The Washington herald., 1920-04-01
New York City
By o. o. Mcintyre


New York, March 31.-Broadway
Is always a gay street OF adventure.
Romance turks at every corner. l
have this story from a world-fa-
nous sleuth. A newly arrived guest
from London stepped out of the
lobby of one of the ornate hotels
near Times Square. He was seeking
a breath of fresh air before turning
in for the night.
He watched the myriad gay col
ored lights foam and bubble for
time and then turned to go back
into the hotel. He was half way up
the steps to the entrance when he
saw a man coming out. In stepping
aside he noticed the expression of
absolute horror on the mans face.
The stranger was we'll built,
rather tall and gave forth an air of
good breeding. But his face was
CHASTITY ashen. The Englishman
had once seen a leopard killed in
jungle and the eyes of the beast in
the last throes of death shot forth
greenish and yellow glints that he
never forgot.
There was some thing of the same
terror stricken look in this man
all taken in at glance. The man
from London started to ask the
stranger IL he was i'll and then
something stopped him for at the
bottom of the steps the man stopped,
rubbed his hands quickly over his
eyes as il to remove the spectre of
a bad dream. Then he said half
aloud:
We'll, 1 have killed himV
The Englishman started. He saw
1t all. This man was a murderer.
His victim was no doubt now some
place in the hotel. He looked about
quickly. A traffic policeman was
lazily directing the light summer
night traffic. He started toward the
officer. then turned to see which way
the stranger was going. But the
man had gone-vanished in a few
seconds.
He went to headquarters and told
his story. A search was made of
the hotel No one was found MUIR
dered. The Englishman hired de-
tectives and began a search or his
own. He ran up against a blind
alley at every turn. And so at last
he sailed for England.
Two months later he dropped into
a cinema palace near the Strand.
He watched the unfolding of u
thriller. And then he saw the en-
trance of the New York hotel, rec
ognized himself going up the steps
and saw his murderer" coming
down with that lock of terror
Theda Rara in the spoken drama
was a tragic fizzle. In her part in
the play she used cocaine, instigated
the theft of an emerald, murdered d
young man, took money from a gent
other than her husband. said GO to
HE'LL" lied to a burgler, broke a
young girls heart, refused to see i
stricken mother, visited Chinatown
after dark, gave her latchkey to n
rounder and smoked a cigarette.
And at the end of the third act.
Miss Bara said that God had been
very kind to her. She no doubt re-
ferred to the fact that at no time
during the evening did the earth
open and swallow up the authors
star and the company. New York
has never seen such a poor show.
Miss Bara spoke her lines like a
school girl and the show proved
only one thing That an author can
make an actress look ridiculous II
he wills IT.
At the close of a spiritualistic
meeting in Brooklyn the other night
a man got up and denounced the
idea of communication with those
who have passed over. He said he
had even stories of people in this
day and age being chased by ghosts.
Tell me-" he said. looking out
over the audience, lis there a per-
son here who has ever been chased
by a ghost?"
A meek. little mild man
In the rear stood up. do you mean
to say" he was asked, that you
have been chased by Il ghost?"
The man suddenly grew red. 90
no." he said. Il thought you said
goat"
The cafes in an effort to fan the
dying spark of life have turned to
the old scheme of having a masked
hostess. The intimation being that
the hostess is of royal blood or a
society debutante. The last one was
unmasked by a fellow in his cups
last winter and proved to be an ex.
waitress at ChildS.