The daily worker., 1927-06-03
BY b. D.

by hanging a night or two ago. He
looped HIS improvlsed moose over the
electric conduit that runs thru the
cells and would have made fRirly
workmanllke Job Of Il had not other
prisoners, alarmed by the strnngling
noises, called the jRiler, who cut him
down.
The would-be suicide had lust been
released from Sing Sing four days
before, after serving four-year term.
Detectives re-arrested him and, &C.
cording to his story, told him he
would be sent up for life under the
Baumes Law.
"I'I do life in the Tombs,' was his
reply and his attempt at suicide was
an effort to make good his promise.
A young fellow who talks with an
English accent, wears English cut
clothes and an SIS Stetson hat, is in
the Tombs awaiting trial on charge
of beating hotel bill.
This sounds commonplace out eight
proprietors of the eight best hotels in
New York-the Ritz is included are
the complainants.
1t seems that the enterprisng youth
would register as the Righ+ Honor
able So and So, Overwhelm the fun
keys from the clerk down with his
Oxford accent and cold hauteur, give
one or two dinner parties, purchase
theatre tickets, ride in taxicabs, eat
and drink of the best, nave all bills
charged to his account and then de-
part to another exclusive hostelry.
He got his luggage out by a device
so ingenious yet so simple that will
not describe it here lest the Hotel
Mems Association charge The DAILY
WORKER with starting an offensive
against their members.
It is enough so say that so effect
i've was the method employed that
after eight days at the Ritz, he con-
fided to me, he spent exactly two
dollars in cash for the extensive and
expensive entertainment had by him
self and the lady friend who accom-
panied him on this expedition.
The possession of a cane with
leather handle-one of his most
cherished possessions, I gathered
brought about his downfall. One
sleuth more astute than the rest
tracked him down at the Shelton by
inquiring for guest with stick of
this type.
But some Of the hotel proprietors
still believe that he is an erring son
of one of England's first families.
The proprietor of the Plaza gave him
his card after the gulled inul.eepcrs
had assembled in the courtroom and
told their woes to the judge.
"Take this, and when you change
your mind about my bill, call me up"
said this hopeful boniface.
Yesterday the professional guest
left us. Debonair, his English clothes
falling in faultless lines from his slim
shoulders, expensive hat placed at
iaunty angle, clasping his gloves, he
departed to learn his fate in the final
hearing.
hope it is not harsh one. Such
talent is rare and its possessor should
not be made to languish in such
places as prisons where it may pine
and die.
Think of the possibilities for this
young man, under proper direction, as
business manager of a struggling
workingclass newspaper like The
DAILY W0RKERl
He is IA years old-grayhaired,
stopped and trembling. Both eyes
are blackened and surrounded by wide
jetty circles which those who know
no better think exist only in the Sun
day comic supplements. He has to
soak his bread in the Jail soup be-
cause he has but two teeth and they
co not hit.
He had just got out of a hospital
and on his way home stopped and had
drink or two. He is not very clear
as TO what happened after that.
The cop who brought him in"
charged him with being drunk and
disorderly, resisting arrest and as
sauIting an officer.
There is much curiosity among the
present patrons of the Tombs con-
cerning the identity of the heroic
guardian of the law who succeeded in
subduing this ancient one who should
be slipping Cruel in a wheeled chair.
Even a young pimp who brags Of
how he store the can" off an insur-
gent mamma" was heard to express
wistful desire to know the shield
number of this particular officer.
An Irish longshoreman, five feet
two inches tall and three feet across
the shoulders, is here, he says, be-
cause of his wife's disdainful disre-
gard for the need of hard working
man for restful slumber.
The party had lasted from Satur-
day night until the evening Of Mon
day--Decoration Day-he explained
as we strolled along the corridor af-
] A L = q