time"
Vanderbilt Real Estate Investments.
The report that H. c. Prick has leased
the George w. Vanderbilt house at sd
street and 5th avenue serves to call atten-
ton to the fact that it has cost the Van
derbllts millions to keep shops and unde-
sirable neighbors from invading that part
of 9Th avenue between J0th and 54th
streets Some of this outlay has been
regained through the resale of properties
to individuals whose plans the Vanderbilts
have approved, and in whose Intentions
they could feel confidence, but the greater
part of 1t is stin an unproductive invest
ment and bids fair to remain so for some
time The last of the purchases of real
estate came few months ago when Mrs I
w. K Vanderbilt, jr.. bought the Coe house
at 66S 9Th avenue. This purchase was pre-
liminary to the building OF a new residence
by W. X. Vanderbilt, jr, on this lot and
the adjoining one already owned by his
father, but the deal emphasizes how strong
ly the Vanderbits are eatrenching them
selves at that point. These three blocks |
figuring on both sides of the avenue in
ciude approximately 100 feet frontage
Out of this the Vanderblts control abse-
lutely $40 feet.
Midnight Weddings.
The midnight marriage of q runaway