The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-20

TX YEW YoRK.-When the life of
nj George Washington Connors-
i 'sChuck" Connors, as everyone
knew him-fickered out few days ago at
the Hudson Street hospital in New York,
| there passed the last of the old Bowery
types.
"Chuck' was of the Bowery breed of a
generation ago. Unlettered, unread, MS
mouth filled with picturesque language OIL
| the terrible tough type, he would be as
strangely out of place among the modern
bad men of the Lower East Side as
| cable car on Broadway.
Compared to the gunman OF To-Day
| Chuck spoke in strange tongue. lie
would have been uncomfortable among
a crowd of gangsters speaking pretty ialr
Italian as readily as a good brand of pub
liz school English His ready fists would
have. been as useless as a policeman's
sheathed club If brought into action
against the gunman's automatic revolver.
"Chuck' would have been like duck
out of water had he sought his asso-
ciates in pool halls instead of the bar
rooms and chop suey joints of Chinatown.
q
even in the native Chinese lingo than the
average Italian-American gangster wouio
be among his nom English speaking neigh
bors lust over from Italy or Sicily
Some say "Chuck" was 81 when he died,
but others believe the Bowery lie used
him up more quickly than that, and ne
may not have been so In fact. But
"Chuck's" life was measured by expert
epcc and not in years. or late he had
n,cked up a fair living plotting parties
of sightseers and rubbernecks through
Mott and Pell streets and the iapyrln'hs
of the Chinese quarter. He even turned
to the stage for a living few years
ago and through so doing met one OF
the disappointments of his life. Known
as the "Mayor of Chinatown" he was
visited by theatrical agent, VINO was
| arranging to star him In play OF Bowery
life. Hear "Chucks' description OF how
he found the play was not to be Ihe
Mavor of Chinatown but only Ihe
Bowery After Dark" Said Chuck:
Say. dis is de woist case OF ruppin II
into a guy I ever heard OF.
"If l didn't have me bundie-me rag
LIZ wild mean all ready to be an acter-
inc. I'd blow de job, would.
| "A guy comes to me at Flynn's and
sez Here. "Chuck." I wants guy what
can act Well, what could a guy loik
me do? Wild Liz lookin' on, too? l
threw out me chest an seen dat me rag
was watchin' me.
".sav., sez 1, what's to be de name of
this pieee?'
THE Bowery After 1t Gets Black
seq he. ("The Bowery After Dark.o
...Nix., sez I, not for mine. It's Older
Chuck Connors, Mayor of Chinatown
or 1 quit q"
They promised Chuck they would
change the name for him, but they never
did. and "Chuck,' needing the money,
went with the show anyway.
There was at least one uplifting infiu-
ence in the life of Chuck Connors This
was yielded by his wife, who died In
1905. AS Nellie Noonan she was just a
comely girl graduate of the Jackson pub
liz school when she met "Chuck" Con-
nors at Bowery BALL Her brilliance
was as an arc light to an incandescent
compared to "Chuck's'' slow moving
mentality, but she was dazzieu Dy MS
dash; and good priest finding no. i'm
pediment married them. For nine years
they were happy together and Chuck,
a rover though he was, was true to his
Nell. Their home was apart from the
bcwery where "Chuck's" fame and live
lhood lay, for he saw to 1t that his wife
should not become a part of the life he
knew.
Nell taught Chuck" to read and write