The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-01-21
In New York
By PAUL HARRISON

| Is in its living legends, it's glamor- ous aura of vanished days and ways.
 l didn't know the town when.
 for O. Henry, it was Bagdad-On- the e-Subway. Or when the Goph- there are other writings by re- Hudson Busters ran the lower West Side. I didn't know the town
 when the Poppy Room at the Cad- lilac was the place to go; when
 the right side of Rector's was re-
 served for the cognoscenti; when
 Carrie Nation, a fellow Kansan, chased John l.. Sullivan into the cellar of his saloon; when the Amen Corner was a political hang I out a the old Fifth Avenue hotel; when Victor Herbert wrote the best musicals; or when girl-in-the- pie supper parties were pretty hot
 goings-on.
 I had never even heard of New York in the days when TiHany's
 stood on Union Square, and Sher. ry's gave Five O'clock Musical Teas. and Mark Twain lived at No. I21 Fifth avenue. Or when the Broadway cable cars were almost
 Iegis1ated out of existence because
 they endangered pedestrians. Or
 when Berry Wall was the King of the Dudes, and the brothers Con- sidine served the biggest free
 lunch north of the Bowery.
 Back of It All
 And yet it's nice to know about these things, and to revel in . sort of nostalgia for departed eras
 which seem real. Guide-books are
 not much help, but there are other writings by researchers such a9 Herbert Asbury. whose book called "All Around the Town" helps to
 fill out the faded picture. l He brings to light such data al that the present City Hall. com
 pleted in 1872, is marble on three sides and native brownstone on
 the north, because it was believed that the city would never grow
 beyond 1t, and that few people
 ever would notice the northern
 wall. Today, of course, the build-
 ing is way downtown.
 l Botham's first nickname was the Flour City" because two-
 thirds of its population once waa first sparrows in America were brought here in 1863. and many
 citizens caught and caged them as pets . The principal sport, in I18O0, was bull-baiting, with larenas seating 1000 persons who | cheered savage dogs loosed against chained bulls.
 | The first New York directory, printed in 1786, contained -861 names-and mot a Cohen among them. One stock broker was list ed-Mr Archibald Blair, who also
 sold rum, loaf sugar, bar iron, lumber and dry goods ., The principal gangster about town during the latter part of the sev-
 enteenth century was Captain
 Thomas Few, the pirate The
 most popular drink was New Eng.
 land rum, called ''Kill Devil" -an0
 even then applejack was known az
 Jersey lightning" Nearly every one seems to have been pretty in- temperate, and householders ad- vertised for servants "who get drunk no more than twelve times
 a year"
 Social Undertaking
 In this land of the free, Jews were forbidden to worship accord- ing to their religion. And Quak- CTS were persecuted The most | important man in society for more than 30 years during the middle
 of the last century was an under- taker who also arranged weddings and receptions. He advertised that
 he made his Funerals "as enter
 tainfng as possible" The first standardization years before Robert Fulton chugged his Cler-
 mont up the Hudson--was sailed | by John Fitch around a pond
 where the present Tombs Prison now stands.
 In 1873 q visitor commented on a "vile practice" of New York's unregenerate element-the play | ing of backgammon . The modern Tuxedo, or dinner coat, first was worn in the dance halls of the lower east side. and was unknown in polite society until about 1900 No man was con- sidered well dressed 60 years ago unless he carried q quill tooth- pick with a jewe1-encrusted ham, dle. These sold for as much as 5000.
 Al Capone was not America's first Scar Face''. Manhattan had q Scar Face Charley 40 years ago who was responsible for at least six murders =. The city's most unusual criminal trial was in 1872 when the municipal hangman, Ben Johnson, was.' sentenced to be hanged for theft. The judges or- dered him to hang himself. but he refused and contended that no one else could legally perform the duty. The judges decided he was
 right. so had him whipped in-
 stead.