Show IIGKH1E NEW YORK James L Ford Says Gotham Is As Wicked As Ever UPTODATE SWINDLES BED KATES EXPLOIT AND TH DREARY SEQUEL Habit and Doings of the Famous Pour Hundred Murray Hill Belles Not So HiBehaved A I Many People Believe The Aristocracy Aristo-cracy Is Composed of Very Commonplace Com-monplace People Special Correspondence New York Dec 10ne of the most famous of modern swindlers and cardsharpers card-sharpers William Carroll Woodward has been brought to bay at last and is now safely caged behind the bars He is the last survivor of a very distinguished dis-tinguished group of expert crooks that used to practice in New York the different dif-ferent shades of that great profession of getting something for nothing which has engrossed the attention of a large part of the human race ever since the earliest history of man Mr Woodward who is a gentleman of ripened mind agreeable conversational conversa-tional gifts and pleasant nonchalance of manner undoubtedly looks back with feelings of tender longing and regret to those palmy days when the expert green goods gold brick and short card men were far more prosperous in world ly matters and infinitely more conspicuous conspic-uous in the gay life of the town than they are today Optimists see in this fact distinct evidence that the present age is a better one morally than that of two decades ago but people who are really familiar with the townand not one of these is an optimist know that there are just as many crooks in New York as ever and they are just as active ac-tive as they were when Barney McGuire I Mc-Guire was carrying on a wholesale green goods business and backing one of the most attractive and sociable lit atractve socable lt tie opium joints that a bunco steerer ever smoked In I is true the old timers who are unwilling or unable to accommodate themselves to the new order of things have disappeared from the stage but there is a new generation genera-tion which has found other channels for the exercise of its talent But the swindler of today is as inferior infer-ior in point of dash and brilliancy to his counterpart of a quarter of a century cen-tury ago as a modern second story man Is to Claude Duval or Beau Brocade Bro-cade His operations whether conducted Ion ed I-on an enormous scale as one of the I component parts of n corporation or syndicate or in some such humble capacity ca-pacity as that of a ticket speculator are totally devoid of those romantic qualities which go to make up a successful suc-cessful stage hero There is profit for example in dealing in antiques which are made in Jersey City and sold the next week in Fifth avenue profit but no romance and I can think of no more commonplace occupation than that of burying brand new furniture from Cedar Rapids in a dung heap in order that it may quickly assume the worm eaten appearance that is supposed sup-posed by credulous persons to be the I unmistakable hnrlirft of srreat ace SUFFERING FROM ANTIQUOID As a chronic sufferer from what I call antiquoid I have come to learn a good many things about the methods employed by the dealers in antiques and curios and my studies have served I to make me suspicious of everything that lays claim to antiquity with the I possible exception of the obelisk in Central park and certain jokes which we have always with us There are more collectors of antiques and brica brac in New York than there ever were before and more dealers competing for their custom and yet the supply of genuine old colonial furniture and I veritable sixteenth century articles is inexhaustible like that of the codfish on the Grand Banks I have often wondered I won-dered what ingenious man manufactures manufac-tures the peculiar quality of mouldy dust with which dealers sprinkle their wares every Monday morning in anticipation antic-ipation of the weeks trade I have noticed that precisely the same quality I of dust is used all over the town and that i is not quite as fine as that employed em-ployed by the keepers of table dhute restaurants to encourage the consumption consump-tion of such brands of wine as cost more than 1 a bottle There is an immense quantity of dust used every year because every true collector would rather have his antiques dirty than bright and new as they are when they come from the factory Pshaw This modern swindling of hay makers and art collectors is like a game of cats cradle in comparison with the operations of Woodward and his gang and I for one regret the disappearance dis-appearance of the oldfashioned crook who had at least the virtue of being picturesque and affording some material ma-terial to a story teller or dramatist The subject reminds me of something that happened some time ago within the limits of what is now Greater New York that was so Dickensy in character char-acter and color that I marvel to think that it escaped as it did the pens of those hundreds of eagerbrained young writers who are always anxious to find something that is worth telling in story form This story is worth tel ing although it will be seen that it has not that news value which is of such vast importance in the eyes of I every modern city editor THE EXPLOIT OF RED KATE I is now fully 20 years I believe since Red Leary one of the most distinguished members of a noted band of criminals was locked up in Ludlow street jail thereby entering upon a period of captivity which might have lasted for a very very long while i it had not been for the devotion of his wife Red Kate distinguished in L various branches of shoplifting badgering and other crooked work The door had scarcely closed on her husband before Mrs Leary began preparations for his rescue First of all she located the exact position of his cell which was on the north side of the jail and then she hired in the adjacent house the tenement that was next to that cell and separated from it by two thicknesses of bricks and mortar mor-tar Into her new quarters she promptly moved and among her effects were two or three instruments of chilled steel of a kind frequently employed em-ployed in those operations from which her husband gained his livelihood With these weapons Red Kate attacked at-tacked the walls of her home and many a night she might have been seen carrying out bags filled with mortar mor-tar and broken brick and depositing them In ash barrels where they probably prob-ably remained until Waring took charge of the city There came a day about a fortnight later when the keeper making his morning rounds found Red Learys cell empty and nothingbut a jagged hole in the wall to show how he had disappeared The town rang with the tidings of Red Kates exploit and there was a genuine feeling of sympathy and admiration for her that extended through all classes of society Red Leary I believe was not recaptured re-captured but in due course of time he was gathered to his fathers and his widow drifted down to Coney Island which was then this was in the time of John Y McKane haven of refuge for many an oldtime crook in failing fortunes Here Mrs Leary opened a small saloon from which she contrived to make a living until compelled to abandon it by reason of the infirmities incident to advanced age and the wear and tear of an eventful life Seized with a severe illness this friendless and destitute old woman was on the point of going to a hospital to end her days when a retired pickpocket who lived in a lonely cabin on the broad marshland that lies between the ocean and Gravesend bay came to the rescue with an offer of shelter the best that he could give It was from this cabin on a bleak winters day with the salt wind sweep ing through the dead marsh grasses that the soul of Red Kate Leary passed to its final accounting and it was a retired pickpocket and his wife who closed her eyes and folded her j withered hands across her breast J j And the town is still full of writers looking for local color THE CHANGED HABITS OF THE FOUR HUNDRED Of course I recognize the fact that no New York letter is complete without with-out its quota of information concerning concern-ing the habits and doings of that famous fa-mous group known as the Four Hundred Hun-dred and I well remember that in a letter which I contributed some years ago to a western paper I made it a point to furnish some of the most remarkable re-markable imaginative matter that has ever been printed about New York society so-ciety but I was young then and wrote over an assumed name Now that the fires of youth are beginning to burn low in my veins I desire to state with a contrite heart that a great many false statements have been made and circulated regarding the habits of the club men belles of Murray Hill society leaders and others who constitute con-stitute our most exclusive and bril liant social circles As a matter of fact it is sometimes difficult to distinguish distin-guish between a Murray Hill belle and the young lady who earns her living in some position like that of cashier in a firstclass restaurant except that the latter is liable to have a little more snap and style sitting as she does in the very focus of the public eye than her wealthier sister I am told moreover more-over that one can find in the personal adornment of the young girls who are employed in the fashionable stores the very latest wrinkles in the way of hair dressing ribbons buckles belts and other comparatively inexpensive details of dress though in the matter of gowns they follow rather than lead the styles It may deprive my New York correspondence corre-spondence of a certain spice of interest but candor compels me to state that the belles of Murray Hill there are a great many people in New York who dont know where Murray Hill Isare Very much better behaved than the flash weeklies and lurid New York let ters would have us believe It is by no means common to see groups of fashionable and wellknown women smoking opium in Pell street or tread ing the mazes of the merry skirt dance on Fifth avenue after nightfall Of course there are some who cling to the oldfashioned New York correspondence corre-spondence habits that were fastened upon them several decades ago but the majority of them lead peaceful and temperate lives and seldom do any thing that would entitle them to a place in an illustrated police weekly In fact it is the very monotony of the Four Hundred and their commonplace methods of life which make it difficult for a man with a proper respect for the truth to write entertainingly about them and I have often noticed that people who see them for the first time are terribly disappointed When the Cherry sisters were in town I took them to drive in the interest of a great metropolitan daily and one of the young ladies while comparing the society of New York to that of Cedar Rapids remarked Those Van derbilts dont seem to put on as much style as we expected I saw Mr Van derbilt the other day and he want a bit better dressed or half as stylish as Mr Slocum of our town who runs the Square Deal collar and cuff place on Main street and is a great society man Why I should think that Mr Vanderbilt would dress up a little more fancy when he went out in the park Of a mnrninf What did he have on I inquired anxiously for the honor of New York society was at stake Nothing bettern what youve got on she replied as she cast a con temptuous eye over the neatly brushed and carefully mended Sunday suit I had put on in honor of the occasion Ah well I rejoined boldly you probably saw him in the morning In i I the afternoon he wears his crimson vel j vet suit and looks perfectly grand and then I hastily changed the conver sation by directing their attention to St Patricks cathedral which we were passing I guess well have to come and in spect that building some day said the ripest of the Cherries Is it Protest ant or Catholic WHAT BACHELORS NEED Well today the only fresh news that I can get regarding the members of the Four Hundred relates to a lady i who is vaguely described in the con j temporaneous press as a society lead er and who has determined to take up the decoration of bachelor apart ments as a means of livelihood I learn from local chronicles that society is agog whatever that may beat tile thought of one of its component parts I actually going into trade But I am not much impressed by this statement because it has seemed to me that to be agog was the chronic condition of society since its members took to open ing fiower stores and tea rooms and renting their names and crests to dressmaking dress-making and bonnet shops I do not know what qualifications this lady possesses for the profession that she has undertaken but I do know something about the taste of a bache lor and I solemnly warn her not to attempt to soften our lives or change our habits by the introduction into our tenements of any of those gimcracks in which the feminine soul delights We want no ribbons attached to our chair legs no dainty contrivances for the making and serving of tea though a copper kettle that can be quickly placed over a gas jet can be employed to great i advantage during the winter months > Gilt furniture we abhor and we will have no table that is not strong and steady enough to dance on Desks that unfold an uncertain leaf and tables with a rickety extension that tremble visibly while the guests are sweetening I i the pot have no place in the quarters of any well regulated bachelor We desire de-sire above all things comfort and so lidity We believe that sofas were made for our belated friends to sleep on and that easy chairs should be so constructed construc-ted as to afford rest to the weary and ease and security to the bibulous JAMES L FORD |