Evening star., 1926-06-20
CRIPPLE FACTORY
NEW BOWERY IDEA
Made-to- Order BeggarS Pre-
pared for Appeal for
Street Aims.
By Consolidated Press.

BY Consolidated Press.
NEW YORK, June 19.-There is
something of a stir in the old Bowery
these days. Nobody ever thought of
going to that we'll known haunt of the
downand- d-outer-the street made IA
nous as the abode Of the cast-offs and
misfits of a great city-in search of
bright ideas, but the police have
notion that the Bowery is up to some
old tricks in a new-fangled way.
Maybe the Bowery is going in for
some of this applied psychology stuff.
or New Thought, or the higher learn
ing as an offset to an ingrown inferi-
.ority complex. At least the Bowery
seems to have been studying the
movies, and as a result the police are
looking for the master mind" who
puts film stunts to practical use.
Movie Produced Idea.
The police are convinced that a
recent movie provided the idea for
new Bowery establishment that is
conducting a f1ourishing traffic in
made to order cripples.
A "one-armed soldier" revealed the
scheme after he had been arrested
for begging in an elevated station on
the lower East Side. He happened to
appeal to two plain clothes detectives
of the mendicant squad to help a
wounded soldier in distress"
Doesn't the Government do any
thing for you?" asked one detective.
Not a thing, buddy" whined the
cripple. II lost my right arm in the
nd ~ nd w
got a wife and two children
''That'll do" the detective inter
rupted. II see you know your piece
by heart. I've a friend in the Clinton
street police station who's a bug on
| oratory and want you to come along
and reCite for him."
Missing" Arm TAPPED to Side.
AT the police station a search of the
what was most interesting. his miss
/ ing" right arm. taped TO his body be-
meath yards of bandaging.
When the beggar told it to the
judge. he explained that he had been
fixed up" in a Bowery Joint.
"A friend of mine showed me a
place where I could get fixed up as a
cripple and go begging" he confided.
| "He went out as legless veteran.
Another guy went out as a hunch-
| back, and l thought I'd try my luck
as a one-armed veteran
Whereupon the police set out in
| search of the Cripple factory" but
without success. The beggar said he
had come from Boston and didn't
know the Bowery we'll enough TO
locate the place.
But that didn't end the Bowery's
troubles. The very next night Pa
trolman Joseph Frogel decided to
straighten out some of the strolling
on the Bowery. and eSta bliShed a rec
ord for single handed arrests by cor
railing II men. all in various states
/ of alcoholic hilaritv This was some
thing new to the Bowery. To a man
the II prisoners rose in court and de-
clared they hadn't had drink since
/ 1914. They We're sentenced to 10 days
each.
Wary Eye on Speakeasies.
The police are keeping a wary eye
on BoWery Speakeasies In the hope of
picking up tip on the location of the
cripple factory. A Bowery speak
easy, by the way. has no relation to
the sumptuous drinking parlors found
along broadway.
The Bowery prefers to call them
ulNSS, DcCduSc OIc ldhCS
dive below street level to enter
them. Like the flop houses" which
provide lodging for from 20 TO 40
cents a night, the Bowery dives" at
tract trade with their low prices. Be
sides Iow-grade beer. they generally
serve two other drinks known to their
customers as smoke" and scat"
Smoke" is said to carry a generous
whiff reminiscent of wood alcohol,
while two or three potions of the ge-
NAL moonshine known as seat" are
designed to give the drinker some
thing of the appearance of a tomcat
throwing fit on n tin roof.
The Bowery wants to be left alone.
1t dislilies to have the police inter
ruptinE its maps and it's drinking. 1t
would rather loaf around and take life
easy and listen to the rumble of the
elevated. 1t is doubtful whether the
Bowery could even work up enough
energy to study the movies and ap-
piled psychology for any length of
| time. But the police would like to
find out who is responsible for waking
the Bowery from it's slumbers and
putting strange ideas in it's head.