New-York tribune., 1921-03-13
Officials Grin
Under Fire at
Writers Feast
Hylan and His Cabinet See
Father Knickerbocker
Robbed at Stunt Dinner
of City Hall Reporters
Enright Alone Missing
Board of Estimate, CARRIED
!. !. as Cunmen, Amuse No
table Gathering at Astor

y The Association of City Hall Report
ers held its annual stunt dinner last
might at the Hotel Astor. More than
eight hundred persons, including most
of Who's Who in officialdom Of the
State, county and city and host Of
their friends and guests, crowded the
grand ballroom. Republican and Tam
many district leaders, members of the
sIegislature, the Judiciary, the entire
Board of Aldermen all mingled and
forgot party lines.
y Governor Miller and other state Of
ficials came down from Albany to laugh
at the local oficeholders and poll
.~uicians who were the targets of the re-
sporters' verbal batteries. Former Gov
ernor Alfred E. Smith occupied ring
side seat and was able to take all the
laughs on the level. Many of the state
and local leaders were on hand, includ-
: ing Chairman George A. Glynn of the
Republican State Committee. William
". Farley, Democratic state chairman;
Charles F. Murphy, Of Tammany Hall,
and Samuel S. Koenig, president of the
Republican County Committee.
Dry, but Reminiscent
The party leaders Of the other bor-
oughs were there: Jacob A. Livingston
and John H. McCooey, of Brooklyn;
: Arthur n. Murphy and Richard W.
: Lawrence, of the Bronx: Maurice E.
: Connolly and Joseph H. De Bragga, Of
: Queens; Matthew J. Cahill and former
2 Senator George Cromwell of Richmond.
Although the dinner was dry-most Of
the diners appeared to be dry them
5 selves-Haag and Hague were present
IN the persons Of Joseph Haag, secre-
tary of the Board Of Estimate, and
. Mayor Frank Hague of Jersey City.
Mayor Hylan and practically all the
members of his cabinet, with the excep-
ton of Police Commissioner Richard
. +. Enright. submitted gracefully to the
tire and gibes of the City Hall men,
the kind seen in recent years. It was
understood the Police Commissioner
hesitated to grace the occasion with
his presence because he had learned
the entire dramatic theme of the even
ing was basd on the "crime wave," the
existence Of which he has positively
denied
No one went away with any doubt in
his mind that there is wave OF crime
robbed in City Hall Park and stripped
of all his garments-down to his union
;suit-right before the eyes of the whole
audience. The members of the Board of
Estimate, in the parts Of thugs and
gunmen, headed by the Mayor as "Red
Mike. the Bushwick Terror held the
old man up themselves and took every
thing he had, including his last bottle
OF hooch.
Craig Defines Wave
Speaking Of crime waves, Comptroller
Craig, under the stage name of
"Smooth Charlie, alias Gravy" who sat
Board of Estimate at the meeting at
"'hich Father Knickerbocker's gar
ments were divided, denounced the per
sistent contention of the Police Com
missioner (who appeared in the cast as
Smooth Dick") that there was no such
thing hereabouts. A pestferous re-
porter opened an attempted interview
With the Police Commissioner with the
question as to what the crime waves
we're saying. Smooth Charlie
promptly Interrupted to say:
They are not waves. They're break
ers"
An untoward incident threatened to
mar the early stages of the evenings
entertainment and gave all of the poll
ticians present few moments of de-
cided uneasiness. The diners had just
taken their seats. when William Pres
ton Beazell, president Of the associa-
ton, announced that he had received
disquieting information. He begged the
audience not to be alarmed, however
and to keep their seats.
Immediately the lights went out
shrill police whistles sounded and
thirty or forty policemen rushed into