KETCHES i£x ICtbrtH SEYMOUR DURST ~t ' ~Fort nieuu> ^Am/l^rdii-m, oj) Je MLanhatatus When you leave, please leave this book Because it has been said "Ever thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned book." OLD YORK LIBRARY — OLD YORK FOUNDATION Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gii roi sn mo! r B. l)i km Oi dYork Library Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/sketchesofgothamOOswif IKE SWIFT SKETCHES of GOTHAM BY IKE SWIFT A collection of unusual stories told in an un- usual way . PUBLISHED BY RICHARD K. FOX, New York PS ?537 SSA Copyright 1906 by Richard K. Fox. INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS "Ike Swift" 2 A spectacular dance which helped her in meeting people 12 Her swell figure made her an attraction on the beach 18 She was once the real thing on physical culture 28 A dose of knockout drops proved the turning point in her life. 38 A wonderful but untrue picture of love behind the scenes. ... 50 She has been known to kick the crown of a hat held six feet from the floor 60 Rackets where pretty girls cut capers to the music of male voices 68 He often made an honest dollar teaching American women how to smoke "hop'* 78 There was disclosed the figure of a young woman rather scantily clad 90 She had such a superb figure that she once posed for a sculptor. 100 Disguised as a sailor bov she shipped on one of Uncle Sam's ships 1 08 For three solid hours he sat there trussed up like a chicken. .. 118 She put herself up at auction and was promptly bid on 128 She went Into the smoking car and calmly lighted a cigarette. . 136 She had one or two fights on her hands, but she always won out 146 She had danced the fandango in a way that made the Mexicans cheer 156 Atlantic City is the place for sporty girls who play the game to the limit 164 They had a hot time in Minneapolis when the show hit town. . 174 "I wasn't arrested, but I was put out as if I were a common swindler" 184 There were times when she did things that were uncon- ventional 192 A light flashed out on the landing and revealed the figure of a beautiful woman 202 Put her in tights and she would have been an Oriental sensation 212 The first pair are in the ring, the talk ceases, and the show is on 220 The glitter of a circus became too much for them to resist. . . . 230 Wild revelry of the masked ball and the perfect ladies with the hot sports 240 It's only a dream after the lobster course 250 She figured once at a masked ball that was raided by the police. 260 Once she had been on the stage, but she got a rough deal and quit 268 When the clock struck two she was on the table doing a dance. 278 CONTENTS A Little Easy Money 7 Casting an Old Shoe 19 The Long Way 'Round 27 The Queen of Chinatown 39 A Girl of the Golden Gate 47 When Fists Were Trumps 57 Kid and His Ten Thousand 69 An Oriental Nocturne 79 A Com mercial Transaction S9 The End of the Road 99 The Throwback : 109 From the Woods to Broadway 117 The Whims of Curves 127 Cheyenne Nell; Trimmer 137 Tragedy of a Dance 147 The Monologue Girl's Story 157 A Twisted Love Affair 163 Wedding Rings and Footlights 173 Told by the Manicure Girl 183 Investing in a Husband 193 Training an Old Sport 201 Concerning a Syrian Beauty 211 The Rejuvenation of Patsy 221 A Case of Knockout Drops 231 Discovering a Prima Donna 241 A Throw of the Dice 249 A Voice in the Slums. 259 A Girl of the Night 269 After the Wedding Bells 279 A LITTLE EASY MONEY A great many years ago, when Tom Byrnes was the able and efficient chief of the detective force of New York, a certain class of women, very much in evidence around the hotels and resorts, were known, from the peculiar manner of their work, as Badger Molls. There was one in particular who had added a spec- tacular dance to her many other accomplishments and which helped her not a little in meeting the right kind of people. To be a Badger Moll a woman had to have nerve, assurance, a fair amount of good looks, be able to read character and keep her wits about her at all times. There were occasions when she was up against it so good and strong that it didn't seem as if there was one chance in a hundred for her to do her part of the trick, but in ninety times out of a hundred she landed the bundle of the victim. That is to say, of course, with the aid of her confed- erate. The old days of the Moll have gone by, but the new days have come and they are here now. The new representative is of a higher class, of a superior edu- cation, is more adept, and, as a rule, gets more money. It is worthy of note that during the past ten years only two big jobs have fallen through — that is, so far as is known — and these things usually become known when they are brought to the notice of the police. 8 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM A handsomely gowned woman, with a bearing that would deceive almost anyone, comes down the line. She looks like my lady from Fifth avenue, but if you will notice her eyes you will see in them the look of a huntress. She is on the trail of men, and it is a rare thing for her to make a mistake. Mistakes in her business, you know, sometimes spell Sing Sing, as a lady by the name of Moore will tell you if you ever meet her and she should become confidential. As she passes the hotels you will notice this particu- lar woman hesitates in her stride, she goes into the low gear and she looks questioningly at the men who are standing about. It is the glance of an expert, but it is cleverly veiled. Even though you and I know her and know what her business is, we are attracted by her to a certain ex- tent, just as people are attracted by a magnificent tigress or leopard in the menagerie. They have fangs and claws, but they are hidden, and being concealed are forgotten for the time. This is a human tigress, but she is not on the scent of blood, she's trailing bank rolls. There is, however, nothing unusual in that, when you come to think of it, because that is what four-fifths of the world is doing, and the other fifth is being chased and knows it. The tigress throws in her high speed and passes on until she has reached the entrance to another hotel, and here the scent of prey comes strongly to her nos- trils. A fine-looking man of about fifty years is leaning carelessly against one of the marble columns. He has A LITTLE EASY MONEY 9 dined well, anyone can see that, and he is half way into his after-dinner cigar. He is in the ripe stage ; the time to ask a favor, or to have a courtesy extended. He is at peace with himself and everybody else, and as the tigress passes by he gets a flash of those black eyes which tell him a story that while it is not new, is al-» ways interesting, especially under these circumstances, when he is a thousand miles from home. There are few men, anyhow, who can stand tempta- tion when they are strangers in a strange city. Man is a companionable sort of a proposition and to be at his best must have society. This one, who is perhaps the father of an interesting family, and who is above reproach in his native city, and who would become indignant at the thought of a street flirtation, involuntarily straightens himself up, and taking a firmer hold of his cigar, glances after the slowly retreating figure of the lady with the black eyes. It's a trim shape, by Jove ; and look at that ankle. A peach. "Nothing common about her," he soliloquizes. "Just a nice girl, perhaps, who is a bit lonely, too." And then, at that particular moment, the "nice girl," who has been sauntering very slowly, turns around and looking directly at him, smiles. A woman's smile. Cast off your lines, my boy, and on your way, for the magnetism of that smile has you lashed to the mast, but you don't know it yet. What you have in your mind is that you'll just take a little walk and have a little talk, just to fill in a few lonely hours, you know. 10 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM So he leaves the mooring of his hotel and trails the trailer. One short block he walks, and then just as he is about to come abreast of her she turns about and meets him with the same smile that has been doing duty for the past five years. She knew, he had reached that particular spot by that woman's intuition, keyed up so fine as to be on feather edge all the time. Her little bow is modest — even coy. It is like the bow of a school girl who is afraid she is not doing quite the right thing, but who is just a trifle reckless, and is willing to take a chance or two Just for a lark. "How do you do ?" she asks. "Great ; how are you ; fine night ; where are you going?" he rattles off, trying to appear at ease, and be the real fellow. "I was just taking a walk. You see, it was so quiet in the house, and I sat there all alone until I just thought I would die, so I came out to get a little fresh air and see if I couldn't walk myself tired before bed time." That accounts for her being out, of course, and it is very nicely delivered, too ; besides, it gives the man a chance to say something, and he is prompt to say it. "All alone? You don't mean to say that you live all alone?" Oh, no; she doesn't live all alone all the time. But Jack — that's her husband, you know — he is on the road: — commercial man, you see, the best and dearest fellow in all the world, and it's such a horrid position he has, too, always traveling. He went away just a month ago on his Western trip, to be gone two months, A LITTLE EASY MONEY n think of it; almost an age. He's with the big dry goods house of Wools & Muslins, the biggest in New York. But next year Jack is going to have an office position and then everything will be all right. "After that," she goes on, "Jack and the baby and I will be quite happy." "The baby? Have you a baby?" "Why, of course." "And you say you are lonely? I should think that the baby would " "Yes, of course, so it would, but don't you see, Jack's mother, who lives with us, went to visit some friends in the country — Montclair, do you know where that is ? — and she thought it would do the little fellow good and she took him along, and now I am so sorry I let him go." Isn't it too beautiful for anything, and isn't she an artist of whom Jack ought to be very proud? "Well, I am a little lonely myself," says the business man from Dayton, O., "and I think you and I ought to cheer one another up. What do you think about that proposition ?" "Well, I don't know. It's very nice to have you talk to me, but I feel a little bit frightened about it all. You know I never spoke to a strange man on the street be- fore like this, and I am sure that Jack wouldn't like it if " "Yes, but Jack isn't here now. Who knows what he is doing? You know these traveling men when they get away from home and home ties have been known "Yes, but not my Jack. You don't know him. He would never do anything wrong, for he told me so." A spectacular dance which helped her injmeeting people A LITTLE EASY MONEY 13 And now they have walked four blocks. There is a hack driver and his wagon at the corner. "Cab, sir; have a cab?" He's on, and immediately takes the tip offered him. "Suppose we take a little drive through the Park," suggests the man. "I don't think it would be quite right. I would like to, but ■ Oh, if we were only real well acquainted, I would like to, but you see " The end of it is that the cab drive is vetoed, and he begins to think as to how he can best entertain her in some other way. He takes a hasty sidelong glance at her, and his heart increases about ten beats to the min- ute. She's all right, you bet. Why, he wouldn't mind staying in New York another week ff "Let's go somewhere and have- a nice bottle of wine," he says. "I hope you don't mean to offend me, but you shouldn't ask me anything like that. I think I am do- ing very wrong in even talking to you, but I can't help it. There was something about you when I passed by that seemed to attract me. I have done something to- night that I have never been guilty of before, and never will be again. I don't object to wine, because we have it in the house, but I didn't think you would ask me to go to a common saloon with you — a place I have never been in in my life. But I suppose I deserve it for speaking to you trie way I did, and for walking with you the way I am now." He protests, he apologizes, and he feels that he has made a great mistake. He is humiliated beyond ex- pression. Here is a nice little woman with a husband and a baby, who has permitted him to accost her on 14 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM the street, probably because she felt that she needed some human companionship, and he has insulted hei by asking her to go to a public place and drink a bottle of wine with him, just as if she were a woman of the streets. He feels that he cannot do enough to make amends to her. "I don't believe," she says, sweetly, "that you in- tended to hurt my feelings for a moment. Let you and I be simply good friends. We are both a little lone- some ; let us spend a pleasant evening together, for it isn't likely that we will ever meet again after to-night. We will act as if we were brother and sister ; but if you would really like a bottle of wine I have a lot home that Jack says is pretty good, and we can go there and be all by ourselves." But a moment later she repents and says it will not do at all, for suppose any of the neighbors should see them going in, what then? He clutches at the idea like a drowning man clutches at a straw, for this is a wonderfully nice girl he has met in this accidental way, and he would like to be- come better acquainted. So he begins to coax, and she laughingly refuses to listen. He pleads, argues and promises, and then he stops in a shop and blows himself to a five-pound box of candy for the baby — and her. When he peels the bill off a roll that would choke an elephant she sizes it all up out of the tail of her eye, and makes a mental calculation as to how much is there. She's just a trifle more endearing to him after that, and it strikes him that she is getting a little reckless. A LITTLE EASY MONEY 15 "Come on," she says, quite gayly, and with an affec- tation of sportiness, "I will take you up to the house, but you must promise me on your word of honor that you won't remember the street or the number and that you'll never try to see me again. Remember, this is just for one evening, and I don't want you to think I am anything but what I seem." "I could never think that," he says, quite soberly. "What must you think of a girl who will permit a stranger to speak to her on the street?" "I should think that in your case she would be very nice." She is laughing and chatting just like a girl out of school, and she has interested him so much that he hasn't noticed that they were getting into quieter and darker streets, until she suddenly turns into a hallway which is just like a thousand other New York hall- ways, and announces: "Here we are at last ; now don't make any noise." Up one flight, and she's fumbling for a key, which she finds in a moment, and then the door is opened. The lights are turned low, and for some reason or other she doesn't turn them up, which he notes with a certain feeling of pleasure. "Now take off your hat and coat, and we will have that bottle of wine I told you about, for I am going to let you stay just one hour, after which I am going to try and forgive myself for having spoken to you." It is all very nice and charming, and the wine is very good — a bit better, in fact, than He had any idea it would be. When the bottle and the glasses are empty he finds himself sitting beside her on a divan. His arm is 1 6 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM about her waist and she is struggling to free herself. He leans over to kiss her, but she deftly turns her face away. "You must not try to kiss me," she whispers, but as she speaks she throws her arms about his neck. It seems to the staid old business bulwark from the West as if he had been sitting there for hours, when suddenly the electric bell rings. Both jump to their feet. "What is it?" he asks in a low voice. "I don't know ; I can't think," she answers, holding her hand to her head. "Perhaps it's Jack. My God,,, if it should be Jack. He will kill you if he finds you here. I could never explain it. Take your hat and coat quick. Here, this way, the back door, and run, run as fast as you can. Don't stop, please, until you get to your hotel. Go, go, at once." With hat and coat in hand he finds himself pushed out in a dark passageway. He gropes his way to the stairs. A man is coming up, a man with a traveling case. It's Jack, as sure as you live. Guiltily he walks down, steps hurriedly to the street door, passes out, and starts on a brisk trot up the street. At the first corner he turns, then he turns another block, then he turns again, with the instinct of a hunted hare. So he pursued his zig-zag course for many blocks, until he finally stops to ask directions. "The Gilt-Edge Hotel? certainly; four blocks over to the avenue then about twenty down." He walks the four blocks while he catches his breath, and then he gets aboard a car only to find he hasn't a cent. A LITTLE EASY MONEY 17 Worse ; he hasn't a watch, nor a scarf pin. He must have lost them while he was running. He gets off and stands on the corner to think it over. Eleven hundred dollars in good money gone ; a watch worth $350 and a pin worth at least $150. The faint odor of violets comes back to him, and then he comes to his senses. Stung. "It took you a long while to ring that bell, Billy, after I gave you the tip. Don't wait so long next time. You must be getting old, for you're working very slow lately." "I didn't hear the buzzer at first ; I don't think you pressed it hard enough. I'll give it a look to-morrow and see. But I would never have sized that old guy up for eleven hundred." "You never can tell what they've got until you take it awav from them. ,, Her swell figure made her an attraction on the beach CASTING AN OLD SHOE It may be that you — whoever you are or wherever you are — don't know what it means to go "down the line." But in New York — in order that we may start right — "The Line" means that part of Broadway where at night the lights burn brightest, and where the mob — swell and otherwise — move back and forth like the ebb and flow of the tide — hunting, hunting, ever on the hunt. From Twenty-third street to Forty-second, and back again, and you have gone down The Line. Sometimes it costs you nothing for this innocent little amusement ; this feast of the eyes ; and then again it is liable to cost you a great deal. It all depends upon who you are, and what you are and how easy you are. And there you are. I once knew a man, and this is pat while I am on this subject, who came to New York from Buffalo. He was only going to remain for a day or so, and then he was going to hike himself back'to his home by the big lake. He had sold out his business, and when he landed in New York he had a bank roll of twenty-one thousand dollars. It was enough to make any ordinary man round shouldered, but he was a husky guy who was used to 20 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM the long green, and it didn't bother him any more than if it had been beef-and-bean money. He put up at a big swell hotel, and during the even- ing, when time hung a bit heavy on his hands, he got it into his head that he would take a walk down the line, and then turn in among the feathers. With a perfecto between his teeth, he got as far as Thirty-eighth street, where he met his finish. When he arrived at his hotel at ten o'clock the next morning he asked the proprietor to loan him twenty dollars to get home. No explanations go with this, because he was sport enough never to tell how it happened. It doesn't even point a moral, for there are no morals on the line. Going down the street, like a yacht under full sail, is a woman whom it cost not a cent less than $750 to put in commission. In the male vernacular she is what might be termed a peach, and there is no need to trans- late that for you, for the simple reason that you are familiar enough with the different kinds of fruit to know what that means. Because of her figure and the fact that she was a good fellow she was an attraction at the beach. She has a history, of course. They all have, to a certain extent, but this is somewhat out of the ordi- nary. In her day — and her day wasn't so many years ago — she was a noted beauty, and she had one of the most charming apartments in New York. It was frequented by what might be termed the high-class sporting crowd — lawyers with national reputations, actors whose names were in big type on the billboards, business men who posed as the bulwarks of the commercial world, CASTING AN OLD SHOE 21 and politicians who waxed sleek and fat at the public cribs. They played poker there and were entertained royally by her. She gave the choicest of dinners and served the best of wines, and she was a perfect hostess. Her rooms were more like a club than anything else, and she was never annoyed by any love-making on the part of her guests, for a very good, substantial and simple reason — the man who paid the shot and who figured as the real one in that charmed and exclusive circle was none other than a high official of New York. His hospitality, dispensed through her, was almost boundless, and there are those who say that there was method in that gathering, and that many a serious public question was discussed within the confines of those gorgeously upholstered rooms. Give a man the proper seat at the right kind of a table, beside a woman who is beautiful, charming and magnetic, serve him with a perfect dinner, with good wine selected by a connoisseur, then after the dessert provide him with a cigar which cannot be bought in the open market, and it is almost a sure thing that, if you have any proposition to make, your battle is half won. What an ideal spot for lawyers, politicians and capitalists to discuss things that it wouldn't do to have the public know. And as the months rolled by this woman came to be known by the majority of prominent men of New York. Now you can get a good look at her as she stops to glance in that window. Not to have been her guest was to have missed a lot in life, and when you lost to her in a little poker game 22 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM you were almost sorry your losses were not heavier. She had more diamond rings than she could wear at any one time, and she had the best wardrobe in town. No matter what she saw and wanted it was hers. She scarcely needed to ask for it — she just wished, and it came as though she had been blessed with some fairy godmother who waved a magic wand, and brought things on the wind. So there's the picture, painted in the most ordinary colors, and there's the woman, who grew to think the world was made for her to play with and do with as she liked. When she was at the height of her career, this law- yer-political friend of, hers — this champion and pro- vider — really and truly fell in love. He was well past middle age, but that made no difference. After many years of waiting — years which were punctuated with numerous affairs which he thought spelled love — he found the girl at last in the daughter of a man whose position left him nothing to wish for. She was a so- ciety girl and charming enough for any man. Before he fully realized what he was doing he had proposed marriage to her and had been accepted with- out giving that other one a thought. When he understood that he had to break with her, he knew that he had the job of his life in front of him, but he was game enough to go at it without a moment's hesitancy, and so one night, after the crowd had gone and the last poker chip cashed in, he told her the story. "I am going to marry and settle down," he said. "My position demands it, and I cannot go on living this way forever. I feel that I have a political future, CASTING AN OLD SHOE 2$ and I must protect myself. If I ever came up again for any prominent office, as I expect to in the near future, my relations with you would mean the worst kind of defeat for me. I want to be fair with you, and I am willing to settle any claim you may have on me for anything within reason." His story took a long while in the telling, and through it all she never moved nor spoke. When he had quite finished she stretched and yawned. "Is that all you have to say?" she asked. "Yes," he answered, "that is all, except that I hope we will part friends, and that if ever I can do anything for you, I " "Now whatever you do," she spoke up sharply, "don't get tiresome nor sentimental. You're a good fellow, and always have been — so you think. I have come into your life and have answered your purpose. I have entertained your friends and made it pleasant for you and them. I suppose you think I did it simplv because I was provided for and had everything I wanted — that I was a, sort of a high-class servant who was satisfied with her wages. If I had been wise I would have anticipated this and been prepared for it. I would have had enough money in the bank to have been independent to a certain extent. I am like a poker chip — you bought me, played with me, and now you are ready to cash me in because you have finished with me. You are a good fellow — with the men — but you are very tiresome and that reminds me that I am tired and wish you would run along. Go home now, and dream of the nice girl you are going to marry." 24 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM He stood looking at her like a man under the influ- ence of a drug. He did not know what to say. He had expected a scene of some kind, and he was disap- pointed. His vanity was touched. Why, here was a woman for whom he had done everything in the world, and whom he thought loved him, and she was parting from him without a tear or even so much as a word of expostulation. That didn't suit him at all. He wanted her to throw her arms about his neck and beg him not to go. Of course, he would have gone just the same, but he didn't want to think that she would let him go so easily. The pride and vanity of man is a peculiar thing, and there are not ten men in a thousand who understand women, even though they think they do. This man, clever, handsome and brilliant, was of the majority who do not know, and he had nothing to say to the woman who had entertained him and with whom he had spent many pleasant hours. He looked at her for a moment and then he went out as though he had been whipped from the door. She turned the key in the lock and then gave way to her real feelings by crying as only a heart-broken woman can. He had incriminated himself with her to such an ex- tent that he dreaded her. She had been too calm to suit him, and he feared trouble to come. He had no definite idea as to what form it might take, but he wanted to avoid it. So he went direct to one of his most astute legal friends — the same one, who, by the way, told me the whole story in a burst of half-drunken confidence — and they sat up half the night figuring on how to head CASTING AN OLD SHOE 25 her off in case she attempted to do anything that would reflect on his "spotless" character. How careful the man is of his name as a rule, and how despicably he can treat a woman when it suits either his mood or con- venience. That midnight conference finally resolved itself into definite shape by the counsellor saying : 'Til take $10,000 to her and get everything she has of yours and her signature under a statement that will leave you free and clear." And so it was agreed. Lawyers do not act very quickly unless their own in- terests are at stake. Speed was required here and the action was fast enough for anyone. The next day, at noon, the lawyer, who knew her well enough to call her by her first name, called upon her, and as he was ushered into the handsome apartment he involuntarily put his hand to his breast pocket, which contained ten new, crisp one thousand dollar bills — the price of her silence, from his standpoint. It is interesting to be able to note that the interview was short, sharp, sweet and to the point. He made his < eloquent speech of how his friend, who had always loved her devotedly, was forced by something which she could not understand to break from her and marry a woman whose position in society was assured. He was prepared to pay her an amount of money — quite a liberal one, in fact — so that she should want for noth- ing. All he desired was a certain package of letters and a statement that she had only known his friend in the most casual way. "How much are you going to pay me?" she asked. 26 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM "Ten thousand dollars, and here it is," he said, pro- ducing the bills. "I will do what he wants," was all she said, and in ten minutes the job was done. Then he laid the money on the table. "What is your fee?" She spoke very softly. "My fee?" he repeated, as if he did not quite catch her meaning. "Yes, your fee. How much are you charging this friend of yours for what you are doing for him ?" "I am doing it through friendship. There is no such thing as fee in a case like this." "You have earned this money, and I do not want it," she went on. "I am not a blackmailer nor can my promise of immunity be bought. I, too, understand what the word friendship means, and I am not so de- graded nor lost but that I can take advantage of it. It is such men as you and he that make such women as I am. Good-day." He was in the hall with the money in his hand be- fore he quite realized how it all happened. Between you and me, my friends, I would sooner have her conscience than the conscience of the very fine gentleman whose public career has since been marked by repeated triumphs. THE LONG WAY 'ROUND The Girl from Philadelphia wasn't a beauty by any means, but she had a nice fetching way, good teeth, and a cheerful, contagious laugh which are three things that have beauty left at the post. Beauty, you ^ee, is only good for a short sprint at the best, and in a long race is liable to lag a bit toward the finish, but the other propositions are stayers nine times out of ten and generally manage to come under the wire in good shape. Thirty days in the big city, if spent in the right kind of company, usually mean about a year in Quaker- town, and force of circumstances had thrown The Girl in pretty close contact with high-flyers. You see, it all came about this way : She had been playing the soubrette part in some amateur theatricals, and everybody who saw her — ex- cept some girl friends who wanted to be soubrettes, too — said she was the real thing and that she had Delh Fox in her palmy days beaten the length of Chestnut street, and as for Millie James, why there was nothing to it. That started the theatrical bee buzzing in her con- ning-tower, so she immediately formed the habit of reading the theatrical papers instead of the society notes, and she got the matinee habit so bad that she didn't miss one show a month. Before that her fad She was once the real thing on physical culture THE LONG WAY 'ROUND 29 had been gymnastics and she was the real thing on physical culture. Now when a girl gets that way she needs either a husband and honeymoon to distract her attention or a hard-faced guardian — female, of course — to follow her wherever she goes. So in view of the fact that this girl had neither, she studied the play bills and did pretty much as she liked. She was just ripe to sign with a traveling show or listen to the argument of any actor man who offered her the bait of a chance to do a stunt behind the foot- lights. She lived the way a soubrette ought to live — at least, she thought she did. In a locked drawer in her dressing case she kept a box of make-up, and when the rest of the family had retired she fixed her face up so she looked like a comic valentine. She figured upon this as a sort of preliminary training in case she should ever get a chance to break into the business ; look like a twenty-dollar gold piece to the public, and feel like a plugged nickel when she was in her dollar- a-day room after the show. She might have been dreaming yet if a young fellow who once suped for Mansfield hadn't made her acquaintance. He called on her at her home, and they hadn't been talking twenty minutes when she sprung the soubrette business, and told tiim that some day she hoped to get on the pro- fessional stage. "The only way to get a chance is to go to New York," he said. "There's where all the good shows start from, as well as a good many of the bad ones, and if a girl has talent, an agent or a manager will grab her just the same as a hobo will grab a ham sand- 30 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM wich, no matter what his nationality is. Why, I once knew a girl who went there from Forked River, New Jersey. She didn't know anything, but she had ginger, and she's been on the road for two seasons with the Bon Ton Burlesquers. What do you think of that? Philadelphia's all right in a way, but I'll bet if Maude Adams had been born here she'd be behind the ribbon counter in some big dry goods store instead of the swellest little actress that ever took a bunch of roses over the footlights." That is what started the trouble, and that night when The Girl went up to her room she packed a dress- suit case, putting in her grease paints first, of course, and then she penned a neat little note of farewell for- ever to her parents, after which she waited until the house was quiet and then slipped out as quietly as a burglar. She had enough money to make the break- away and keep her about thirty days, by the end of which time she figured she would have a job at about fifty per week, with traveling expenses and Pullman car paid by the manager. She had a roseate view of life, and she thought that as soon as she hit the big burg the managers would be falling over each other trying to get her to sign a con- tract. She didn't know that making a hit in a little show given by the Golden Rod Society for the Supply- ing of Vegetables to the Cannibal Tribes of Africa was quite a different thing to going on the professional stage, and she imagined if she could do well in the part of Betsey, the Romp, in "Who Killed Cock Robin," she could do equally well on the stage of any big theatre. She had as much hope as a piece of Swiss cheese has holes when she climbed aboard the sleeping car which THE LONG WAY 'ROUND 31 was scheduled to leave for New York at 1 A. M., but when she landed in the cold, gray dawn a good part of it had gone and had left her a trifle weak in the knees, which, by the way, is a decided symptom of weakness. It took her just two hours to find a boarding house, and until the next day to get her nerve back. It was only because of her youth that it came back at all She got a list of the names of managers and started out to do business, but no one seemed to want any amateur soubrettes from Philadelphia. By two o'clock there was nothing that looked like a job, but she had received eleven invitations to go out to lunch from eleven different genials who didn't seem to want to talk business ; who were inclined to be affectionate and who called her "My Dear" in every other sentence. That night she went to a vaudeville show, and she was so impressed with the ease with which the turns were pulled off that she concluded she would do an act of her own. That is how it happened that the day after she forsook the legitimate for the variety, and knocked at the office doors of a different species of managers. Very busy fellows these were, too, and she got her dismissal in almost every case with start- ling rapidity. Here is a sample of the dialogue : "Where have you worked before?" "I have never been on the professional stage, but I played the part of a soubrette in amateur shows in Philadelphia, and all my friends told me that " "But have you an act of your own?" "No, not yet, but " "Well, you frame up some kind of an act, then come 32 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM around and see me, and I may be able to get you a trial somewhere." And then twenty-three. Many a good fighter has quit when he found every rush he made was stopped with a tantalizing jab in the nose, and many a man has thrown up the sponge when he has walked the streets day in and day out and dis- covered that nobody wanted him. At the end of a week The Girl would have written a letter home or taken a train back if it had not been for her pride. She didn't want to acknowledge defeat, but she was on the verge of it. She was coming out of a theatre one night when she met The Man. There must be a man else there would be no story. He was about forty-five years old, had been through enough campaigns to give him self-possession, and he had been successful enough to be egotistic. Two min- utes later they were walking down Broadway together, and she was rather glad that she had found someone who took an interest in her. One-half hour after that and they were seated at a table in a big restaurant ; the order had been given and she was telling him all about herself while he was looking her over with an exceed- ingly critical eye and making up his mind that she showed up rather good under a strong light, especially when she smiled. A broiled lobster, a quart of claret, then a couple of birds and a quart of wine are enough to change the ideas and opinions of a lot of people, especially if such a bill of fare is unusual, and so it happened that when the red began to come to The Girl's cheeks, the things The Man were saying to her didn't seem so much out THE LONG WAY 'ROUND 33 of the way after all. Besides, that hall bedroom in the musty old boarding house was rapidly becoming a nightmare. Between you and me, if she had never smiled this thing would never have happened. The Man lighted a cigar, and as he blew the first puff of blue smoke toward the ceiling he observed : "My dear, marriage is nothing more nor less than a useless and barbaric rite, and when it is all summed up it amounts to nothing in the end. Why should you be legally bound to any man in this world? It would be all right as long as you loved him, then you wouldn't care, but suppose your feelings changed, what then? In order to get a divorce from him you would have to catch him committing a crime for which the law would grant you a divorce, or get good evidence, which amounts to the same thing. You might separate from him if he was cruel to you or didn't support you, but suppose he was kind and gave you all the money you wanted, then you would still have to live with him as his wife. Now, on the other hand, if you were not married to him, you would have a perfect right, as soon as your feelings changed, to leave him without a moment's notice. You would be under no obligations to him under any circumstances, and he, knowing that you were free to go and come as you pleased, would, in order to keep you, treat you with greater consideration than if you were his wife. You can believe me or not, just as you wish, but an understanding between a man and a woman is all that is necessary to happiness in = this world. Don't be old-fashioned, but let us make an agreement of some kind between ourselves. You will be perfectly independent, free to go and come as you like, and do as you wish." 34 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM There was a certain amount of logic in this argu- ment, especially when the reverse of the picture is a cheap room in a cheap boarding house. So the end of the first chapter was that the landlady wondered why her lodger never came back, even to get her case and the few belongings it contained. It 'was all mys- terious to her, but as she was paid in advance, she said nothing, and at the end of the week rented the room to an old fellow with asthma who was living on an allowance. So far as the stage was concerned, that bright bub- ble had burst, and instead of haunting the offices of managers, The Girl took to breakfasting at 10, lunch- ing at 2 and dining at 8. The theatres to her were merely places of amusement — good to fill in time which could be used in no other way, and her ambition to shine as a footlight favorite went when she found that she could live without being annoyed by any of the responsibilities of life. She gradually grew to know that the name of The Man was a very familiar one in the big cities and at times the newspapers printed his picture. She had assumed that name — it was in the compact, although there were few who knew it. Sev- eral times, when he called on her, he brought some of his friends to dinner, but these occasions were not frequent, by any means, and she knew she wasn't a part of his intimate life. Now see how time makes puppets of both men and women, for this story has one merit in that it is true. The Man took sick in Chicago, and the first she knew of it was when she read it in the newspapers. Every stage of his disease was chronicled until he died, and when she read that the paper dropped from her THE LONG WAY 'ROUND 35 hands and she felt again that weakness of the knees which took her on that first morning in New York. For four days she lived in a dream, vaguely wondering what was to become of her, and then a brisk, alert, dapper little man— a lawyer — called. There was noth- ing sentimental about him. He was business from the drop of the hat. "I represent the family of The Man," he announced, abruptly. "There is a codicil in his will which Be- queaths you $250,000. Of course, we can break that and not half try, but the widow and children don't want any unpleasant notoriety, and they are willing to settle for $50,000, which I can pay to you at once. You will accept, if you are wise, for $50,000 is a nice little sum and it will leave you free and clear to do as you please and will dispose of a very unpleasant situation." The death of The Man had given her a shock from which she hadn't yet recovered, and she asked for time to think. "Come to-morrow or the day after," she said, "and I will talk to you. I can't think now." He wanted to finish it up at once, but every time she gave him the same answer, so there was nothing for him to do but to go. And then that night there came another lawyer, one whom she had known because The Man had brought him on one of his visits. His argument was different : "There is $250,000 coming to you ; get it. It is a clean-cut, legal will and they can't break it, besides there is enough there for everybody and to spare. Let me manage it for you and don't worry. If they want to contest let them go ahead and I'll beat them." 36 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM And because he said "Don't worry; leave it all to me," she consented. That was the woman of it. They did fight, and the newspapers printed columns about it, for it was a great story, but they didn't print the part I am telling here, for that they didn't know. With the articles appeared her portraits, and she be- came as well known as The Man had been, in a way. Before the finish had been reached the heirs con- cluded there had better be a settlement, and so, rather than stand the delay of appeals in case she won, which it was reasonably sure she would do, she accepted $150,000 in cash. The next day her maid brought her a card. It read : "Alfred D. Cohen, Theatrical Promoter." "I'll see him," she said. She had learned a thing or two since she had left Philadelphia, so she knew what was coming and was prepared for it when the polite, suave Mr. Cohen walked into the room. "I have come," he said, by way of introduction, "to make you an offer to go on the stage." "Yes?" she queried, calmly. "All you will have to do is to sing two or three songs twice a day — once in the afternoon and once in the evening — and I am authorized to offer you $750 a week." "And suppose I can't sing?" she said, smiling, think- ing of the last time she had talked with a manager. "That would make no difference ; we would have you coached and can give you ten weeks straight." He fumbled at his coat nervously, for she was really an important personage now. "I have the contracts THE LONG WAY 'ROUND 37 here." He produced them and handed them over. She read them over carefully, debated mentally as to the policy of signing at once or waiting until another day, finally decided on the side of deliberation, and then said: "Come and see me to-morrow at 2 and I will let you know then." He knew intuitively she would accept, so he bowed himself out without further argument. So that is how she at last went on the stage, and if your memory serves you well enough to take you back a year or so you will know that she made a hit as the singer of songs of long ago. P. S. — She told her folks in Philadelphia that she had been studying voice culture all the time. A dose of knockout drops proved the turning point in her life THE QUEEN OF CHINATOWN If you don't think there are any interesting tales in the Tenderloin, just go there some night and look around. You don't have to look long before you will find something that is worth going a distance for. You'll find tragedy and pathos as close together as the meat is to the bread in a ham sandwich, and it doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to discover it, either. I know a few things about the Bowery and the Tenderloin, and for the past twenty years I have roamed about New York by night, simply because I was fascinated by the life after dark. Of course, you know that this night owl business is a disease, and when once you get it, and get it good, it is one of the hardest things in the world to cure. In my day I have seen many a nice, straightforward young fellow go to the bad simply because he got the night habit. It isn't much of a combination that gets you, either, for it's the white lights, the music, the women and the drinks, not counting the good fellowship, or what passes for good fellowship, on the side. The lid is on in New York to a certain extent, that I'll admit, but I'm, going to take you under the lid. It's all a bluff, anyhow, and things go on the same as they have been going for years, with very little change. The same kind of girls are roaming the streets, the same kind of booze is being served on the little round tables in stuffy back rooms, and the same class of 40 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM waiters are making short change whenever the mark looks easy. There may be a new police captain in the district or the precinct, but there are some things in this world that can't be held down any more than a man can hold down a charge of dynamite after the cap has been exploded. Talk about your high pressure life — that's it. Ten years is the limit for the careful ones, and I've seen them go off in five. Why, only the other day a hospital ambulance backed up to a downtown tenement, and when it went away it carried a woman whose lease of life had about expired. There was a crowd which gathered, as usual — men, women and children, all filled with a morbid curiosity, which makes people flock and gaze with interest at anything which approaches a bit of human wreckage, and of them all there was not more than one or two who knew that the sick woman had once been known as the Queen of Chinatown, and had been made the subject of many an interesting story. It seems only a few years ago that they called her the Queen, and you wondered why until you looked at her and heard her talk. Then you knew. She was more than good looking, and what was just a bit rarer, she was educated. There was about her a certain amount of refinement which forced itself to the surface like a life preserver under water, every once in a while, but which as the years rolled on gradually dis- appeared, just like any other veneer. If the constant dropping of water will wear away a stone, in just so sure a way will environment contaminate, and human nature seek the lower level. THE QUEEN OF CHINATOWN 41 So here is the picture : This so-called Queen, coming into Chinatown — by what route only she can tell — and creating a mild sen- sation among the Orientals who inhabit the houses on those narrow, twisting streets. The story was that a dose of knockout drops had proved the turning point in her life. John Chinaman, you know, has a keen eye for the beautiful, not only in decorative art and choice silks, but in women. There is his one weak point, the defective link in the chain, the one vulnerable spot in the armor of his stony reserve. The lobbygows — the errand men of the Chinese — the whites, who execute commissions for them, and do all sorts of services, both legitimate and illegitimate, who will work in the dark as well as in the light, and whose heels can be hurried by extra compensation, saw and noted this Queen also, and in seeing, they, too, admired, but more or less hopelessly. The one spot which is quick in a woman's composition in adulation. Let her be like ice, as cold and pure and reserved as her likeness carved out of the whitest Parian marble, or the hardest of flint-like granite, and admiration will make her as soft and supple as a Cleopatra. She comes into her own and knows it. She smiles and looks about for a likely head upon which to drop the wreath of her favors, and if she hesi- tates it is because the right head has not been bowed, or that her whim bids her hold off that she may only succumb after a struggle. I am not putting up any defense for this Chinatown Queen. She was simply a woman with moods and 42 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM humors, and pretty ways. Furthermore," which is es- sential in most cases, she was good to look at. So many were the affairs that she had that there is no Solomon wise enough to tell how or when the first one began. All that is known is that she dressed in silks that were costly enough for a real queen, and which smelled of the spices and perfume of the Orient. When I say costly, I mean from a money standard. They were more costly than that, so far as she was concerned personally, for in the end they cost her her life, and if she is not dead yet they certainly cost her happiness, which really amounts to the same thing. For a while she lived furiously, with anything she wanted for the asking. Fine clothes, fine jewels, and money to spend is part of every woman's life. More than that, it is a keystone. Besides, she was the most prominent woman in all the Quarter. For her that was fame and glory enough. Had she been placed, by a fortunate move, some- where else on the chess-board of life, her fame might have been more secure, but what difference does that make, so long as she was satisfied ? It wasn't long before her real life began, when her steps, instead of being on the level or upward, traced their gradual way downward. That was inevitable in that case, just as it is in other cases where constancy is an unknown virtue. She passed from hand to hand like the chattel that she was. She didn't even consider the proposition of the highest bidder, and start a hoard in some secret place which would have been a life raft to her in the turbulent days to come. THE QUEEN OF CHINATOWN 43 She lived on promises, and those are false things which fall to bits before adverse winds and threaten- ing weather. Her spirits rose and fell in an inverse ratio to the rising and setting of the sun, and she took no heed of the days to come. The seed of thrift failed to find lodgment in her being. And another thing, she never knew the real meaning of the word opportunity. In her early and halcyon days before the opium and the night life had stamped its mark upon her face, there came, with a party of sight-seers to Chinatown one night, a man about town whose name stood for re- spectability, good family and wealth. She, as Queen, could not well be overlooked, and the guide took the party to her apartments on the first floor o'f a dingv tenement. "What's up here?" asked one of the party. "Here is where de Queen of Chinatown lives," re- sponded the guide. "Dis is de gal wots got all de gang on de run, and as fer de Chinkys — why, dere ain't one uv dem wot wouldn't croak a guy fer her." They filed into the room and looked at trie girl as they looked at the rest of the odd sights. Let anybody rise above the human herd, even a short- distance, or do anything that is in the slightest way un- usual, and they are bound to find themselves in the cen- ter of the spot light. "Youse kin buy a drink off her, if yer like, or if yer'll cough up er bone apiece, she'll show yer how to hit der pipe," announced the guide. They thought it was worth a dollar each to see a Queen smoking opium, and all cheerfully handed her 44 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM the fee, with the exception of this one particular man, who pressed five times the amount into her hand. Curious things happen in this world of ours, and here is one of them : Two hours later, the same man, who had slipped away from his party, hunted up the same guide, and giving hivi a good-sized fee requested the honor of an- other visit to the Queen. The moral tone of Chinatown is not so high that when the guide was dismissed he should feel at all offended. He was perfectly satisfied, and he said so a few minutes later as he was relating this story to some of his friends in the saloon on the corner. From this point the Queen herself takes up the tale. She told it to her bosom friend, the Rummager, a week later, and the Rummager's eyes bulged and her mouth opened as she heard it. More than once she was inclined to disbelieve it, and said so, but the facts were there and proven by the presence of certain arti- cles which could be accounted for in no other way. "He was one of the real ones," remarked the Queen, "and I knew it as soon as I saw him. I have seen fel- lows stuck good and strong, but he was the limit. He was clean gone. When he came back the second time he began as all the others do, by asking me how I came to live in Chinatown. I told him to cut it out, and cut it quick, and he took my tip. He didn't lose a minute telling me he liked me, either, and, say, he promised me everything you could think of, up and down, if I would cut the gang and go with him. He said I could have the swellest flat that money could buy, and a horse and carriage, if I liked. I thought he was kid- ding at first, but he soon put me wise that he was the THE QUEEN OF CHINATOWN 45 goods. He chinned to me for about an hour, and then he told me to put on my glad rags and he would take me uptown to a feed. I was on in a minute, and noth- ing but a cab would do for him. We went up on Broadway, and the layout cost him $25, easy. "We come down the line and butted into every joint that had a light out, and every place we hit was a bottle of wine. And every drink we took it was, 'Well, will you leave that crowd?' "On the level, once or twice he had me going, but when I thought of all the boys down here, and the good times we're having I couldn't do it, and I told him so. When I left him he was ossified for fair, and he gave me these things to remember him by, he said." Whereupon the Queen showed up a roll of bills, a scarf pin, a match box, and the Rummager believed. She couldn't afford to do otherwise very well, for the Queen was, as usual, doing all the buying of drinks, and the Rummager's thirst has been compared to a barrel of sponges. It was only the other day that I found myself won- dering what had become of that pin and box. Where have they been since then and who has owned them ? That they have fallen into many hands there can be no doubt, and the first to get them was the pawnbroker. But after that ! From silks the Queen went to calico. That is a great chasm for any woman to cross, and from three rooms she came down to one. Xotice how easily the human being can adjust itself to changes. The nights of dissipation had begun to leave their mark, and her throne was tottering. 46 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM The plumpness of her figure began to disappear, and angles crept in to take the place of curves. Her eyes were less bright, and her enthusiasm had lost its edge. But she didn't realize this. She thought she was still Queen and she was living on her past, just as many other real queens have, and for that she is to be forgiven, for it is a woman's right to think herself the same as she was when she was at her best. It is the life buoy to which she always clings, and when she dies her arms are found clasped about it with the grip of death. And then the day came when this Queen, a wisp and shred of a woman, whose dreams had gone, and whose calico had turned to rags, went down the street of the Quarter one night never to return. She had married a man of her class, and they went into a tenement together. Her sun had set — her day was done. One day the priest was sent for to shrive her. I hope there was consolation in his visit, because a dethroned queen needs pity sometimes. A GIRL OF THE GOLDEN GATE When you go to the theatre, sit in a comfortable seat, and look at the gay, laughing girls who are doing all sorts of stunts in the front row, you are evidently under the impression that their lives are simply one un- ending series of revels and that they live in luxurious ease. In your fancy you see them going to magnificent apartments to enjoy late dinners washed down by high-priced wine; you think, perhaps, that they dress just as you see them on the stage, and that all they have to do is ask for anything they happen to want and it is theirs. Your imagination paints you a wonderful picture of love behind the scenes, but like children's fairy tales, half is a dream. You are simply bringing into existence a mental painting in very attractive colors, and if you could make it real it would be a very fine thing for the girl who makes up that she may look well from behind the footlights. There are few short cuts to the stage and the roads are for the most part hard and tiresome. The woman who gets there, and by that I mean the one who finally lands with a reputation, usually has a past that would make interesting reading — if it could be published, which is out of the question. To-day there is a woman in New York who is a star. 48 SKETCHES OF GOTHAM So far as real talent is concerned she ought to have been a star years ago, but there was some hitch and she failed to connect. She's all right now, however, and when she pulls down her fat bundle of bills every week she doesn't think of the old days on the Pacific Coast when she was doing one turn an hour in the mining camps, and well content if she got enough at the end of the show to pay for her room and give her a balance on the side to keep up her wardrobe — stage wardrobe, I mean — for she didn't seem to care much how she dressed when on the street, and so far as that was concerned, she was on the street very little, for reasons that are ob- vious. She was a nice looking little girl in those days, full of ginger and all that sort of thing, and she had the kind of magnetism that made a good many men think they couldn't live without her. She was bright and saucy, and happy-go-lucky, taking things as they came, singing her songs with an abandon and grace that went a long way toward filling up the house. But it was when she danced that she was at her best. That half-wild Spanish Cachuca made those rough men rise to their feet and cheer her as if she was the most wonderful girl in the world, and when the boys were flush many a hundred dollars in gold went over the flickering footlights to her feet, so that she really and truly danced on gold. It was the Westerners' way of paying homage to anyone they liked, and it is done to-day, but not to so great an extent. You see, there was no limit on those fellows in the blue shirts and bearded faces, and what was a hand- A GIRL OF THE GOLDEN GATE 49 ful of gold more or less to them then or at any other time? They were an open-handed lot, living only for the day, and to the devil with to-morrow, lavishing all they had upon anyone whom they liked. As the money rolled in to her so it rolled out, easily and without apparent effort, and at the end of a year she had just what she started with — a couple of dress- es, the most part of which was tinsel. And that brings me right back into the heart of this story, the preliminary having been sufficiently long to give you a. thorough introduction to this little lady — queen of the mining camps. It isn't likely you ever heard of a fellow who for some romantic reason or other called himself Palo Alto Bill. He was a tin horn gambler, good at short cards, willing to take a chance at any proposition that ever came over the hills, so long as he could figure in it financially, but he had no heart. It was all Bill from first to last, and he didn't have enough generosity in his entire system to drop a bone to a hungry dog. You know the breed — they think they are all right, but they are so eaten up with selfishness, and egotism, and van- ity, that they stride along with their elbows pushed out, as if they were going to shove everybody else off the earth. He was handsome all right, with black hair — black as an Indian's — a curling mustache, and a wonderfully taking way with a woman. This was the combination that stacked itself up against the little singer with the suggestion that they travel in double harness for mutual benefit. That was all there was to it. : '" "~ A wonderful but untrue picture of love behind the scenes A