The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-05-21

The joss house was q show house. too.
! Ter priest was sending up a blazing
/ stream Of prayer paper before an idol
1Or the Summers to see. while a door
! tender sold souvenir packets of the
printed worship, instead Of tickets. at
TO cents apiece. The business man
ageT Of this temple of sIaut-eved and
piCtail devOtiOns is Jim FIaherty. sue
cessOr to Chuck CoDnors as Mayor of
Chinatown" and he lectUrcd expIana-
toTily, like the barker for dime mu-
scum, going from idol TO pra yer wheel.
from confession box TO marriage bell.
and not negIecting the sacred aICove
where souvenir trinkets are on sale.
But Jim has none of Chuck-s racy hui
NOR
New YOTk's Chinatown looks small
TO anyone who has seen San Francis
cos, and no exhibitions of Chinese vice
are given because our police system
OF graft doesn't cover the licensing of
such "A public display But an All Sin
OF Pell street has opened an opiumIeSs
opium joint. which thrives lawfully.
though fraudulently- 4 Chinaman with
the suileness face of a green cheese
moon approaches US. looks furtiveIv
around for police spies. and asks if we
would like to see him "hittee dopc-pfpe
fol qualtel dollaL" BY supplying an
- for each - In his question We
find out that he offers to take US to
an opium den for n quarter of d dol
lar not for quarter per party. how
ever. as It turns out. but a quarter per
person. and there We're fourteen Of US.
We said Yes" and he babe rs fol-
low him. at an unsuspicious distance.
till he lodges into n hallway. where
We may join him II Is there that we
learn Of our misunderstanding of the
price: but who would haggle over the
cost of forbidden sight when out
Summing? All Sin leads US up dim
stairway to ii back room. which lets
out a fume Of opium as he opens the
door. We see a yellow old man squat
ted on one Of the shelf-like touches
i'm a seeming stupOr. and in another a
white girl lying fat on her back in
what looks like Opiate slumber-
All Sin goes through the form Of buy
ing some poppy pellets of the keeper
Of the joint. kneading them for the
pipe smoking them slowly. and finally
falling into a sound sleep. But we
couldn't have done the same thing
there, At any price. for il was all a
fake. The pellets didn't contain a
trace of opium. and If the police had
raided the place they wouldn't have
found enough Of the outlawed drug to
produce the odOr that we Smelt
Just around 4 corner from China
town IS the Bowery theatre the oldest
DlayhOuLa in >SIeTica now in use. On
its stage Forrest. Davenport and the
elder Booth were tTaEedianS- ChaBfrau
Jefferson and Owens were comedians
and their days were palmy days-at S25
TO $50 per week. Now the haIlowed
house is given over TO performances in
Yiddish, and the audiences are drawn
from the Polish Jews. whose crowded
quarter is separated from the Chinese
by the BOwery only. Thus have the his
tT-ionic glorieS Of the neighborhoOd
faded away. Three old theatres and a
new one are Yiddisher. while only the
WindsOT-On the site Of the Thalia.
where German grand opera once had a
home-remains English, and there the
plays are the toughest melodTamas at
the lowest prices, but dear at that
PeoDle who went BOweTy- wards in
the rubber neck coaches. or any
other way. have been coming back for
years and telling Us of 4 great actor
hidden down there in the lower east
side Jacob Adler played in ''Yiddish. -
and some Of US were inclined TO think