Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-16
RorNn Anour SEW YoRl1.
RippIes on n Current Of Life In the
Metropolfs.

pictures the depression In political betting
circles in New York City, where once upon
a time, and not very long ago, betting on
election results was as open and active as
dealings on change, now there IL nothing
doing day or night in the former way.
Some business is reported on the quiet, and
It Is kept very quiet, lest some inslnuating
law officer gobbles the stakes and stake
holder. A former stakeholder at the Hoff-
man house observed to an interviewer that
Sc the melancholy days" have come to stay
in the betting business, and he is not TAX
Ing any stakes or chances with the law
this year. I'm the old. days" he says,
"betters would work me TO death. l have
taken in as much as $4,000 or $4,000 a
night here for several nights in election
bets. | used to stand behind the cigar
counter, have a policeman on each side Of
me, and take in the money as fast as /
could write out the wager slips for the
b%etters. I never had time to even look. up;
did not even write the names Of the bet
ters; Just gave them the slips on a stub
book that was all numbered. Each bettor
got a slip, I kept one, and there was the
stub. When 1t came to paying off they
presented me the slip they had. ! saw that
It corresponded with the stub in the book
and with my slip and paid out the money.
- NNA' ~ AdoN 1 hdu uo TIME 10 put IL |
away in a drawer Of any place. 1 Just
swept it off the top of the cigar case and
let it fall on the floor at my feet. That
space back Of the cigar stand was filled up
with money. I stood in it piled around me
up to my waist. There were $50 bills, 500
bills, $500 bills. $1,000 bills by the hundred.
when / was finally through for the
night a couple of the hotel help would
come down with two great big hampers
made OF steel, a little larger than those
big hampers bakers used to carry bread
around in their wagons. They had a steel
top with a heavy lock on IL.
Il would stand there and watch them
pick all that money up and crowd It into
those hampers, pressing it down to make
1t all go in. Then the lid was shut down
and I'd lock it and take it up to the pro-
prietor's room, where we sat up all night
sorting out the bills of various denomina-
tions. After it was all sorted it was
counted. Then I counted my stub book
and made everything agree before I went
to bed.
Policemen stood guard over those big
hampers fun of money until the bank
opened next morning and we'd take it over
there and deposit. l want to say that no
man ever worked harder in his life than
l worked those last few days before an
election
An interesting state of affairs is exist
Ing in New York. The reuuisitions this
year for the various departments total
S2OO'OOO,0OO, and a delegation of angry tax
payers swarmed into the city hall to de-
mand that the public get return for the
money given; that the departments earn
their money, and that the hours of public
business be regular business hours. This
demand for genuine business administra-
ton of political affairs borders on revoli-
tomas the department officials and ruling
politicians look on 1t, on anarchy. But Is
signalizes the movement which is beginning
to stir all along the line in municipal at
fairs-thC business principle followed out IN
public matters.
IL is doubtful if Victor Hugo and Dumas
had combined their imaginations whether
they could have produced a more sensa-
uonal incident than the struggle between |
a mailman and two policemen ON the snap
OF the Williamsburg bridge 1872 feet above
the surface of the East river. The specta-
Gle OF the mailman bent on suicide, climb
ing to the pinnacle of the bridge tower
and pursued by two policemen, who were
compelled to scale the same dizzy emil
nence, was one which gave the New York
crowd of thousands that watched It re-
enforcement in their old belief that the
truth is occasionally as strange as fic-
ton.
The men motorists haven't any monopolv
on cold nerve when they scoot through the
city streets. The other day a pretty Young
woman, in a gray motoring costume that
matched the gray body of her racing car,
came to a halt right across the Thirty
fourth street Cross-Town car tracks at
Madison avenue. Neither the Cross-Town
nor the Madison avenue cars, in any direc-
ton, could pass the auto. She hoped
bhthely out, took a wrench from her tool
Kit and began to tinker with some part OF
the works, A big car inspector hustled up
to her. you'll have to move this auto.
Miss he began. She didn't even listen to
him, but went on tinkering. He summoned
a pair of husky motormen from two of the
stalled cars. Grab hold of this and push
it out of the way" he ordered. The young
woman i'm gray wasted no words. She Just
started for the huskies, wrench in hand.
They climbed right back on their cars. She
went back to her tinkering. In five min
utes there was a quadruple line OF stalled
cars reaching for blocks in four directions.
Every passenger, anxious to get home at
the rush hour, had his head out of the
windows to swear. All the motormen and
conductors were grouped about the silent
auto. Everyone talked except the young
woman, who maintained r. mastery silence.
BY and by she concluded her work, got into
the drivers seat, pulled the jigger and
started on. As she did so she flashed a
smile at the angered crowd. Every man
of them grinned back and SOM lifted
their hats, for she was pretty.
The smallest newspaper in the world, ac-
cording to the publishers statement, APP
peared a few days ago on the lower East
Side of New York City. II Is OF the size
OF a postal card, with one-half on the ad-
dress side devoted TO advertisements and
the paper" proper printed in small type
in Yiddish, under the title The Jester. The
name denotes its character and it contains
principally humorous paragraphs, with
local. national and international points.