The Washington herald., 1918-04-16

Especial Correspondent OF the
Washington Herald)
New York. April 1.-THE revival
OF the gambling murders. a throw
back to the days OF Becker and
RosenthaI. has stirred the Tender
loin sporting circles of Gotham. The
arrest OF Morris Rothenberg. a
singing waiter. accused of murder
ing his gambling companion. throws
some queer sidehghts on the under
world.
1t is to Young Corbett, pugilist
and phrase maker, that one turns
for an adequate description of Roth
enberg, who warbled blithely as he
dealt ham and of of his husky
arm.
1t was in the days when Corbett
began to put on embonpOint and
his declension from the first to the
second rank OF pugilism had def
nitely set in that. the debonair pugil-
ist, who loved a Jest even when he
himself carried the brunt of it,
added the term and description
stopper" to the vocabulary of
Broadway.
The singing waiter was a stop
per" A stopper" is one who tar
ries in the place where sporting
characters gather. and WhensOever
he decries currency or suspects its
neighborhood stops the person
seen or assumed to have it, and re-
quests the accommodation OF a tenn
porary loan.
bA ssSFn definite
place of residence. He fetChes. car
ries and runs servile errands for
whoever will grant him tiny
stake. There are many shoppers
in the back rooms along Seventh
Avenue and in the ell night drug
stores and cheap gambling resorts.
Most of them are hop heads
addicts to opium smokinG-and 1t
is always possible for them to
break out in crime.
Most of them live off the so-Called
earnings of hapless women. They
dress well and seem happy at all
times. II the hazards are not too
great, they ride in the subway at
rush hours and pick a wallet or
watch from some innocent en-
thralled in the reading of his even
ing paper.
The stopper" does not get up
until sundown and he goeth to bed
when most folk are going to their
daily work. The police know them
and they stay clear of the big hotel
lobbies where the grating Is at
ways good and hug, to the dimly
lighted backrooms of saloons or be
hind the barred doors of the East
| Side stuss houses.
II It were not for the recent
| events on the Western front 1t
might be possible to squeeze a lit
tie amusement out of the fact that
the actors in a certain war film,
now appearing on Broadway, picked
the town of Ham as their chief To-
Gale. Also there might be further
ehortles in the news that new ac-
tor in town bears the name OF
Adam Egg. Select your own place
to put the dash. Away up in me
wiIds of the Bronx, a young woman
doctor bears the name of Miss Lotta
Payne.
Two visitors to New York made
notaDle olscoNeTS a. bhe OA@AAANAN
the other, morning. 1t. was before
breakfast and they ordered two of
the weII-known and fairly tolerable
! EYE openers" known as the, Jack
Rose" and asked that they be sent
Immediately.
What happened then, neither the
men nor the, management can i'm
q apine hut within a few moments a
bright-faced bellboy came in with
two large jack roses in full bloom
Both of the visitors took turns
in calling the manager to assure
him. that he had good sense in
opening and maintaining a large
hotel in a quaint and innocent little
5 township. After which, with the
gorgeous roses properly adjusted,
the men strolled TO the highly pol
ished rendezvous from which all
y -4rhers r-nruA. .-Ia.