The Washington herald., 1922-04-20
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NEW YORK April le.-It u
gray building nestIins along, the
bleak and ;drekr water front Of the
East River at the foot Of Twenty
ninth street--a building from which
emsnates an affluence Of shuddsr-
ing. creeping horror. Now and then
the neishborhood -inss with q
shrill piercing scream~s Followed
by muffled means as white-faced
men and women wiring hands Ia
despair.
Hobbling ghouls In .brown-den.
lined sack suits sit in thick and
-letharsic silence about the, door
way waiting for black wagons
wagons tAat come and 80 with ths
regularity Of the ciockbsat, leay-
Ing their g.uesome loads. At night
vagrant bats from nearby ware
houses beat against the walls. And
OF in the river the soft swish Of 4
lonely paddle or the sound. Of q
boatman's night song. ~
The building Is the, depository for
the. city's unidentified dead--the
morgue. In the gloomy interior
as forbidding as the tomb. are rows
upon rows Of drawers. to each one
OF which Is thumb tackled q white
card bearing an almost. illeSible
scrawl and number. ,..ss1
Perhaps q girl Of the cabarets
washed up from the ever -flowine 4
waters. The gangster pistoied
through the skull. A woman in
silks and sat.ns with acid scared
lips and all Identification removed.
The disiilusioned from all walks OF
life. All are there In the numbered
drawers In various stages Of de-
composition.
Into the waiting-room. feebiy
lighted. come the trembling rela-
tives with faces of CHASTITY pailor--
the aristocrat and bourEeois,e. All
hoping against hope. sullen phieE-
matte attendants take them one by
one into the Hall Of Death to case
upon the fiotsam and tetsam-the
human 'Offal of a great city.
Veteran reporters, Injured to the
sordid and tragic, never 70 to the
mo-sue without an inward shud-
der. But they must 70, for tins
morgue is the first step in unravel-
Ing all Of the New York murder
mysteries. And many times the
steps lead to the grilied doors of
Fifth avenues most paiatiaI man
sions.
Bide Dudley. the midget humor.
ist, was one of the speakers at the
F.iars dinner to r. H. Burnside
the other evening. He began bv
remarkins that he did not Oar u
face huge audiences, as he had
never been hissed In his life. Just
the other day." he said, Il was the
third speaker at a banquet. The
first speaker got up and after his
speech was hIssed, the second met
a like fate. I confess 1 was dis
tressed. but i worked up my cou:-
age and spoke. My talk was SO
good that when I had finished the
audience began Kissing the first
two speakers all over again"
The young New York clerks, IL
seems to me, have the best time of
all In the metropolis. They marry
young. buy homes on the INSTALL
ment plan In Jersey suburbs and
have a community life that fs the
nearest approach to peaceful and
happy small-town life that the city
affords. They are super-optimists.
Most of them read the Success"
stories and the Know Thyseif" ad-
vertisements in the magazines and
believe them and then buy grape
fruit farms In Florida. They plan
for weeks ahead on coming to town
for play and they dine at one
of the less ornate hotels and get a
real thrill. They must rush out
before the show Is over to get their
train home and they do not get T..
bask in the glare OF the supper
club spot-light-but they enjoy n
more than the blase New Yorker
just the same.
A lady with six thin white wolf
hounds on long lash walks down
Fifth avenue every afte noon at the
o'clock parade hour. She Is fol =
lowed by her husband who has u
fuffly little Pek- waddliny along
after him. Somehow or other then
Is an o. Henry story there for some
Of the budding o. Henrys that are
continually coming up IN our midst.
(CouyriSht lA44