The Washington herald., 1919-08-12

Special correspondent of The Wash
ington Herald.
New York. Aug. lit was a star
genlmed evening. freshened by the
softest Of zephyrs. Lower Fifth Av-
enue had been touched by the magic
hush that precedes the noise and
clatter Of the Lafayette and Brevoort
turning cafe guests out for the night
But this night the crowds did not
leave. Big Bill Neely. in his open
faced hack, slumped forward In his
! seat What was indeed unusual
Twenty-Five years ago Big Bill drove
up In front of the Breevoort one
morning ia q coach drawn by a new
horse and entered the public hacking
business.
Almost every person of the cafes
around lower Fifth Avenue knows
! Big Bill. He always sat up in front
on the seat without a back to it.
Despite the temptation to slump for
ward as he drove through the years,
Big Bill always sat erect. His clients
were his friends and he tucked all
under the laprobe with the same So
licitude.
And so IL was on this star gemmed
evening that Big Bill and Old Mollie
took their last ride up the avenue
He is going out of business and Old
Molhe-A years old to be exact-is
! going out OF business. The last week
Bill took in $40. Not enough to feed
Aollie and him. Bill has hung on
since the first of July just hoping.
Then he got a little lonesome and
Just a little afraid. Kind OF hope
less and helpless. BilIs plight IL
somewhat akin to situation thirty
blocks up town. There half a thou
sand cabaret show girls are asking:
Where do we go from here?
II Is violating no confidence to say
that many will go home, more will
| join burlesque and musical comedy
road shows and the remainder will go
back to counters. the manicuring ta-
bles and the clerkships. The New
York show girl" the sinuous gazelle
| with the luminous orbs and the incor-
rlsiole toes isn't a New York girl at
/ all. Not one in ten OF these insouciant
damsels call New York home.
T. There was a time on the Bowery
when a man who wasn't so partiou-
lar about his brand of whisky. could
guzZle his senses away by paying a
dime and breathing one Dreathful of
booze through a rubber tube, Some
places charged a nickel Now a res
taurant has opened over on Third
Avenue on the East Side where A
man can eat his hunger away by pay
ing % cents. The place is run by Ur-
balm ]. Ledoux. former American
consul at Prague. 1t is run on the
| Bahai principles. The Bahais are a
sect whose basic principle is the
Golden Rule. If they were poor thew
would like to be given a filling meal
for . cents. Hence they give it to
others.
/ Lee Shubert and Marcus Loew stood
chatting At Broadway and Forty-sec-
ond street the other noon and Tommy.
Gray, the Broadway wit, went swing
ing oy singing: Hi Lee, Hi Low
Hi Lee, Hi Low"
| Raymond Hitchcock made many
/ friends on his recent stay in London
but one had poor sense of humor in
/ writing TO him and addressing the
letter as follows. Raymond Hitch
cock, New York. II received before
! tuly try any bar. II received after
July Try any cellar"
The same day that Lady Diana
1 Cooper, Of London. fell down the
other week, my washerwoman who
/ Ilves IN the Bronx. failed to show I'D.
! The connection is remote BIT it in
| 'erests me Lady Diana had only n
! slight fall and broke into all of the
nrst pages with her latest pictures,
My washerwoman fell down three
Nights carrying a phonograph. Not
a line appeared in any paper. For
( those who want added details her
name is Mrs. Margaret 0'Hoolihan
and she comes originally from Dublin.