The sun., 1907-08-04
WIEN BOYS REALLY had FUN
MARTY kEISE RECALLS SPORTS
Of YOUNG NEW YORK.
rig Ridinx tn sIty HAL Park. for Instance.
wsA Exciting and I,eatherhcad Jim
Jtn,Oacy Supplied q spice Of Danger
--Jw-.Os Alvey Up 20 Fourteenth street.

waa Exciting and Lenthericad Jtm
Jtn,oacy Supplied q spicc Ot Danger
--Jr-sDs Awey Up TO Fourteenth street.
Down through City Hall Park was the
place 10 ride the pigs. Marty Keese says, In
the days when Old New York was young.
llerc @as room then for feet footed pig
to show ~hnt IL could do, because this was
generation before great part of the park
wac aliced OF for, the building OF the Post
)ficc.
There WIS more chance. too, TO get away
with the pig riding in those days. Old Jim
Timoney. ono Of the municipal watchmen.
or leathcrhcads. or Mayors pups so called
because Of the letters M. p" which the
leutherhea eads wore on their collars was the
only one around the park to say pig jockey
nav To-Day Marty Keesc is not only tho
naj.r demo Of the City Hall, but he takes
pa:c nal interest in tho park. also, because
!; IS his front yard. II small boy tried 10
= .cn ,,iE across the City Hall Park to-day!
But with the watchman it was different.
sfs real name wos James Timoney, but the
Isls called him Beanbclly Jim was not
uly tat, but no had been raised in a New
York 81 much more phlegmatic than it
- o-day that when one OF her citizens
wllkoi away up to the group Of sycamores
that clustered along the west sidc Of Broad
Sav Just above the present site Of the HoG-
man House tho pedestrian when he stopped
.pcn his return to cool his brow at one OF
.hc town pumps. felt himself justified in
Doasting of his sca'.
Almost any really conscientious pig that
wasn't \ gutter could give Jim Timoney
w-;sh, a':a wia straight, place and show.
Mnnn !: came 20 .he very fast pigs in the
ayste stocx % Tommy Curry's father.
ST. sept iirs ia leonard street near Orange
nav BAKER etreet--well, Marty kee3o
.ays 20 may 10 freely quoted rs saying that
"a pig got ayine start before Jim got his
I.iio Jim would i,ccoIDc only an unim-
,ortans par: % tho background instantcr
First. Of course, you had To catch your
c.s ani drive it before you to the park.
Gou LIrc"c the jig down Broadway, il you
like thu: route bes;, AMI carefully fooled
your moun: in betwccn the rumbling old
Tag coaches ard Wagons ~ that truck
,Gan or carn:an. rs thcy we're called then.
Vca!i not run over yoar zigzaggtng
cLErser Even taci io those days. when.
10 Marty Keess admits smphatically. svery-
thiug was nicer Man row, beCaIsc tho
sitnras vtrc astinot more prettily. the
minute G zig got under a truck and was
N1ueesc6 and squealcd into pork il was
absolutely os no i;sc as mount.
10 get your pig into the park required
l.i:sty OF skill and the faculty OF conccntrat-
.ps your mind or your art. The stone cop
ing still sUrrvunded the park in Marty's pig
riding days. and ali along the top OF the
coping was a toll iron fence. There was a
wide cato with two little brother gates on
either niJc Of 1. down where the post Office
now comes e. a poiat, but that gate wasn't
worth sht;cks to park your pig through.
I: was too close to tho magnificent Astor
House and consequently to Jim Timoney.
Half of Jim's time was given to loaiing
around the Astor House and watching the
grand folks coming and going. One OF
Jim's proudest boasts was that the Messrs.
Coleman and Stctson, the then proprietors
of this, the greatest hotel in the grandcst
city in tho most wonderful country on
carth-so jim said--always addressed him
as Mister Timoney. In fact, jim knew the
lotel men so well that he called them Bob
and Charley.
So, take it all in all. the pig jockeys liked
tho gate best that was furthest from the
Astor House and Jim. That. Of course,
was the smaller gate at the northeast corner
of the park, near the spot where the subway
kios.ss are now.
Once inside the park you put your little
Jacket on inside out as q disguise to fool
old Jim Timoney. few feet away your
pig was grunting oontentedly among the
clover. You shaded your eyes with your
hands to sweep the horizon for hostiles.
And now (ssssh0 you crept and crept
and crept and crept-and crept-and-
crept-a-a-a-n-n---
Wumpf-wheeeeg! Pig coming. Like a
creased streak you flashed southwark down
the park between the little wooden posts
and their sagging chains that fenced the
park walks in the days OF Old New York.
Tiny hoofs are clicking madly and the ltale
heese bare feet are wrapped around the
bumpety body of the squealing charger as
far as they will reach, and grimy little
fingers and thumbs are clamped to the pigs
ears.
Heavens! can the pig keep from skidding
Hs it tries to round the brand new Fountain
Have you the nice skill as a rough rider TO
make your racer realize, as you clatter near
and nearer TO the Astor House and Jim
Timoney, that only SO far may pig go and
no further?
but it was just this joking with the deati.
and the bright. brave face Of danger
which was jim Timoney- and the frightfu
possibility Of laundering right smack
into the legs Of the law and spilling them
that made the City Hall Park the only pig
course in Manhattan really worth while.
by the Big Boot OF Chatham street,
roars somebody as the pig charges wildly
toward the cool shadows of the Astor House
facade, shadows that shield a watchman
60 comfortably from the rays OF the after
noon sun.
Jims coming! Across Broadway toward
zig and rough rider he is painting. and he
swears conspicuously by the Big Boot
which Tom Graham, the Chatham street
shoemaker, erected in front Of his shop in
the days when our grandmothcrs shrieked
in girlish terror and ran, with ripglers
streaming in the breczes. from the cows
that tried to join their picnic parties up
near Herald Square. II was always a
secret aorrow Of Tom Graham who was