The Washington herald., 1920-10-02
New York City
The Old Night Life.
By o. o. Mcintyre.

New York, Oct. 1.-Queer night
haunts are springing up in those
sedate brownstone fronts in the
Forties. Deserted by aristocratic
families of yesteryear, they prove
a desirable rendezvous for the mot
ley crowds that once patronized
such places as the Haymarket and
the Poodle Dog.
They open at midnight and are
soon filled with cheap gamblers,
con men, touts and the women who
seek the same stratum of society.
The air reeks with cheap perfume,
cigarette smoke. bad booze and the
sweat of unclean humanity. Each
has a spawned piano with the in
! evitable FOUNDER. legs crossed and
cigarette hanging from loose lips.
Food is sold but mostly the prof
its come from drinks. The houses
are cheek by-jowl with Broadway
and are brazen in admitting GUS
/ toners. Very few are questioned.
/ Those in their cups are especially
welcome and 1t is said that many
awaken miles from these places
stripped of valuables.
The drunk rarely escape unfieec-
/ ed OF course many Of the patrons
come from those who are "out for
! a lark" Sight-seers, after theater
parties and the like. Drinks are
from 81 to 50 each. There are also
| private rooms and entrances that
are known only to the initiated.
! At the curb are rows of nighthawk
taXicabs and four wheelers.
| 1t is the old sordid night life
blooming in different miro. The
| houses are so constructed that
noises of the widest kind are not
! heard on the sidewalk. Drug ad-
diets are able, IL is said, to rent
rooms in which they hold their
stupefying orgies
OF course there will be raids. at
ter the resorts become public scan
dals: but once they becope estab-
lished it takes many reform waves
/ finally to wash them away.
.One of Them Take-ons.-
Clare Briggs who is a member of
/ the CartOonists' Colony in Meddy-
! bemps, Maine has native who
acts as cook and does the general
/ hOusewOrk He was sweeping up
! the room where Briggs works the
! other day and finally came over to
where the cartoonist was drawing.
He breathed down his neck awhile
. q lld uidllN Sdlu- nat = Olt Oh
/ them take-offs ain't it?"
Way to Check Thefts
! The heaviest losses from theft by
guests are suffered by the most ex-
/ elusive and expensive hotels in
/ New York ReCan Of the Knicker-
. booker had about the only system
/ to checkmate thefts of this sort
successfully \ guest could not
/ leave the hotel without the maid
on the floor where he lived being
notified She was made responsible
for everything in the room AS
soon as the guest was on the ele-
vator it was her duty to enter the
room and make a quick survey of
an article-if anything was miss
ing the cost was Immediately add
ed to the bin Sometimes the guests
held up hands in righteous indiE-
nation but in the end they paid
| Most Of the things that are pur-
/ loined are for souvenirs and the
patrons would be shocked if they
! thought they would actually be held
for theft
Il Do No< Beg
The wrinkled old men who stand
/ in Times Square al night selling
tawdry Sewgaws for children pre-
sent pathetic figures Most Of them
are past 20, trembling and infrm.
Their voices are so weak that they
can scarcely be heard They do not
ask charity I saw one restore TO
a tiippant youth quarter that was
tossed to him u have something
to sell" he said 7 do not beg"
And there was a flash in his eye
I that showed plainly he meant it