The Washington times., 1921-04-19


told the witness.
The rat-faced man crept from the
witness box. white, shaking still
from the fear Of Donegan's eye. He
tried to get q seat In the benches,
but none would make room for him.
And though he had only done his
duty, and that At command OF the
law, there was about him, as he
skunk from the room. tho look there
WAS about him who was surnamed
Iscariot. as he crept from the gar
den on the, Mount Of Olives. on the
wosld's most tra&lc dawn. y
Like q story from some old book
there unrolled before the public the
history Of Anna Jansen Of ten, OF
twelve, of fifteen years before, in a
New York we know no longer. so
changed Is II in that brief space.
Then 1T was q riotous spendthrift,
q glorious waster, hell-roaring,
somehow lovable, and now 1t IL a
burgess Of standing, with nll the
burgess virtues.
And the eyes Of the courtroom
glistened as old names appeared
like FalstafYian ghosts. The Poodle
Dog. the German Village, the Hol-
land House, the Knickerbocke er
Gorgeous, blowxy. out OF a dim
past they rose for an instant.
Baron wilkins and Nigger Mikes.
And there was the thin clink of
glasses across forgotten bars. And
at o'clock of q morning the flying
wedge at Pats was. hurting some
truculent guest to the sidewalk.
And gunmen were gunmen then.
not strike-breakers.
Old days, great days, and only 4
dozen years before. And John Bar
rymore was not Richard III, but
the comedian of "Are You q Ma
SOM" And Mr.. Chambers had writ
ten "The Danger Mark" and Lieu
tenant Becker still patroled the
streets. And Mamie Chappelle and
Diamond Jim were still alive and
. merry. who now are dust, God rest
them!
And cops grated and politics
were corrupt, after the old and
pleasant tradition. And out OF the
side door of saloons came the old
fashioned drunkard, who with the
old-fashioned ghost story and the
old-fashioned Christmas is laid to
rest forevermore. And the voice
of DR.. Parkhurst was heard through
the land.
Ichabod! Gone Is glory!
The night life of Paris was hec-
tic, hysterical. The night life OF
Berlin was heavy, somehow sinis-
ter. But lush, extravagant, now
joyous. now macabre, the foam of
New World liquor. the night life
of New York challenged the heav-
ems with streaming rays, retiring
only before the chaste. armored
dawn. Like some Thousand and
One Nights Of some writer of the
people, 1t challenged the imagina-
ton. 1t intrigued, it repelled. Over
done not seldom, often in bad taste.
but virile. rude, and unabashed, It
claimed recognition with brazen
clamor.
A RELAXED MOUTH.
And on this stage, and against
this background, now leading won-
an to De Vrfes. now being sup
ported by q caste of wasters, brok-
ers, men about town. there moved
Anna Janssen. the Swedish Beauty.
Cast in the form and figure of q
she was 4 figurante in q debauch Cd
sideshow.
Her eyes, which were blue as
the sea and should have been pure
and passionate as the sea, were
drenched with wine, and her
mouth, with its clear-cut outlines
n Of q woman Of the painter Zorn's
which should have been Arm as a
budding flower, was relaxed and
wet from kissing.
A woman Of Broadway, hungered
after and yet despised, she might
have gone the accustomed path
that leads from the .chattering
magnihcence OF Broadway to the
sinister silence Of Potter's Field.
Down the old beaten decline to-
ward sordid Death she could have
gone, and one would have tried
to stay her. mono to help. And
then the end. go e.
And the only result would have
been q little chilling in the hearts
Of the newer Beauties Of Broad
way. q host whispering in their
hearts the most terrible epitaphs:
The wages of sin 10 death. For q
moment only. And some celebrity
of Broadway might feel sad for an
hour, with early Sentiment: Poor
Anna! And knew her when she
wore diamonds. and New York
was at her feetw
Or some respectable citizen in
his warm home might treasure
secret ashamed memories, and
never avow them. And someone
might even seek out her grave to
say a hurried prayer and make an
Offering Of flowers. And the rest
would be silence.
But that, in . mood Of drunken
piaue, she shot and killed Alastair
dc vries.
ccpyrisht, International MAsaxine compan,