Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-01-01
ORGY OF DRINKING
GREETS NEW YEAR
Police Busy in Efforts, but
Suppress Celebration Disor-
ders, Worst in Six Years
1921 WELCOMED ON PLAZA

Phhlladelphia welcomed the year
1921 with long, loud. old time .cele-
brntion, which during the early hours
OF the New Year assumed the proper.
tions Of n plot to prevent 100 prdhibi-
tion agents from telling the H.
stranger about the eighteenth amend
meht and Mr.. Volstead.
The pink -toed arrival from out of
the nowhere witnessed the revival Of
many ancient customs among the hill =
arious tens Of thousands who moved
nimlessly through the city streets In a
blare of noise and storms ofconfetti.
After working buTly through the
night. house sergcants in all the police
stations were. unanimous in the opinion
that this New Years eve was the worst
in six years for drunkenness, disorder,
violence and crime.
In the central district alone twenty
eight "drunBs,' five bootleggers, eight
cen pickpockets and many others were
arrested.
More than 100 drunks were arrested
IN the district bounded by Broad street.
tie Delaware river. Callowhil and
Poplar streets, twenty-five Of them in
one raid on restaurant Mt Broad and
Poplar streets.
Sixty -four "Drunks" Downtown
In South Philadelphia sixty four ar
rests were made on charges of drunk
enness.
Four pickpockets who arrived from
Chicago, alighting from train at Broad
Street Station at II o'clock, were ar
rested and on their way to central sta
tion by IL 80 o'clock. Detectives and
morning handling the crowds and weed
Ing out crooks and the disorderly.
Men renewed their acquaintanceship
with friendly lampposts of other days,
or nights. Scores looked for their
homes and, opening doors. discovered
they were in taxicabs. The key and key
hole puzzle was revived with a WALTON.
Out on Webster street, near Sixticth,
a man was playing a drum Santa Claus
had brought his son.
And wherever those hundred prohibit
tion agents were who had promised a
dry" New Years eve, they must have
admitted that 1t was extra dry like
champagne.
Hotels, cafes. clubs. theatres and
cabarets housed record breaking and in
some instances law breaking crowds
which got about all there was out of
Bacchus. Terpsichore and other old
friends before they were willing to re-
lease the tired hand of young Mister
Nineteen Twenty one
Impressive watch night services. with
bells and chimes solemnly greeting the
new year, formed striking contrast to
the revelry in the streets.
City Hall tower had great human
base formed, it was estimated. by fully
100000 men, women and children, who
gathered at the feet of William Penn
shortly before midnight, to witness the
city's official greeting
Lights On Tower EXtinguislled
At five minutes before midnight lights
on the tower were eXtinguishcd. and n
hush fell over the mighty throng Of
rcvclers. 1t was as though word had
been passed out from sick room that
Old Man Nineteen Twenty was sick
unto death and gasping his last.
For five minutes the great crowd
stood with faces uDturncd. paying a
silent tribute to the passing year with
its joys and SORROWS.
Then, as q flash of hope. the tower
was suddenly illuminated again, the
rcat clock tollcd out midnight and there
arose from the man made canyons a
biare of horns and glad cheers. Bells
and whistles joined in the welcoming
din and clouds of confetti rose and
showered the throngs. 1t looked and
sounded as though another armistice
had been signed.
The old bell in Independence Hall OK
tended greeting to the new parsonage.
whose number will adorn checks and
bills for the next 365 days.
The maelstrom of merrymakers
swirled from the City Hall plaza and
moved in turbulent currents up and
down Market, Chestnut, Broad and the
other principal streets. cddyinS into
hotels and cafes and rippling out again
into the open. The hubhub kept up until
long after 3 o'clock this morning, and
stragglers in satins. silks and broad
cloth touched hands with milkmen,
janitors and the hundreds whose duty it
is to usher in each new day, instead of
each new vpar