The sun., 1908-12-26
HERRYDEYFORTHE BEGGAUS
PANHANDLERS GRATEFUL FOR
A GREEN CHRISTMAS.

FrataEfhe Suck ers Better Tlfnea ana
AitItf weather Made Them Prosperous
The aoppers and the plingers gave
marry Last. night In the back room OF Peg
Iae'e sdnmbs on the Bowery. not min
,,aela walk from where Park row curves
soiikk from Chatham Square. to celebrate
the fattest Christmas the beggars OF New
Y0fi hhve enjoyed for many year.
lld Mafldeissohn scraped the fiddle. while
ThS Undertaken the solemnest scamp
II the craft, beat time steadily with
1ttizth that had brought TO him many
times It's weight in silver.
n vou had been there with the price
and the word you might have seen the
BACK Hoods snatch for the coppers that
sIns,and's Prince" Dublin Johnny Arm
Strona. the deaf and dumb topper OF
Twenty.third street. scattered on the
eagdust OF the floor while he cackled
louder than any; or you might have recog-
nizsd In Chicago Kitty the doleful young
lkdylfrom Georgia who got dollar from
yoathe other day to help her get back 70
sheE dear old Southern home to see the
folks on Christmas Kitty sat at table
With Philadelphia Fatty. Seldom Seen
and Memphis Dutchy. brethren in town
for the holidays, good straight plingers
avery one OF them, as neat at patching
an eve or taking up an acid sore or twist
ing an arm as New York Red or Blind
pboIan at the next table but one.
Even if you had seen the guests of Peg
Log n score Of times s1uatting miserably
IA front of the theatres or the department
stores and whining for charity you
ty0nidp't have known the wretched dere-
iicfn in this tay crew Old Mendeiss ohm.
really a good musician, had laid aside an
ev6 tSAtch and his blue glasses while he
iSflsiled: and The Undertaken, as, deft an
ahochstabler' or swinder as ever ree.ed
off string OF lies showed n pair OF arms as
strai6ht and strong as an athletes. Oid
ctliRley wore his wooden leg because it
wins as necessary to him in pleasure as in
business bat it was wonderful the way
Billy manoeuvred schooner OF dark with
his twisted arm. without the word and
the price and one among the beggars TO
Soslch for you, these marve.s OF Man
hatfAn couldn't have been seen. So that
ifvou had stumbled back through the hall
way TO the rear room grunt would'have
run before. and all YOU would have noticed
would have been collection of sncom-
monty ugly and unpleasant people 81 entity
drinking beer.
Before Dublin johnny got tight and fell
10 the floor with Toronto Tip rolling
over and over in the sawdust and the
black hoods fitted out the side door and
hurried uptown to their snare at Mother
{ Woocsi 8 II, West Sixteenth stTeet-and that
WAS long after midnight several of the
aristocrats of the graft dropped in for
q aocial call. Kid Mccoy, a satche thief
when panhandling Is bad. slipped in with
Big Spanish. They came down from the
Waldorf. where they bad cleaned up on
etke gentleman in hard luck game, work
ing suckers from the West. Presently
eppeared The Man with the Yellow Dog
Ihare isn't plinger or thief in town
who knows his real name-and bought
champagne, for his lay had panned out
with the yellow dog under his arnn-a
beast OF blood and beauty-and heard his
interesting tale-how he won blue ribbon
At the Garden show. but was touched for
his roll. had TO get back to Philadelphia by
ni&1ltssand. wouldn't you oblige a sports
mdn and . gentleman with the loan oil
Il would take an hour and much clean
pafef TO catalogue the visitors who
slfpbed 10 and out before Peg Leg doused
the light and drove them all to their
ro0sts along the Bowery. for Peg Legs
was only one OF several drums where
tho beggars celebrated Christmas in their
own way and swapped yarns about how
-tboy beat it along the main stem and
told the suckers how il happened
There was a CAV party at the Alhgator
nnother at the White Elephant. and the
neFriest Of all, perhaps. at Diamond Dan
= O'Rourke's place where high heels. gay
cats. black hoods and mouser beaters
Ightenee uf silver the pockets that had
leen woll filled by soft hearted but very
unspphsticaled shoppers.
There %as 4 craps game at the Alligator
where three blind men and paralytic
rolled tho dice and the voice that was
rpised loudest of all IN Come you. ssevenl
Jst,A out you natural" was the voice Of
Wisconsin, Billy who became deaf and
dumb from hardships suffered while
3 serving his country in the Spanish war.
There's nothing stingy about the plineers
when the graft has been good, as the
barhops in half dozen downtown gin
mills could testify last night.
Two among the best known of all New
York's beggars wero absent from the
celebrations. Charley Berkowitz, the
Hopper of Herald Square, who is in the
workhouse. and Klondyke Jean Dawson,
Who has ornamented the lobby OF the
Holland House and the Waldorf many
tinle to tho chagrin OF gulHble strangers,
was nowhere TO be found. The tip. went
around that Klondyke is doing bit out
In Jefferson City. Ind. Carelessness in
the practice OF his summer trade OF yegg-
gnan got Jean in bad
ActIng Capt Edmund Leigh OF the
branch detective bureau in West Fifty
! second street got the goods on old Berko-
= vifs and had him sent TO the island.
Berkovitz is really blind. but he
brought it on himself from throwing
i'm his eyes 30 that nothing but the whites
showed, to simulate blindness. Three OF
hid swives" had nip with The Under
takor at Peg Legs.
All in ali there has seldom been a
Ctsrlstnas so profitable for the great.
loosely bound fraternity Of beggars in
+ this town. In the first place the weather
was mild There was little hardship
for those seasoned ones in "1opping' at
lively street corner, or in standing for
hours in front OF a department store
exciting the sympathies Of shoppers
(. warmed by tho spirit Of the season. Again.
the times are better. There has been more
money CIRCULATING and people generally
haze been more amcnable TO the pleas
OF the fake cripples and blind men;
but best of all for the graft there have
been no Charity Organization Society
officers nosing around to spoil the game
Of old acquaintances. Capt. Leigh and
n pair OF plain clothes men were out yes
terday and for several days before. but
4 they couldn't cover the whole town.
After. they had rooted a, faker from his