The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-01
TWAS Big TOM EOLEY'S DAY.
HOST or THE SECOND DISTRICT
At A GREAT RLOWOUR.

the Little Ones Had several Hours Of Fun
and lee Cream and More EJn and Ice
Cream and Then CanIe the Iiaddies and
= Their slcadie 10 Dance JntI SunuD.
What a boiler explosion is to q bursting
paper bag. 80 Is Big Tom FOley's nnual
picnic to all the other Tammany outing.
Therefore IL Was: worth while yesterday
afternoon and evening TO 60 up TO Sulzer's
Harlem River Park at l26th street and
Second avenue TO see the ~aristocracy OF
the lower East Side, especially the young
. sters, playing ring-aToqpd-a-rosy under
the trees, with Big Tom imperSonatinG tie
rosy. t,.," ~ q
AristocEacy il used. advisedly. because
just a. Big Tom Foley n one of the last
Of the old fashioned 9Tammany leaders
80 is his Secon' Distfse' picnic composed
Of the last OF the old Esspioned East Side.
None OF them Is from Russia, Instead
they proudly trace their ancestry baok to
their fathers, in some cases even back to
the grandfather, who came to America
in the days when Jenny Lind sang in Castle
Garden. That's why P~ennoyer's Band
avoided Russian music ct the picnic yester-
day and stuck to The Wearing Of the
Green and safety.
Some place in among the 10000 persons
present wandered men with names to be
juggled with. There were Big Tim n
Little Tim, Christy. Florrie, Larry Michigan
and all the rest of the Sulivans. The po-
lice Department was topped of with Acting
Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo, ran
through all the inspectors except Inspector
McClusky. who is i'll in the Adirondaoks,
and included all the captains from Capt.
Tfghe of Rockaway up to the North Pole
and ever The Bronx.
Tammsny Leaders Frawley: Battery Dan
Finn, Goodwin, Featherstone and practi-
calIy all the others came through the gates
some time in the evening. District At
torney Jerome sent Big Tom a telegram
saying that only absence from the city
could keep the District Attorney away.
Fire Commissioner John O'Brien was on
the job all evening, and Secretaries Frank
O'Brien and Willie Willis did their best to
represent the Mayor.
But in Big Tom Foley's opinion the finest
part Of the all day show was the children.
Big Tom has no children Of his own, and
so, long ago, he adopted all the children
Of the Seoon d~istric,, and only one that
saw the o~utpouring of his foster offspring
at the picnic yesterday could appreciate
the Job the omnibus adoption means.
Widow Mary Drisooll of Peck Slip; for
getting her troubles as she M 1--WE little
Driscolls ate Tom Foley's ice cream under
the trees. where the sunlight splashed the
table tops and the shadows Of the maple
caves danced across the splashee-W Widow
Drisooll voiced the sentiments OF the picnic
when she said:
That's him, over there helpin' tn little
ones on the swings-that's Tom Foley.
Tn full av a door he is an always smilin'
except phwin Others ia in throuble. Fur
tree thirds av his head Ia hearrt.
SUR l jus dropped in L zee ys, Mary
Dhriscoll,' seq he { me av a Chusedah
night, him after putin foor fures up {
me fat an lukin' loike a foine, handsome
bishop. L WIS afther calm on a family
mex dure an, dhropped in'Ian' that same
fur it. Here's tickets fur tn picnic mex
Fridah night sez he, an here's a bit av
change veil need fur tn oihilder's carfare.'
An phwin l thriee = thank him an ends
be cryin' he picks up his hat an walks
soft like out tn dure, blushin' loike a gur.
That's Tom Foley
Little girls with big pink bows in their
hair. starched little skirts that stuck out
above their white stockings and white
shoes like a ballet dancers, hocked around
the entrance gate hours before the park
was opened at 4 o'clock. Small boys,
also in spotless white and wearing scarlet
a faced death mary a time while running
across the car tracks and for every fortieth
child was a patient mother looming above
the throng OF little people waiting ex-
pectantly for Big Tom and the opening OF
the gates
After a crush that resembIed the Culver
lines Ho~Goney on five cent moving day
everybody got inside n scattered toward
the free attractions. The finest Of all was
the ice cream booth where Senator Dan
Dt.-l.- u,d sY-.,,, Cha FLAW nraHvy AZ tho
Tenement House Department handed out
wooden pie plates on which we're q brick
Of ice cream, a6o-sv paper OF popcorn and
a cake, all at Big Toms expense. Even
finer than this were the swings where n
could fly to heaven and ecstacy for nothing.
And still better was the free Punch and
Judy show, where Punch put II all over Mrs..
Judy a per formula ..
The ali day free vaudeville show had the
Punch and judy performance tied TO the
third rail, and positively the best thing IN
the park was the ~merry-go-round, where
all one had to do lwas to go up to Rig Tom
Foley, smile sweatiy and get a yard OF
tickets, even II your father was dead and
there were no votes in the family. And
the free fish pond had everything else
backed of the Battery, and the very best
OF all was 10 60 back to Senator Dan Rior-
dan and the ice cream and begin all over
again. Big Tom Foley stood for 1t all. That's
one reason he isn't rich:
Mrs. Delisle OF IS oliver street got the
prize again this year for the biggest family.
Mrs, Delisle arrived with her own fifteen
children and about twenty more picked up
here and there Jack Budd Of SO Madison
street came on the JOB early with thirteen
children, but Big Tom decided that Jack
was not the mother OF the group and there
/ fore was out Of the running.
As dusk fell Big Tom shooed the little
ones toward the gate, and they ven nome
reluctantly. with frocks and blouses no
longer white and the pink bow sagging.
Then the crowd gave way to nifty gentle
men In fresh straw hats and white gowned
bellies Of the district, who came to dance
till dawn. II Is quite possible they are
dancing yet.
But say, wasn't II great to zee the kidsl"
said Tom Foley as midnight was rawing
on. And feeling that he ought to have
somo of, the picnic himself. ha aank on a