The Washington herald., 1920-01-04
NEW YORK CRY
By o. o. McNTYRE

New York, JAN s.-It was from
an innocuous looking. low. little
building on Bleecker street that
two barrels Of poisoned ''Christ-
mas Cheer" spread death and
blindness throughout the East.
Poe never described anything to
equal the sordid poison factory"
whose victims were those who
could not AFFORD to pay the SIS a
quart price for, Yuletide Drinks
and for IS cents a small drink
they imbibed the lethal libation.
More than 100 were Killed. and as
many more blinded.
The tragedy has thrown q scare
into the hardened old timers on
Broadway. who are forced to buy
whatever Ia showed over the coun-
ter anthem at 81 a drink. That
Is the price now. and before the
Eighteenth Amendment comes into
actual operation. 1t Is predicted
tenderloin calls It. win cost So per.
two fingers.
Many are taking their chance on
perfume with so per cent alcohol
instead of risking their lives ami
sight with what might prove to be
wood alcohol drinks" or THE
"Coroner's Cocktail"
The New York Narcotic Squad Is
getting busy to circumvent the
dope smugglers who believe they
have q Cine chance to ply their
nefaric US Vacation new that whisky
drinking carries with 1t the fear
Of poisoning.
A tale Is told in the Broadway
haunts of a wealthy young man
who, fearing that an $4,000 supply
OF wines and liquors he mad cached
at his summer home on Long Island
would run out, bought two barrels
OF whisky for $1,000 barrel.
Two days later he read about thH
poisoned whisky and had a chemist
analyze the samples from, his bar
rels. 1t was mostly wood alcohol
and as it all came from the place
where he purchased his big $4,000
supply he fears he mas been victin'-
lied for that amount and also jeo-
pordized the life OF his friends as
well as himself. He is nervously
waiting the tests that are being
made.
There Is a quaint little restaurant
OF the one-armed-chalr variety on
upper Broadway that is becoming
the rendezvous of the night crowds.
The proprietor has made the sand
witch popular with those who form
erIy patronized the expensive old
rose and gilt cafes. Among the
visitors who have been there are
the Prince of Wales, King Albert
of Belgium, Billie Burke. Ina Clare.
Mabel Norman. Raymond Hitchcock
and Charles Dillingham;.
A rosy checked fellow stepped
out on Broadway New Year Eve, at
three minutes after twelve. AMI
made himself heard above the din
of noise with three loud cheers.
What the h-a-d-e-s are you
whooping for?' said a man going
home from work.
20 nothing" was the sheepish reply
"I just wanted to see how far q man
would go on a couple Of nut sundaes.
Joseph Jefferson o'Neill. who dis
appeared from Broadway six months
ago to become a bright light in the
Ford magazine works in Detroit, ar
rived in town for the holidays. Joe
JEFF was for a long time star reporter
on the Morning World, and met MT
Ford when he covered the cruise OF
the good ship Oscar to get the boys
out Of something or other by Christ
mas. Mr.. O'Neill arrived in-time for
the Vanderbilt Blue Bird ball and
seemed quite as happy as Muss-yeah
Maeterlinck himself. incidentally.
since leaving New York. Mr.. O'Nein
does not spell Detroit that way any
more He spells it 'DetTop."
Conrad Schwartz-no he isn't, he's
a Suffolk Englishman-isi in Manhattan
to give our musical shows the once
over. He is going to dramatize
Broadway for London production. II
will be a glorified spectacle, showing
all the odd and bizarre things that
make the street a lane Of thousand
wonders.
Baldheads and others who occupied
ringside seats at the new Century Roof
show-a midnight affair-had some
new thrills at the opening the other
day. The sportively inclined young
girls in rather nebulous costumes APP
preached the stage through the audi
encc. There was a doughnut NUMBER
which enabled the same young women
to distribute that circular ttdbit
among the men at the ringside tables
and then, too, there was a song called
LET Cutie Cut Your Cuticle," which
gives the same ringside onlookers the
opportunity of holding hands mo
mentarily with a dozen manicure
girls.