Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-04-12

used to write 1arceS Tor the ueIeCIaIlou OA
a preceding generation, was inspired to
commemorate the Bowery in a song verse,
the same to be sung In an effort of his
known to the stage as "a Trip to China
town"
The song was "A success. A half million
copies were sold. 1t was rendered by
countless soubrettes. from the ~rockbound
coast of Maine to the sun-kissed shores of
California-as the spellbinders say-from
the Great Lakes to the gulf.
The old parlor organ down on the farm
doomed 1t out. No mandolin clubs pro-
gram was complete without it. The chill
dren in the street knew it by heart.
The Bowery-the Bowery-
They say such things and they do such
things
On the Bowery-the Bowery;
III never go there any more.
The Bowery was bad enough and tough
enough before the song came out, but it's
evil reputation was somewhat localized
until Mr.. Hoyt's melody became national
property. After that. everybody knew all
about the Bowery. or thought they did.
Perhaps this verse is not Unfamiliar:
I Went into an auction store;
! never saw any thieves before:
First he sold me a pair of soX,
Then said he. How much for the box ?"
Someone said two dollars: | said Three
He emptied the box and gave it to me
II sold you the box. not the socks" said
he
I'll never so there any more.
Time drifted along and the song wore
out. but the Bowery never shook off its
bad reputation. 1t was held up as a ter
ribie place; a street lined with dives and
dance halls. thieves and ruffians. Per-
haps there was some justice in the name
it had at the time. but the Bowery has
been reformed many years.
Tho Name Hurts Business.
Right now the famous old thoroughfare
Is all excited over a proposal to change
Its name to Central Broadway. Members
of the Manhattan Bridge Transit I'm
provement association, most Of whom are
property owners and business men along
the street, are planning to carry a fight
to the board OF aldermen to have the
name Bowery wiped out. They blame
Hoyt for sending O q false impression
Of their neighborhood. Out-of-town busi-
ness houses hesitate to do business with
a concern that has a Bowery address.
Banks prefer to lend money on property
located elsewhere In the city. A suit of
clothes with a Bowery tag sewed inside
the coat is not tempting.
As a matter OF fact. there never was
anything very terrible about the Bowery.
a long time It was the abiding place
of cheap dance halls and cheap forms Of
entertainment. It was the rendezvous IT
sodden humanity. There was a great deal
OF drinking n a lot OF bar room fighting.
The hebitues were criminals in the larger
sense. and the administration Of knock
out drops to a half-drunken sailor was
about the limit OF their hand:craft. OF
course. there were con men who preycd
on the unsuspecting visitors, but. heavens!
they used to do that on old Union ave-
nue.. right here in Kansas City.
The earliest known history Of the Bow
cry dates back to 1910. That was it's most
dangerous period because there were wild
animals rampant and real ndian on it
who weren't above murder. In its most
Infamous days 1t was. Of course. no place
for anyone seeking the uplift. There were
sights to be seen that might shock the
sensitive. but the casual stroller. who
minded his own business. could get along
- nicely there as anywhere else. Even
at the time Hoyt's song was written 1t
was a respectable business street, despite
its giddy music halls and its blood-and-
thunder dramatic houses. Hoyt really
libeled the old street-and the libel always
stuck.
Once an Old Farm Road.
In the old days the Bowery was q
shaded road and derived it's name from
the fact that it ran to Peter Stuyvesant's
farm or bouwerie. Flowers arched it at
many places. When the American revo-
luton came on the Bowery began to take
OF a different character. Until then it
lat peer just an ordinary street in little
old New York. When the British troops
arrived and took up their quarters on
1t the regular business a way to va
riOus amusement enterprises. The sub
sequent arrival of General Washington's
troops did little to alter its new start.
When the war ended there were 10 we'll
established saloons In operation. But the
Bowery wasn't particularly wicked in the
early part of the 10Th century. Nine.
Hutin. the first ballet dancer to appear