New Britain Herald Newspaper, June 17, 1926, Page 19

WAR on the New York NIGHT CLUB S Houw the Thrill-Seekers in Gay Broadway Cabarets and Harlem Black-and-Tan Resorts Are Being Protected by Police Against Criminal \ Wolves of the Underworld Who Have Lately Migrated From Slums to Swagger Purlieus of the Smart Set By Isabel Stephen ONCE upon 2 e — and not so long rst-grade man sitting around losking ago at that — v t r blue. I asked him w I Office men in New Y nt forth gu trouble wa ning for gangsters v trekked along il % t t 2 thief, , warped and 0w t House b Right ¢ i ive Points and fa m here, and they w OQut-of-town visitors patronize night ory between 9th and 10th clubs in the belicf that they are avenues known as Hell’s Kitchen, where ‘ i 3 v , seeing life ¥ 23 a 1 1 which i3 pa the infamous Gophers hung out. ady and the coast's cl Lo life 2 3 A e 4 swelldom alike, Even such fliers in the under- if you can't ge I can, I H e life right world az Joh Spanish, Tke the Blood, 1 along and we'll v b 5 g + % he balance, and he Kid Twist and clone Louie never t v 4 /i 4 ' T This ite one whers his nototde , taken to 8 ventured above 42d street. When in “The club occupied a large. ome search of entertainment they patronized house in an excellent neighborho We such ests ts as the Ajax Club, rang the bell and the door was Paddy the Pig's, the Bucket of Blood cautiously and Jimmy Kelly’s de luxe beer garden, livery. He eved us sharply and spoke the N Brighto: to the detect keeping the bulk of his “purple-and-fine- body out of sight and using it as contingent from uptown would of barricade: ‘I told you hefore you venture to take a peep into those ¢can't get in here; this is a private club. notorious dives, but they were as safe as Here is our license if you want to see in their own well-guarded homes. Pro- it As he said th he started to show fessional “bouncers” and swarms of s a paper. There was an air of insolent plain-clothes detectives discouraged any bluster about the man; rough stuff during the invasion of the With half an eye elite. What went on among themselves that he was going was their own concern, and fifty victims out of hiz way to of knife thrusts, gunshots, bricks and be impudent blackjacks was a pretty fair weekly “‘We don't want average, according to the records of ee it,’ I told hi Bellevue Hospital mer act a3 The old-time fence the | < room pened v a man dressed in butler's some rookery in a sort ) re not stea a loft, $100,000 from a Per fortunes in goods knowing pose of their loot t have to deal ig assign You could see forward. Those picturesque places are now as ° 1 the District abandoned as salted mines after an in- C , and I am vasion of investing sucker lis The coming in with this grafiters, professional gunmen, racket officer.” promoters, safe-crackers, loft workers “With a smirk on and pickpockets are no longer content his face he opened with such scabrous hangouts; nowadays the door and made they are cutting a wide swath in the wus a mocking bow. smartest night clubs and cabarets along Cor fronting us was Broadway, Park and Madison avenues, in an iron grijl door, the exotic black-and-tan resorts of Har- and through the lem and the “private clubs” of the Br heavy scrollwork [ and Brooklyn, according to John E. Mc- could see another Geehan, the militant District Attorney of door of solid sheet the Bronx iron. On this the Recently McGechan startled New York ‘butler’ tapped 5 ; : v when he declared that many of the most certain number o5 5 R g ‘ £ ; | inneRse nishott: it i SToci Day popular night olubs and cabarets were times, and the inner [ i A 5 - Y el : f £ 7= LRAY ATO being paid for and maintained by the door 'was opened s & ] JEes B SYen pie b . th rded chorus girls of the chea greatest thieves in the city. He de- The burly brute whe ¢ : $ g ¥ ] A fasraay et e sh Been through a8 scribed, their migration from the slums staod an the jyegns R LA b . SO e : 5 maybe it e to the swagger purlieus of the smart tad ¥l ari a2 R 2 1 GLos Bl { houris! Seen with sober ey el sets, and said that in making his rounds i : p ! ) ; 1 of these after-the-theatre resorts he had ¥ the out- MRS 3 R X S i : R mean th bs are recognized their proprictors as men he side man: “Thig 1« » [ s A ; Rt 5 artivedsy SHOr IR 08 bad, at all. There harming places, himeelf had on more than one occasion private clup, g — 8 , . R — - e e Aente t we are not ¢ sent “up the river.” I interrupted hjm Salar Cl } Hip before he could fin. John E. McGeehan, District Attorney of the Bronx. recently declared that i R 2 cate P ey « 4 ty good - ish . X ¢ > 4 < and r TOOK mighty good care not to men- i L many of the popular night clubs of New York City were heing run by out- tion the names of the clubs which : were being run by ex-convicts,” Mr. Mc- to him, laws and criminals, and he asserted that a round of the clubs which he made X i _have been convicte Geehan told the writer. “I wasn't afraid District Ay 3 not long ago disclosed several men he had sent to jail deliv L s g R jlishiess not mentioned of libel. These men’s records are on file 4 r ma : R s " c. e at police headquarters and Sing Sing, L iy D.annFmom and other penitentiaries. department in just one ‘\‘w : et What I was afraid of was giving pgb» ¢ and they'll come along and break N R =iqetal tha Toom e reg iEhaty S e ¢ e \ Lei St At licity to the places. Instead of being it down. ; i vt tenders i A ' : ; tions warned away from criminal - owned 5 v 5 e e s o dand 4 7 : s : nt clubs, I knew that it was quite p_ossible) uAT THAT he unlocked the two doors & e h So-and e 5 o Wh : L i L 2 oot i 27 kL '! ]T\;sl many thrill-seekers might get ‘wind of and we entered. The beginning ¢ id t \ ached his saw th 1 to the of o i it bl : A e these camouflaged dives, and the shady of wisdom for crooks used to be a fear tablo e t th n ofi as stationed in HeneT et : ; AP e proprietorship would be an added at- of the police; this new generation, ¢ ¥ the words the clu 4 d - g h ¢ d o J i 3 traction. though, has so much money it seems a at t F phere — to f th dacity of ¢ ay cr s 2 o open-sesd r e 3 i A oAk “Barnum used to say that there was & {0 think it owns the earth. Another ma tomers tk of old times.’ Y r lodged S S il heowasets i y il oy ‘ e sucker born every minute and two to thing is that they are coming into social “Well District Attorney con- [ t v f of s £ / PO s “"‘_“ i ‘3"’““ take him. It strikes me that there is contact with great men whom you or I ¢ grimly, “we weren't there in 1 B th Bl e Ly e NSRS &= 8 Ihyery fi"“_du“" a whole flock of suckers these days for couldn't get an audience with, and s f liquor, but a thief. And we ,and - HAY e i s : CHsoy iy ) ave ,h;ed h: every come-on man. they're getting all puffed up over it. d two thieves before us, but we had a t closed for violat ! 2 i ; BB R h“‘ Hs ey S “The old games have been passed up, That this doesn’t do them an iota of warrant for nly one. W 1 was S anar s o v —and he hasn't a chance against and the old-time line of safe-crackers, good when once they get into the claws speak y, the dete I kept his . e e 2 B iy second-story men and confidence workers of the police doesn’t seem to penctrate man's ey 'y move observation “TE! ad locked up 1% : N Geuss o A ‘ l:upmj"fh@m ‘afi'f e him- are now going in for big dough. They their thick skulls. Suddenly he stepped forward, j s the isoner, he gave r ¢ 1 ! : e g el SRR LA flml\\g dressed are cleaning out lofts, holding up trucks “The hall we entered was carpeted thief’s hand went toward hi J ar t t 4 i 3 et - e v think i ,‘””l arcfnr.n'pln:s, \u\h? is the on a big scale and working the black- with a thick-piled runner, expensive pic- with a swift movement extrs a 45 al exan how th ! Lk £ & i e o0 i ion of «Alw hn:u.l: 40! the mailing rackets for all they are worth. tures h on the walls, and opening caliber g the man’s ¢ ster works. The complaint of theft ha e S ey ‘uvnflr(m. ', eir mu]n‘tds “And big crooks no longer foregather off it were luxuriously furnished dining ;i wret patrons have become so ac pde by a prominer rke v - L ity in the old days by lifting leathers, strip- in the back rooms of saloons and under- rooms which would throw many of our arres d dis he was one of se Mo refer Il ping lushers u:xd shoplifting, world dens when they lay out their plans best restaurants into the shade. »f various sorts ths ve earlier in the thief, always a <lmj!: once a for a coup, or when they meet the fences “‘There’s my man,’ the detective said come to look on them as : L lose s ; ) S ac I, is a good who are to dispose of their loot—they to me, pointing to a well-dressed youth wrta € Our t { ) i of 1 0} kuich S8 o e N remember. Tlvi\rn are excep- ‘patronize’ first-class hotels in the day- who was ted at a table drinking with anj imotion. T noticed notorious here wi 1 ey who It w ; fro £ b W ti cases where men e ](‘f(?mgd time and entertain their ‘buyers’ in the a sallow-faced, middle-aged man in din- the company of a hard-eyed, entree to his sanctum, and that was f ) is ey are unigue and v\:r:mr\hnn‘ry_ smart night clubs. I am speaking from ner clothes whom I recognized as an ex- peautiful young and a we hootle W .' i il olice ( ommissioner McLaughlin’s the book when I say this—it isn't a jailbird. ‘And,’ he added, ‘the fellow broker, seated at a corner table. In the ! S thing—th n & ) .“' aL A0 : dv:m to n‘l:m- all objectionable classes matter of conjecture—and I can produce with him is the proprietor.' old days that culs ug would ce men have in particular lowbr i T 0 his own home of nu':u(r]lll‘ resorts _mII do a tremen- evidence to prove what I say. “Criminals are always on the alert for have quietly slunk o sight upon the sgger; they s a black-and- dous lot to rid ghe rn_\-lu( crime, The “The other night I happened to go the police, no matter how securely they o pearance of police officer; on the used to swear tan resor hich is wow all the younger tz{‘"‘f’fl'!f‘n won't see cr_vmin.- down to Harlem to investigate & may have intrenched themselves, and evening I am speaking of, regarded t or a won 1 rage. Nowhere, peo say, can you see fla-.x?v‘.n:: “mf" ill-gotten gains; ms(e_ld, case and dropped into the Alexander as the detective ceased speaking the the arrest with a half-smiling, cynical e clerg n e the Charleston d as they dance it they m'..l learn that the wages of crimy avenue station house on the way. There owner of this gilt-edged speakeasy rec- air of curiosity. Loud check gaudy in their priv ¢ they there. It i Iv" ced by no fewer than is—jail. ; I saw a detective whom I knew to be a ognized us. I saw his lips move. Then silk shirts distinguished his wardrobe have them into their homes and frater- three men with long records. An out- Copurioht by Pudiic Ledger EET CEEE el he comp!icd e wrecks of a g nurderers, k gentry ociety; don't open the door I t to