Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-19

-
Some" Of the jewelry he pawned or sold
at various places in the district where he
knew they would be accepted without
question. He was able to keep up his
stuss playing for several nights with the
proceeds.
The murder was committed August 4.
1t was not until the 18th that he was ar
rested, his arrest being brought about
through the keenness of one of the Union
market precinct policemen. named
Barnes. who located some of the missing
. jewelry in East Houston street pawn
shops, and. through it, traced Newfeldt.
During those nine days Newfeldt might
have been seen any night in one of the
many hangouts of the district playing his
favOrite game. No one questioned where
he obtained the money, although the pa
pers at the time were full of the horrible
crime he had committed.
He was arrested in one OF the hang
outs Of the district, tried. convicted and
electrocuted. Newfeldt was twenty-five
years old when he paid the penalty for
his crime.
/ have seen a ''dip'-as the pickpOcketS
are known in the underworld-return to
a hangout twice in single night after
having gone away broke and each time
he has come back with funds The source
of his fresh bank rolf was never dis
cussed. except. perhaps, by way or CON
graduation on the dips" quick work.
There was dip known as "Frisk
Adams. l saw him cleaned out one night
at the big hangout on East Houston
street 1t was then about II o'clock At
a quarter to T. "Frisk was back. |
don't know how much he brought with
him, but he said he had dropped SIG when
he was cleaned out for the second time.
Adult half-past l. he came into the place
a third time. This time he was running
and putting.
The icebox door slammed on him just
in time. for his victim was in hot pursuit,
running right into the restaurant. The
lookout there assured the pursuer that no
one had come into the place during the
previous fifteen minutes. and the man
went away to continue his search else
where. The lookout told me of this later
on as, came out of the hang-out.
This time 'Frisk'' had made quite d
good haul. There was So in the wallet
he had boosted" He had obtained it
only three blocks from the hang-out.
''Frisk" played for an hour or two and
quit somewhat ahead of the game.
Incidents of this kind occur every night
at these places. The pickpockets who
work the crOsstOwn cars in other sections
of the city come down here to speculate
WIN tHelT lil-SOtteIl IL IuCh cues
against them and they want to continue
play. they get busy again and turn an
other trick" suckers are abroad at
all hours of the day or night. and the
stuss game is never closed.
About a year and a half ago another
place was opened on East Houston street
in opposition to the big hang-out," but it
didn't last long. 1t was we'll fitted up
and contained some thirty or forty tables
for stuss playing. A restaurant in front
served as a blind.
The place became popular in the under
world. The owner of the "big hang-out"
feared the rivalry of the new establish
ment and offered to buy out the place
His offer of 5000 was refused.
Then another course was resorted to-
The owner of the big hang-out' called in
the aid Of his friends. the police, and had
the rival establishment raided, and it was
raided so thoroughly that it closed Up
for good.
But there are several hundred of the
smaller "hang-outs.'' too humble to take
away much of the percentage Of the big
hang-out," which are very seldom mo-
Tested by the police. They suffer more
from the ''stick-up men of the district
who. having lost their ill-gotten gains in
these places. consider it perfectly legiti-
mate to recover them by force.s
To protect themselves against depreda-
tons of this kind some of the smaller
They covered the door leading to the
''hang-Out" proper with sheet iron, which
was connected with powerful electric
battery.
When the lookout in the restaurant
was confronted with the gun of a stick
up man and ordered to press the buZZer
which would give the signal to the man
on the inside to open the door, he pressed
n off
to charge the iron-covercd door with cleo
tricity and to give the 'stick-up' man the
shock of his life. In most cases he would
drop his gun and before he could recover
ii. the lookout would be out on the street
yelling for aid.
Unfortunately for the stuss dealers this
ingenious method of protection viola ed
the regulations of the board of under
writer's, or some other official body, and
they were compelled to abandon it.
Most Of the ''hang-Outs'' in this district
are equipped with trapdoors. These are
patrOniZed by crooks who are expecting
a call from the police at any minute. The
lookout is told to be particularly careful
about letting In ''suspcious' characters,
and If a ''bull'' insists upon entering the
'hang-out' the lookout presses the buzz
ger three times, a signal to those inter-
ested to make their exit by the way of
the trapdoOr. This trapdOOr usually
leads into a basement. through which
the fugitives may readily make their way
to the street
The system of protecting fugitives in
this district Is SO thorough that police
men regard ii as almost hopeless to at
tempt to make collar" there The de-
tectives, OF course. with the aid of a
stool pigeon" can almost always get
reliable information regarding the where
abouts of crook he is looking for. and,
place. he gets his man.
There was dip" tpickpockeD | knew
who found 1t necessary to take refuge in
SUFFOLK street "hang-out' for four DAYS
fortunately for him it was place which
was run In connection with a regular
restaurant. and his meals We're therefore
easily obtained.
Through stool pigeon a central Of
nee detective, who happened to want"
this cook. had learned Of his presence
place for week. Two or three times
every day he entered the restaurant,
and showing his warrant obtained en-
trance to the rear room. which served
as the hangout. Every time however
his effort proved in vain. for the look
out had given the signal in time, and
the pickpocket had made his way
through the trapdOor.
After four days Of ceaseless effort the
detective gave it up, and heard after