The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-01
MOURNERS PACK METROPOLE
BROADW.AY HOLDS A WAKE
: no MARX ITS PASSING.
Eddie Burke Gets the Last Drink. rs He
] Got The Frst-Men Known In All
2 LINES Freauented the Place In
the Eight Years OF the C0nsidlnes.

Q They turned the box on the old Metro
pole at a fashionable hour this morning
Ehen Mr.. Eddie Burke eased into his
receptive system the ultimate drink
Surrounding Mr.. Burke. smiling wanly,
were Mr.. Willie Bat Masterson, Mr.. Gawge
Rawhide Weldon. Big Tim and a quantity
ef S~ullivans. Mr.. Buffalo Bill. Mr.. Cbawlie
White. Mf, Ted Marks and the Corsidines.
George and John. 1t was a pathetic
little scene. look at il how You will, for
The good old home. with the poison ivy
vines dropping over F~orty-second street
tnd the gilded statue of Mary Trimming
tAiark- at the entrance to the Hot Room,
wa on the fritz. a dead card.
Outside. in Broadway. in F~orty-second
street and in Seventh avenue, crowd
yammered at the doors. shepherded into
orderly lines by the traffic cop Of the
night squad. Slow moving souses kept
to the right hand curb, moving gradually
In q half circle past the Knickerbocker,
the Times Building and finally to the
Ladies' Entrance in the avenue. lnaide
the, .m~ourners packed the place except
for D clearing in which Mr.. Burke. the
Eonsidines and the Suilivans rose like tall
frees. ..
"A face was pressed against a window
pane. at the Seventh ven side. the
rersonal property Of H. Connolly Pollok.
Ths face was wide with grins and low
laughter burbled from it. for MIR. H.
Connolly Pollok cared not a cheese sand
Wich and his heart hardened against a
nobler nature. What was the passing
Of the Metropole 10 him. he thought. He
hadnever won a fight or lost an argument
therein, 90 he Eirded at the mournful.
erYeaS ago. away back in March. 1901,
vhan the Censidines took over the Metro
pole FROM Val Schmitt. who had found the
Etink very lumpy indeed. Eddie Burke
tbokf the fret drink. 30 this morning It
yas up 10 him to surround the last. The
Mpoeedin@ were simple. though tinged
with melancholy.
jim Hawkes.. about the best known
waiter IN New York, brought up from the
cellar d bottle of champagne that hadn't
been busted since the Metropole opened
and uncorked it with a prideful air. shar-
10y, the veteran napkin singer, who has
fuig the bell on many a fine young scrap.
placed glasses on the polished top Of the
round mohogany table, where the Metro
poles council Of state has sat for years.
doping mt the winners ut the racetrack
and the prize ring. Old John Hulzberg.
the head waiter, whose job it was for
years to see that Vesta Victoria and
Lillian Russell and Clarioe Vance and.
Ellie Fay and many others OF the Broad
way stage got the kind Of cocktail that
agreed with their systems, stood at at
tention with a napkin draped over his
isft arm.
Everybody a " Big Tim. who commands
the Lithia Legion, took a glass Of the wine
before Eddie Burke. and then the book
maker. with a Here's TO you, George
and you, John let the drink tr1ckle
down his throat. Save for the distribu-
ton OF souvenirs. and almost everybody
Of any importance who has frequented
the Metropolis In the last eight years got
something or other to remember it BY,
the hetropole,s long run va over. 1891.
fall not a whoop away from the corner
Of Broadway and F~orty-second street
soufh not north of the old shop, for the
heart Of the Tenderloin stays yet below
F~orfy-seoond street-but all Of the old
crowd agreed yesterday that it will have
70 20 soine 70 equal inc Sporting nlstoTy
Of It's predecessor, That occupied q
place unique and distinctive in the life
Of Manhattan after dark. At the Metro
poke the crook and the square guy mel in
armed neutrality. The wire Taper and
the pickpocket rubbed elbows at the bar
In the back room with men whose
word you could tie an elephant to.
The motto Of the place for eight years
wass BE as gay as you like but don't
get mussy.' The Considines figured that
Il was nobody's business. not even their
own, who ate and drank in the Metropole
so long as nobody tried to pull of the kind
of coarse work not tolerated in the best
ssts II was not at all unusual to see.
quietly dining in the. back room over a
glass Of beer and a chop, a Judge whose
pink face bordered with fluffy white
Whiskers was az we'll known as the mining
ssock shark who was kidding a pair OF
dediamonded show girls in the glass
room hard by; or a smooth plain clothes
me- from Headquarters chatting ami
ably with q tapless wiretapper or a faro
bank dealer from the West Forty-sevens
who didn't allow too much to the straight
run OF the cards.
Actors whose names run a foot high
a0foes the top OF three sheets; politicians
who were in right in Tammany and the
organization. with theatres
and amusement parks or the side to fur
49, 10 AtohOy Sboiihptoi
whose names were as well known abroad
here; magazine writer's, muckrakers.
men. social uplifters. re-
formers and, in the red room on Seventh
avenue, bevies and punches of actresses
who slipped their drinks gayly. received
profitable tips from bOokmakers and
others in the know and entertained gen.
tlsmen friends-an these made the old
Metropole famous
Visitors to New York used 20 drop into
the Metropole after the theatres were out
to rubber at a free show that had the
theatres beaten all hollow. Ii was some
thing TO go back to Kankakee or Wabash
and tell the folks how Il had a drink. on
level. with jim Corbett and Bob
and senator McCarren and
Big Tim Sullivan and more famous men
than you could shake a stick at. Bill"
Not that they ever had the drink, mighty
seldom IN TACT unless they brought a repu,
tation East with them, but 1t sounded good
and WINS partly true anyway. For Jim
Corbett n Young Corbett and Ruby
and Jimmy Britt and Jefries
md about ell the rest OF the champion
1shterstnsed the Metropole IA a head
quarters whom they were around town.
As for the actor people, there were
far too many to list. II was a
h1ngou' OF Dan Daily when that
eter j. Daley, one of The funniest men
yer saw Nat Goodwin used
to- be a regular there when he was an
actor, cracking better jokes han ever
over the footlights, with Lew Fields,
Zoe Weber. Charlie Ross. Louis Mann,
Primrose. Lew Dockstader, Sam
Bernard, Joe Coyne, George M. Conan,
Edmund Breese. Eddie Foy dozens and
fo1ens more. They had their pet drinks
- AHAr- -. ILL --l aL. a