The Cairo bulletin., 1905-11-15
DEATH OF NELL
OF THE BOWERY
Remarkable Career OF Young
Woman Once a Wreck
LIGHT IN A DARK SPOT
BELONGED TO GREAT FRINGE
MIRTHFUL FATE ATTACHES
TO HER WiDE-CHECkED
FABRIC OF LIFE.


CHUCK" Connors, mayor of New
Yorls Chinatown, is dead. China
town will miss her--the regulars,
consisting of longshoremen, panhand
lers and Bowery buns, big-hearted fell
lows, all of them. who congregate
nightly in Barney Flynn's, corner of
Bowery and PelI, mourn her sincerely
to them Nell was a sister and pal.
Not only to them, not only 10
Chuck" whose little fame she made
enduring in Bowery annals, but to
hundreds of others, actors, indigent
newspaper men, racing men down on
their luck. and the great fringe that
Mirthfu Fate attaches 10 her wide,
broad-checked fabric of human life,
was Nellie light in dark place,
Bread and meat she had for them al
ways-better if she could get it, and
they had only to need ii to obtain IL,
Out of the young wreck of woman
Of Chinatown she made for herself
life whose sweetness fingers with
the memory of her dying words TO the
rough child of nature whom she mar
ried, as he knelt sobbing by her hos
pital cot az the sands of her life
slowly ebbed out;
BE good, Chuck
Nellie had beauty until it had been
fearfully marred by consumption.
Gentleness and charm were hers
lntil death The story of her life
md "Chuek's" is one of the beautiful
romances which one may find in many
| )f the dim places of Chinatown and
| he great East Side of Gotham, il
It is sought with a good fellowship
md a kind heart.
Five years ago, "Chuck's" ready wit
and unfailing nature had won him
such local celebrity that he was taken
Dut on the road by a theatrical mana
] ger as the star of Steve Brodies old
play, "On the Bowery."
There are few marriages made in
Chinatown. Marriage is a conven
tionality, and conventionality doesn Z
seem to fit in with the lantern-it
rooms Of the joss houses the chop
suey joints, the bare places where the
opium smokers lie on hunks of mat
tiRg- covered boards. Nellie and
Chuck lived the life of Chinatown
and were not married. Nellie Smoked
hop" and the opium had given hen
beauty pallor But she loved Chuck
and he loved her, and his chance had
come.
Il won't go out without me rag.
ne said to the manager.
''You are not married and, beside.
she hits the pipe" was the protest.
wen git married" /" said Chuck.
"Ill quit smoking dope" said Mel
! lie.
They didn't think she'd quit tn
regulars in Chinatown, but she did
She and Chuck went TO the city hal
and were married by Mayor Va
Wyck. Nellie became Chuck's dane
ng partner on the stage She bC
,ame his helper in every way. Sh
hought his marriage was a sacrifice
hought her abandonment of old tens
,ious habits was a sacrifice, and h
owed her
When they came back to New Yor
Chuck rented a tenement In Christ
street. Il was two-room affair i
FIVE story double-decker. and tn
urrendings were dingy enough Blu
Nellie developed talents as a hous'
keeper. as she had as a dancer He
title home shone, and she becam
; noted for her simple hospitality. An
she never hit the pipe again.
Visits from Hall Caine. Israel Zanl
will and others inspired her with
lesire fer something better. and sh
: began 10 write.
Her first efforts were crude. but /
he hands Of some Of her newspape
friends they took printable shap
without loss Of Chinatown color.
She became ambitious for Chucl
toe. whose early lack Of schOolin
I. hal deepened into absolute illiterac,
< Soon she taught him the A B. G
: and 10 write Thereafter Chuck b
!. came mere important figure at tn
y nightly gatherings in Barney Flynn
reading the news aloud TO the reg
a lars