The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-23
FAST SIDES PANICKY WOMEN.
oyIY I TRTFLE NEEDED TO TURN
yHEH INTO 4 MON.

Ea>.h started and t,uitkly GNCr-1he
panic Habit spreads 10 BrOwTsNilie.
:, has come to b, n rare week with the
,s,ic sign writer's Of the Park row news
- bull.tin boards when they do not
nave 10 climb the scaCfolding in frontof
- blackhoards at least once TO ~nounc
J. large white letters 10 the gaping crowd
h.low, East Side Women in Panic The
I.msbornd crowd Of workers who burst
-, Of the narrow slit between buildings
I'D NnsSlu street aud swarm into the
..rgle Of n~cwsstands roasted chestnuts,
~ carts and Horace Greeley as IL pur-
-rsd by a bill Collactor-and who then
.oms 10 a lead stop in front of the bulletin
So.rds 10 read leisurely that Chester Gillette
40 a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs-
- II for granted that in some place on
4 ,he blackboard the East Side win get a mem
tOn.
sbe volatile East Side can work up fine
.bsdos If hysteria at a moments notice
.hout ANYTHING from a forecast Of the end
n the world hy Prof. Abe HICKMAN. Of
se,al tclcr athist 10 the Florrie Sullivans,
q, a speech by Rosey the Lawyer before
ia Fssex Market Bar Association. The
Fast Side is proudest, however, Of its three
thistle panics, and now that the region
Gas reduced excitement to a science the
xoman made panic is the best thing the
Fast Side does.
A few PAGES from the Park row bulletin
boards one touches an edge of the panic
belt. The great difficulty that oonfronts a
visitor is that he can't see the East Side for
the houses.
But all about, from the Bridge to Tam
m.ny Hall and from the East River to Tom
| Foley, there are sandwiched in between
soors thousands upon thousands OF the
foreign born who from early to late go
about their affairs with an air Of patient
poverty that leads one to think that only
a gas tank explosion would stir them into
violent action.
On a bright Wednesday morning toward
the end of last June the East Side was sim
mering along in its own way and with
promise of no exciting occurrence to break
a upon the peaceful activity OF the narrow
streets. Perhaps little Rosy Mendlebaum
would get a sickness and be excused for
the day by teacher; maybe Rosy's older
cousin Rachel was flashing a new peekaboo
waist along Grand street when she should
10 be at home making to help her mother
do q cooking,
A droning litany came from the open
windows Of the big e public school build
Ing on the north side OF Seward Park as
| piping little voices chanted 80 that the
~oungers on the park benches could hear.
Twel' times 'leyen s hunnern thoity-two.
Tvel' times wei g hunnern fohty-foh.
Some street boys pulled over Abe Aaron
sons pickle vat in Essex street, but Abe
nghted his stock patiently and started all
over again. These people have been poor
\ TOO long, crushed for too many ceeturies,
you will say, to do violence.
As the clock approached II thes sky grew
y overcast and even the day took IN some
/ Of the gray m~onotony all around. The big
buying Of the early morning had died down
along the rows Of pushcarts-the East Side
has finished Its household purchases before
4 your Jamaica commuter is out Of bed-and
even the noise Of curbstone bartering was
growing quiet.
And then a hatless young Jewess came
4 running across Broome street, black hair
tying as she ran. She screamed one SEN
tsnce In Yiddish as she reached Cannon
street.
In less than half an hour between 1900
and $1,000 little chilrden were flying wild
eyed up and down the streets, screaming in
nsmeless terror and darting into their own
dirk Railways to COVER In hysterio fright
Another army Of over 100 900 adults. mostly
mothers and sisters OF the little ones, clawed
md bit and tore one another's clothing as
hey struggled to get into the barred doors
Of the schoolhouses.
From the Battery to The Bronx the pave
nents echoed and reechoed with the clatter
Of galloping boots as mounted police from
many precincts raced to the East Side to
thunder through it from end to end and
With blows and curses try to beat the East
side into sanity again. When Police Cap
lain Murtha Of the Eldridge street station
wasn't leading his men In charge after
charge upon the bowling army that ripped
the officers uniforms from their shoulders
DO was telephoning for moro and more
police reserves.
That first single scream OF the hatless
young jewish mother caused every police
oaptain in Manhattan from the First pre-
rnct to the Thirty-first to hurry ten police
men and the reserves close on the heels
Of the mounted men to join the army Of
Infantry and cavalry under the command
Of Capt. Murtha.
A rain Of stohes, sticks and vegetables
nom the pushoarts met the charges Of the
police. The great doors. OF the school
houses were being smashed by improvised
catering rams. Ever growing swarm OF
noters tore window screens from their
iastenings and threw them into the streets
With a %clatter.
And above all the bowls and shrieks
md the steady tinkle OF falling window
CLASS came the yells OF Yiddish oratory.
where hollow eyed creatures, men and
women and even young girls, exhorted the
MODS nom doorstep apd fire escape to kill
The police.
Every block on the East Side seems TO
nave its great school building. and some
eochs seem TO have a school on each OF the
sour sides, with 1000 or 5000 children In
taon building. The police would beat one
moo into submission ~momentarily only to
pnd a bigger riot in progress a few steps
around the corner.
Tor long time police, teachers and school
&snldren did not know what 1t was all about,
pt after a while 1t was learned that the