Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-02

be much of a pole-vaulter or hurdle taksr
to attend to the Washers case, as his looks
clearly indicated when he hoped from tho
carriage. When he appeared in the police
court on the following morning his court
piastered countenance looked like an unfin-
ished weather map.
Say. you're the sweil-lookin' bum amt
your! the magistrate said to him. tersely.
and then, after listening to the young wom-
ans story. he sent him to Blackweirs Island
Tor three months, without the alternative
OF fine. The young woman's cousin
Charlie had been delayed by a car blockade
In reaching the ferry. But the girls wealthy
uncle looked justihably proud OF his niece
IN the police court that forenoon
But the depot and ferry towering Washers
don't always get caught-rarely. in fact.
Ana good many of them actually get
away with the same kind of schemes as the
one In which this particular masher failed.
Inc befooied girls and women who are
made the victims of this grisly sort of kid
naping don't complain to the police In
nineteen cases out of twenty. because they
are ashamed to- When they do complain
the miscreant is rarely to be caught. If he
Is caught and puts up a fairly plausible
yarn as to the victim having solicited"
him at the ferry or depot, II Is then up to
the helpless girl or woman to prove that
he is lying. and this Is difficult. Very often
-samefully often-the benefit of the doubt
is given to the masher in cases Of this iden-
teal sort.
1t is the commonest thing in the world for
utterly shoo-hied by the New York police
when they attempt to make complaints OF
Washers.
This man." said a young woman in the
shopping district not long ago to a police
man. pointing out a typical masher with a
Van Dyke beard, has grossly insulted me-
not only by his language. but by placing
his hands upon me and attempting to de-
tain and drag me. 1 want to have him ar
rested. I shall make a complaint against
MN ana appear against him in the police
Told to "Beat It."
The young woman was most palpably
lady suffering from a sense Of keen out
rage.
How bout this. young feller?' said the
cop. not exhibiting symptoms OF being
greatly moved. to the masher who stood by
grinning complaisantly.
Jaw. look her over" calmly replied the
masher. You can dope out what she U.s.
can't you? Why, she gimme the lampr
Gimme the lamp'-the glossary would
say that he meant that the young woman
had made eyes at him." given him the
ONCE or the high sign" or something OF
that sort.
.'Staked youse e tn goo-goo stuff. hey?"
said the cop, apparently relieved that he
wouldn't have to make an arrest which
would require him to be in the police court
early on the following day. well. that's
what l fought. On y'r way, Liz. Beat It
vile y'r shoes is good. Blow. If youse
don't I'll run youse in an that'n cost
youse ten iron men In TIL mornln'. see?'
Inc young woman beat it," but not ex-
actly in the way the cop intended She
got into cab and went to the office of her
rather, one of the most prominent and pub
lic-spirited citizens In New York, and father
and started something. The story the young
woman had to tell General Bingham had a
good deal to do with the organization of
this new Washers squad
he
hand or after investigation, Just why New
York is perhaps the one city in the United
States in which it is unsafe for women to go
abroad alone during the day light hours
One of the answers is that New York is no
longer. in any true sense of the word. an
American city at all.
AS respects the manners and morals Of
It's population, New York is Just as much
European city as Paris or Vienna or
Berlin perhaps a little more so. And the
European Ideas with respect to women pre-
the Washers. or. indeed any considerable
percentage of them. are foreigners. They
are really. for the most part moo Yawk-
ers," as they call themselves. But they
are fellows who have been inoculated with
the continental idea prevalent here that
when women are seen alone on the public
thoroughfares they are natural and legiti-
mate prey for leisurely males.
The Fresh New Yorker.
The standard breed Of New Yorker made
fine material for this sort Of incubation, for
the New York city born and bred male Is
inherently. innately and instnctively the
freshest. unsaltedest. swell-headedest pan
talooned thing on the surface Of the civil
lized globe. The conceit of the average
New York man would be both comic and
pathetic II 1t did not exploit itself In SO
many offensive manifestations
The stodgy, well -kept-looking women
from the provinces who talk at their con-
ventions and meetings about what a fine
and noble thing it Is to be an American
woman. shielded by the splendid and in
dulgent and protecting race of American
men, every man a knight" don't mean that
1t is fine thing to be an American woman
In New York. They can't mean that. 1t
would sound too foolish to people who know
their New York. The manners of men to-
ward women may be worse in Constanti-
nople and Teheran than they are In New
York, but if they are. d-fashioned Ameri-
can men, even young ones, from the prov
inces' of this country have got to be
shown. CLARENCE l.. CULLEN.