Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-13
HIDDEN BY GASLIGHT

at is difficult for me to understand why
folks should express such amazement over
the fact that man disposed should find
it possible to lead what is called a double
life without being caught in the shadier
phase of his existence" observed a man
who comes into contact with all sorts and
conditions of men.
Tremendous surprise was shown, for ex-
ample, by Arthur kemp's hosts of steady
going. conservative, clean-living friends
when the fact was set forth that Kemp, for
long time past. had been familiar fig
ure in the Tenderloinish night life of Wash
ington. and that for a considerable period
previous to his flight he was handling glove
with scores of Washington's dead-games
who contrive to live by their wts-which
means that they thrive on the guilelessness
of men known marks.
Now. there isn't anything in the least
surprising about this. The answer is SIM
ply that Kemps better grade of friends
never. by any chance. came into contact
with the 'dead-game' crew with whom he
associated after nightfall so that there
possibility of their hearing anything
about the absconder's doings after he clos
ed down his desk and put behind him the
duties and responsibilities Of his office in
the police department.
''kemps respectable friends, so to call
them, had him figured as a strictly sedat e.
thoroughly upright and wholly conserva-
tive citizen, man entirely beyond and
above the temptations of the mean and
squalid thing colloquially known as the
sportin' life. To his daily associates he
was solid. substantial chap a family
man i!abued with the normal mans idea of
the responsibility attaching to the father
of family, a man of such wholesome
tastes that he rode out to his farm every
evening for the enjoyment of the wide. I'M
hampered spaces, man keenly interested
in the cultivation of things on his own
patch of ground and all that sort of thing.
Kemp never did anything to disa buse these
c!eanly friends of the impression they had
thus formed of him through many years of
knowing him. Such friends never touched
shoulders with the fellows with whom
Kemp fell, of late years, to consorting after
nightfall. and SO they had no way of find
ing out how things actually stood with him.
Among the men of the downtown push
not only the dead-games. called, but the
fellows who do their mmgling and fore
gathering after the lights it-it had
been known for a long time that Arthur
Kemp was having pretty good time with
himself to put it that way. He was one of
the boys, rounder. a spender. even a
high flyer. He always had a yellow roll to
flash, these night people observed. and he
was liberal with his currency. After night
fall he talked like an entirely different man
from the Arthur Kemp of the police depart
lnent He had the Jargon and the patois of
the sporting element: he was there with a
pretty fair article of slang, some hing that
he never employed during the daylight
/ hours: he had what is called d first-rate
line on the horses running at all of the
ira cks. although he was poor pony player
and an inveterate hacker of long shots
hence his continued losses, by the way; he
was a m:ddlng average judge of red liquor,
and could hold his own in the consumption
of the same with the best of the night
bunch he was an incessant front-seater at
the stag variety show and wasn't QiSp,ea Sed
when the girl in the front row who hap
pened to be the real locker of the chorus
happened to hand him the lamp, the
saying goes: and, in general Kemp was
perfectly well known to the night providers
as an individual who'd go the distance
and stay with the whole basket Of tricks
from canape to crackers. The dead games
observed, of course. that Kemp WAS spend
ing quite lot of money, but they never
comment upon a fact of this kind as long
as they are the beneficiaries OF such lib
crafty. Moreover. it was commonly sup
posed among the people of this afterdark
clement with whom Kemp forega thered
that he was a highly successful hacker OF
the horses. for he did put over quite a few
heavy winnings from the handbook makers.
and the reports of nifty winnings gain a
much larger circulation than any story of
heavy losses.
We'll. while all of these facts as to Kemp
We're, as say, perfectly well known to the
fellows who follow up the downtown life
year in and year out. how was 1t possible
for kemp's respecta BILE friends to be let in
as to this situation? The clearly living
fellows go home about their business after
their work is done. and, If they come down
town at all after dinner It is to take some
| of Their women folks to the theater or
something of that sort. They don't fool
around the groggeres after the lights are
lit: they don't know the dead-games even
by sight, and they have no sort of commu-
nication with any class of people IRON
whom they could gain involuntary infor-
nation, by way of gossip, about one OF
their friends engaged in going the pace with
gang whose companionship works him
all sorts of injury. If, In the early stages
Of it. kemp's decent friends could have
| been put wise to the sort of dissipation he
was gradually miring himself in they could
| have, and unquestiOnably would have got
around him and made an effort to save him
| they would most likely have succeeded, for
| think the man was sound at bottom and
| that he was merely the victim of weakness.
But nobody need express any surprise
! over the fact that one Of the most apparent
| ly straight-laced of men can lead the double
| life even in a city OF such comparatively
small size as Washington To all intents
and purposes a man leading the night life
! that Kemp did along toward the last mig ut
! just as well be in another city, so far as
| concerns the possibility Of his respectable
! friends hearing about his night escapades.
| The double life is a whole lot easier and
| more safely practicable than Is generally
! ina gined, and-I hate to say It, but it is
| the truth-there are plenty of ostensibly
| high-gIade men who go right on leading
| that sort OF life to the end of their days
| because they are crafty enough not to per-
init themselves to be found out