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Show J- I Theatrical Policemen I i By Frederic J. Haskin. 4 : f NEW YORK. N. Y.f March 19. The viyitor to New york these days is immediately imme-diately impressed with the tremendous number of policemen. Let a fire break out, an accident occur, a theft be perpetrated, per-petrated, or the president visit the Metropolitan Met-ropolitan opera house, and at once policemen police-men seem to rise on all sides, as though by magic. A chain of bluecoats with flourishing "billies'' is formed around the scene of excitement in so short a time that the crowd is taken by surprise and usually meekly disintegrates ur stands at a respectful distance without satisfying its curiosity. Yet the supply of policemen police-men patrolling the near-by streets has nut even been tapped. Where, asks the gaping stranger, do they all come from? Of course, the mystery is no mystery at all when you once know about it. The New York police department has simply organized a larpe number of respectable and capable citizens into a police reserve force. It has given them the authority to make arrests whenever necessary, and it has backed up this authority with the privilege of wearing police uniforms and of carrying "night sticks" and revolvers in their pockets. The only difference between be-tween the regular policemen and the po-lire po-lire reserves is that the former are paid hy the city, and the latter are not. They get no pensions if they lose a thumb or a toe in the performance of their duty; they even buy their own uniforms. The only rewards are glory and the possible opportunity of getting even with an enemy by arresting him for speeding. The police reserve of New York came into being last May, as a war emergency. By that time the city's police duties had become so heavy that the regular force was working sixteen to twenty hours a day, uncovering bomb plots and tracing enemy aliens, and everyone 'shuddered to tli ink what would happen if a real ca-lam ca-lam itv, like a Llertnan air raid, came aiong". Policemen had to be procured somewhere, in spite of the usual lack of funds, so the commissioner finally derided de-rided to recruit voluntary aid. All sorts of reserves were springing up in the army and navy. Why not a police reserve? Today the New York police reserve contains citizens from almost all professions pro-fessions a iid ocaunat ions, with the except ex-cept ion of tli i eriminal. Any bluccoat you see is apt to cover the person of a weil - known lawyer, banker, commission merchant, cloak and suit manufacturer, interior decorator, store clerk, vaudeville art ist or theater manager. Or, worse yet. a police hadgo may lurk beneath the innocent, tailored coat of any man in the st ceo t. The other day a small, dapper man in a light gray suit was seen on a sireet crner in the grip of a tall, brass-buttoned brass-buttoned policeman. They were having a vIoTent argument. The news flew about that a weli -known comedian was being arretted. As a matter of fact, he was mcreiy having a discussion with his man-ag.M-. i all the police reserves, the theatrics theatri-cs 1 ones are perhaps the most Interest Inter-est ing. They are so enthusiastic about lln-ir new duties, and they take them so s,Tious;v. The theatrical profession has '.! the irresponsible Bohemian of the nation S' !ntr that it is rj ' her exciting t i it t o no siifjib'niy adir.:U-'! t the .;.l,,-r duties vi I'tifnroing the Jaw. Si;ch nub'i'1 s-Tviee has further del i -in Oil ui..- nil i ties. u p h such an upport unity far demonstrating its merit, the theatrical theatri-cal profession may capture the public's confidence and send a few members to congress. At least, this is the vision of one theatrical policeman. The theatrical contingent is made up almost entirely of that part of the profession pro-fession which remains in New York that is, the theater managers, book agents, producers, playwrights, musical directors, costumers and stage hands, rather than the actors. It has an active membership of 3r0 men, and over 250 are in uniform. Parenthetically, it may be stated that tho uniform has been the source of much discussion and activity among .the members. With their sense of the appropriate in costumes, they finally managed to decide upon a uniform uni-form of lark blue cloth, with brass hut-tons, hut-tons, voluminous pockets, and high black boots which, reaching above the knee, give a dashing, military effect. At the present time they are much dissatisfied with the regular policeman's overcoat, which costs about $19 or $20. They are going to have a new one designed and tailored that will cost about $.10. Among the contingent are names that appear in electric lights in several places on Broadway. Henry W. Savage is a lieutenant-colonel in the organization ; George M. Cohen, Marcus I.ocw and Lee Schubert are majors; Sam H. Harris is a captain, and .Edwin F. Albeo of the United Booking offices, the controlling power behind the 13. F. Keith and Or-pheum Or-pheum vaudeville circuits, holds an exalted ex-alted rank in the police reserve. William Wil-liam Fox. B. M. Moss and Henry C. Jacobs, Ja-cobs, well-known magnates in the theatrical the-atrical profession, are also officers. Lieutenant-Colonel Savage, it is said, was successful in turning over some very valuable information concerning German spies to the police force, and various minor celebrities in the profession shared in this work. One policeman, a tall, red-haired sergeant, ser-geant, who used to grace tho movie screen, took music lessons lor several weeks from a woman reported to the police po-lice department ;is a suspicious alien sympathizer. This particular woman turned out to be harmless, but tho same could not be said of various musicians and artists in the profession who became be-came the special charges of the new theatrical the-atrical policemen. The reserves are es-specially es-specially proud of their ta lenis as soy catchers, but they won't to! I vou huw they fl id it. Now that the spy seare is over, the police department is still depending upon the rpserve tor or her special duties. w-of w-of the most important of these is theater fire detail. The theatrical cont in gent has furnished 1J0 men for this work", Every Ev-ery evening they report to pol ice headquarters head-quarters the conditions of the theaters in regard to rubbish piles, lights, sigiuil boxes and other fire matters. This has relived tiie police department "f :i tremendous tre-mendous burden. An idea of the size ( the theatrical industry may Ik: g;i t iu-red from the statement that over ;;'in theaters the-aters in New York are in need of a fire pat rol. and the law provides t hat only theaters seating 3o0 or over must be covered. In addition to its work inside the theaters, the-aters, the t heatrical police reserve h; s rendered vrtluaMe assistance in outside fires. On November 11. the nirriit of tiie day the arm ist ice was signed, it furnished fur-nished 1-2 men to help patrol Broadway, relieving regular pn'icomen who had P.. en on llie job twenty-two hours. Suddenly tho cry of "Five:" :ts pa-s.-.l :ii..;1g i he .'tir-b. It was in a ivs;,i!i:-;nii n -rt y-seventh y-seventh rlroet. lies, we i'ohc r.,;vn 1. i. -lite nan t A. L. Barney, ma na r uf t he Selwyn theater, immediately took charge. Ho turned m the alarm, gathered his men together and established fire tines about the restaurant, keeping the excited crowd back and permitting the equally excited patrons of the restaurant to escape es-cape only in an orderly procession, which prevented a panic. Captain MoKimmon of the regular force praised their work and gave them all the credit in the morning morn-ing papers more than which no member mem-ber of the theatrical profession could ask. Not long after this a young theater booking agent by the name of Shannon, who is a captain in the reserve police force, was walking along a street in Harlem, Har-lem, unfortunately not in uniform, when be noticed a large cloud of black smoke arising from a small building. He had learned to judge smoke by this time, and he knew that particular kind of smoke meant a particular kind of fire the kind that needed fire engines. He rushed to the corner and turned In an alarm, rushed back placing his shield upon his plain coat, and on the strength of this shield and his authoritative voice alone ho kept the crowd back until the fire was put out. Another theatrical police reserve captain, who doesn't want his name mentioned, rendered the same service ser-vice the other day in a downtown district dis-trict when an old man committed suicide sui-cide by stepping in front of an express train. One of the most famous of the reserve policemen is J sad ore Osterlitz, a professional profes-sional tailor and costumer, who has not been content with sending in fire alarms and cheeking crowds. Nut long ago he was passing the liiverside theater when the crowd was coming out and he saw a man grab a woman's pocketbook. He gave chase to the thug, captured him and brought him back in triumph to the theater. 'Send for a policeman!" shouted shout-ed someone in the crowd, but Osterlitz shook his head excitedly. "I'm a policeman." police-man." he declared proudly: "f can't let go of this thief, but if you turn -back mv coat you will see my badge." Nevertheless. Neverthe-less. Osterlitz being a small man and tiie thief t.v. ice his .size, several bvstanders j thought, it would be wiser to call in the services vt husky bluecoats. When the little tailor appeared against the prisoner pris-oner at tiie court the next "morning he lound the police Ln a state of great excitement. ex-citement. The m-an whom he had arrested ar-rested was a notorious criminal, who hao served twenty cars for murder in I iariem. |