The evening world. Newspaper, February 12, 1906, Page 10

by the Press Publishing Company, No. 6 to @ Park Row, New Torts *Batered at the Post-OMice at New York as Seccnd-Class Mail Matter. ose NO. 16,246. A VOLCANO. The West Fiftieth street janitor who looked for leaking gas with a the customary explosion. conditions which are a_ standing menace to the public health. The essai windows, burned and bruised half a dozen persons and threw a neigh- borhood into an uproar was a pain- fully graphic object lesson in the extent to which the city below EEL ground reeks with noxious impur- ‘ities from old gas pipes, neglected plumbing and unflushed sewers. Then there are the broken water mains, which have recently flooded the subway and undermined hotels. Why, the city is a volcano, belching fire, water, mud, everything but lava! The ripping up of the streets for subway construction greatly de- the city’s health rate. It furnished a warning which is now re- ved. When is it to be heeded? When is the gas trust to be made to dl some part of its manipulated millions to replace wornout and rotting ? When is the city on fts part to correct these conditions of neglect? " Many of its water mains are old and inadequate. The state of its sewers $n Fiftieth street is only too well revealed in the fact that gas could collect fh such volume at the nine wrecked manholes as to cause the terrifying @etonations, Before spending money on free ferry rides or watershed will-o’-the- wisps, why not prepare for street safety and sanitation underground? Mr. Ivins was not elected Mayor, but Mr, Ivinsasa Fighter-in-Chief against the c Ryan monopoly merger may be extremely useful to the city in his private capacity, “LUNG BLOCK’ AND BAD GOVERNMENT. ___ The famous “lung block” on Catharine street is an example of the ‘A Every house in it is pelsoned with tuberculosis germs. Contagion _ Spoeads from it to other pants of the city. Its death rate is very high. Turning the block into a park is suggestive. Mulberry Bend was He let in the light on underground | train of explosions which shattered | lighted candle did more than cause | ‘seformed in that way, but it is costly. The city cannot turn every plague ‘spot into a park. Besides, homes are needed in that part of the city. " Clearing great spaces for parks and bildge approaches only crowds more _ Closely the remaining’ tenements and raises rents, _. _ What the city could easily do would be to buy the block by con- emnation, sell the houses to wreckers, redivide the land into larger and “more regular plots and sell therr for the erection of improved tenements. | “The operation, if honestly conducted, would not cost the city a cent. It would double the accommodations for tenants. It would improve health conditions, that the operation would not be used simply as an opportunity for “graft?” You could hardly biame the conservative taxpayer for fighting it. Because of boss rule and heeler sovereignty in the past, which per- » / miltted reeking sties to be used by human beings, and which now bars such common sense correctives as Berlin and London are applying in! _ similar cases, men, women and little children must die needless deaths. ) : If it were anything new, people would not be grambling so much about Dr, Woodbury's neglect of the streets. ! THE NEW # ww w DETECTIVE thief or thieves. Jntrance had been made through the trap door, two more doors bad been opéned and then the ode, te the hero of these ad- vonturce, recounted by Ms friend Brett. CHAPTER I. The Stolen Jeweh ‘TD Gtanway cameo hed been die @aged on it, the assistant saig, when he left, ‘There wes no doubt, however, after Mr Claridge’ arrival et 10 o'clock. the cameo was gone. Mr. Claridge, ut- terly confounded at his loss, explained incoherently, and with curses on his ‘own carelessness, that he had locked the prectous article in his desk on re- Mnquishing work on it the previous eveping, feeling rather tired, and not taking the trouble to oarry it as far the sate in another part of the house. (he police were sent for at once, of sourse, and every investigation made, Mar, Clertdge offering a reward ef 2500 for the recovery of the cameo. It was tn the afternoon of this day that Lord Stanway called on Martin Hemitt, : “Probably you already guess my busi- ness with you. Mr. Hewltt-you have seen the early evening papers? Of course I want the thief caught 1f pos- sible, and properly punished, but still more I want the cameo. "Certainly it {9 a considerable loss. Five thousand pounds’’— “Ah, but don't misunderstand me! It fmm't the monetary value of the thing that I regret. As @ matter of fact I am indemnified for that already. Claridge has behaved most honorably—more than honorably. Indeed, the first intimation 1 fund of the Joss was a check from him for £5,009, with a letter assuring me that tho restoration to me of the amount I had paid was the least he could do to repair the result of what he called bis unpardonable carelessness. Legally Y'm not sure that I could demand anything of him unless I could prove very flagrant neglect indeed to guard against theft." “Juat so, Do I understand that you mould Ike me to look into the case in- pendently, on your behalf?" ‘agents Who ecour all Europe Ger valu- @ble antiquities and objects of ert. (his man hed hurvied immetietely to London with his prize, and sold i to ‘Mr. Claridge, of St. James street, emi- Rent as a dealer in euch objects, In the end it wae bought by the Mar- quis of Stanway fot £5,000 for the pur- pose of presentation to the British Museum. The Marquis kept the cameo ‘at his town house for a few days, show- ing it to his frients, and then returned it to Mr. Claridge to be finally end carefully cleaned Ddefore passing into the national collection. Two nights later Mr. Claridge'’s premises were broken into and the cameo atolen. Such, in outline, was the generally known history of the Stanway cameo, The circumstances of the burglary in detail were these: Mr. Olaridge had htm. elf been the last to leave the premises ft about 8 in the evening, at dusk, and had locked the small side door as usual; In se morning, however, Mr. Outler, the assistant, who arrived first, goon after 9 o'clock, at once perceived that romething uniooked for had happened. ‘The door, of which he had a key, was sti fastened and had not been fouvhed; but in the room belind the whop Mr. Claridge's private desk had been broken open end the contents turned out Jn confusion, ‘The door lead- dpe on to the staircase had also been forced. Proceeding upstairs, Mr. Cut- Yer found another door open, leading | from the top landing to a small room; @his door had been opened by the sim- Di). . Ble expedient of unscrewing and taking ‘ff the lock, which had been on the trside, In the ceiling of this room was @ trap door, and this was six or eight es open the edge resting on the half ed-off bolt, which hed been torn ‘way when the trap was levered open from the outside, @ininly, then, this was the path of the “Exactly. Claridge won't admit that he suspects any one, though he be- eves that whoever !t was must have back window of his room, and mst have seen him put the cameo away in his desk; Decuuse the thief would seem to have gone straight to Letters from the People SSSSsss SSe TSS Sixteenth City, 246,070 Population. ‘To the Daitor of How does Newark, N. J., rank in the Nat of largest cities of the United States @ Bening World: —how far from the top of the list, what But if the city were to undertake ft, what warrant fs there In our past| Population? Sey ‘The Girl and the Masher. ‘To the Waiter of The Evening World: I read account of an actress giving @ would-be masher a beating. Such drastic measures are not needed. I have had and seen several experiences of the sort, and if a girl shows that such attentions are unwel- come he will nine times out of ten leave her alone. In this blessed enlightened century men are not walking twentieth round the street saying, “Where are you going, my pretty maid?” Martin Hewitt, Investigator. the place. his inner mind, pect one of t robbery of thi others. That's A \\ But I half fancy that, in he is inclined to eus- people, You see, a jort {8 different from ‘That cameo would never be stolen, I imagine, with the view of its betng soit is «uch too famous a thing; e man offering to ight as wel] malk about ‘There are buy such things, end every one of about it Mo srould touch st; he eduld newe GOL DIN@ IT ABETN HOw THINGS HEV CHANGED 1 rank nonsense. How about It, readers? RM. 23” Versus “(25." ‘To the Dattor of The Evening World: ing the momentous question as to where the phrase “'23" originated, ff you will interview some old-time telegrapher you will find that the, ex- Bression had its genesis with tha: profession, among whom the use of nunierals to express meanings with éxtreme bdrevi! is very common. [ fancy that ‘%5" is the number that some ome had in mind. “Twenty-five” means “Busy on another circuit," &c., and the amount of emphasis and swear words thet an operator can con- vey in the manner he gives a ‘man \ ‘Retrospective. By. J: Campbell Cory. w Answers to Questions! old-time operators. copy” in offices to copy at one time, INEW YO as well. . any. this climate. by a person nanied Hughes. and desiccated reputations. little fellows annexed a shingle. Variable Potato Bash 0 the HAitor of The Evening World: ‘When I order a ‘bushel of potatoes from my grocer what rignt has ho to send me less than sixty pounds? It) seems to be @ custom with the retail “Twenty-three” is |$nx rush hours are as worthy of Bing- véry commonly used to mean “‘All|hain's correction as the Bridge hogs.| trage to have two different. sized sending messages for all pada endl eaee oS a Caer Dushels, or rather to have only one Aa | Selene menace std t their way} 1.3 that much smaller than the law TELEGRAPHER. [on to trains in sheer brutal sport, fos-| roviges, I. wonder if when buying Legal Aid Society, No. 239 Droud-} To the Hditor of The Evening World I am a very poor widow and cannot er and want to collect afford a law: money owing to me. Where can I apply? The Foorteenth Street Hoodiums. To the Bator of The Evening Wor! ‘The mob of half-grown bo rough-bouse the uptown "95" cannot be appreciated by any by; !tiou at Fourteenth street during even- “But It Is.a-clue, of course!” show it, much less sell-tt, without being called to account. So that.dt really Beoms more ifkely timt i has been taken by somebody who wishes to keep ft for mere love of the thing—a colec- tor, In fact—who would then have to Keep ft,eecretly at home, and never fet ©, s6ul besties Himself seo it, living in the consctousness thet’at his death it must be -found and fthte theft known; unless, indeed, an ordinary vulgar bur- ser taken dt without knowing fts “Well, Peat anybody, His Sixth Case THE STANWA but what of the people you think Mr, Claridge suspects?" “Ot course, I can't say that he does suspect them—I only fancied from his tone that it ight be possible; he him- selt Insists that he can’t, in justice, sus- Hahn, the travelling agent who sold him the cameo. ees not appear. to’ be absolutely irre proachable;sno-dealer trusts him very fer, Of course, Claridge doesn’t say ‘what he paid him for the cameo; these ting women, insulting men, joilying {each other in the lowest, moet vulgar language and making a football rush through tired shoppers. The subway attendants seem helpless. Let the po- lice avert more dangerous injury there. H. J. M'CORKAL, JR. Centre, Sloping to Left. To the Editor of The Evening World: from the wholesale market or the farmer he acceftr tems than a leul bushel. ‘Tis criminal to s0 “doctor” one's «ales or yard stick, or to give less than sixteen ounces for a pound or thirty-six inches for a yard, and I never knew of one's gelling less than sixty pounds of potatoes for a bushel until I came to this city a short time way. How can I dy It? POOR WIDOW. Does the heart of the human body . Unless the lawe here have hang about in the centre of the chest| been Bryanized, whe | tnd slope to the left, or Is it entirely | and permit of subway sta left side? HM. ana b, D,, | the oMcers of ” Far Rockaway. THE WORTH STREET MAN. a w a s a I believe, in the ordinary way, quite In- capable of anything in the least degree Aishonorable, although, of course, they ray a collector has no conscience in the matter of his own particular hobby, and (certainly Mr, Woollett s as keen a col- lector as any man alive. He lives in chambers in the next turning past Clar- !dge's premises—can, in fact, look into Clartdge's back windows if he likes. Ho examined the cameo several tim be- fore I bought tt, and made several high offers—appeared, in fact, very enxious Indeed to get it. After I had bought it he made, I understand, some rather strong remarks about people Ike myself ‘spolling the market’ by paying extray- agant prices, and altogether cut up ULa ple, and may of knowing nothing about the thief. ‘Now, let me see. Mr. Woollett’s rooms, you say, are near Mr. Claridge’s pisce of business? Is there any means of communtcation between the roofs?" | “Yes, I am told that it is perfectly other by walking along the leads." “Go that,” said Hewitt, “wo have, ent in Mr, Claridge's bustneas; Hahn, ‘These are all?” “All that I know of. iknow them." more than the market valup, I under- dealers are very reticent about their! known, who would mever need to break profits, which I believe are as often something like 600 per cent, as not. But \t seems Hahn bargained to have some- thing extra, depending on the amount Claridge could sel the carving for, Ac- cording to the appointment he should have turned up this moming, but he hasn't’ been’ seen, and nobody seems to know exactly, where he ts.” “Yes; amd, the other person?” ‘Weil, I:soarcety like mentioning because he.is certainly: a gentleman, never attempt to sell the missing stone without inetant detection, Hahn Is a man of ‘shady antecedents, probably One of these men is ‘This men’s character Af it be possible to spose of it at all; also, Hahn hasn't been to Claridge’s to- day, although he.had,an appointment to take money... Lastly, Mr, Woollétt. ts .a gentieman ofthe most tonorable recont, By. Irvin 8.:Cobb. ‘ ei NCB there was a public prosecutor who spent his valuable time shoot- ing Whitehead torpedoes at cockroaches, He wasted thirteen-thiti shells where a squirt-gun full of insect powder would directly connected with this cameo, be-| room behind the shop. The widea yourself, these people: Mr. Cler-| really a sort of work table, with a r, fdge, the dealer; Mr. Cutler, the assist-| ing top and a lock. The top who sold the article to Claridge, and| which nad been pushed in Mr, Woollett, who.made bids for it. | used as a lever, 0 thet the tard, ofthe cambo. The assistant is a| “swered, “but there a reputable man, against whom nothing is |—the patr almost immed! clever enough to know as well as any-| 17; body how to dispose of such piunder-| the way along have done just In due season he harvested quite a string of waterbugs and: woodticks, but he seemed to forget that the town’ was infested with dinosauri and ichthyosauri and octop!, running about seeking whatsoever small premium- payers and stockholders they might deyour. Possibly he remembered thei in his prayers, but he never prayed during office hours. i A little earlier, while the campaign was on, the public prosecutor had gone around, asking g0 many questions that he didn’t have time to answer He made a number of autumnal promises, but-they failed to. keep in ‘The rigors of a New York winter withered them right down to the ground and then killed the bulbs. Ah me!. how many’ are cyclones before they get elected and carpet-sweepers afterward! Right from the jump the public prosecutor showed poor judgment ‘in picking out the suitable ammunition. He turned a whole field battery: of howitzers upon a set of wind-alluring human love-vines and a phir of judi- elal nose-glasses making a specialty of libel’ laws—how to avold them. But he didn’t even aim a bean-shooter at a prosperons bunch of insurance priva- teers who had just been shoved back on their hocks in a defenseless attitude The, first voiey blew up the Colonel with the Aeolians on his face and the Judge who confused ermine with vermin because they eounded so much - alike. For days thereafter the welkin was cluttered with shredded whiskers c All this was as it should be, perhaps; but, | Dearly Beloved, the public prosecutor never saw the extra large, imported, | golden-ruseet grafters who hypotiecated a sawmill for every time that the He beamed like a poor cousin at a family dinner when he put cross barred overalls on a crooked lawyer who had never cadged more than eight dollars at a clip. He pointed with pride at himself after he had spread some struggling divorce expert as fiat as a fried egg. When it came to winging @ ladybug with a Krupp gun he was a star, and often he only burned up two thousand pounds of nitro destroying « nest of caterpillars. But somehow he couldn’t find his way clear to fire even a moth-ball at the syndicate engaged in irrigating an unholy merger with hydraulic stock to the extent of about 4 billion dollars, Plimsoll measurement. THE FUNNY PART: ‘As late as Nov. 7 of last year we were falling for everything he said. Two “Kicks” That Should Count : Short Potatoes and Long Cold Rides. Ten Passengers to a Window. To the Editor of The Evening World; A week or 80 ago the B. R. T. took off the dirty Douglass street line and started the St. John's place line in its gtead. We in this section hoped for an improvement, and it eeemed,to work well for a few days till the company found they were not getting the usual eighty passengers in the eight-window. cars by the time they reachéd Van- berbilt avenue. they have . bees taking, off care, Frijay night 1 got the Clty Hall, Brooklyn, at 5.59 0 and took the'first St. John’s place ¢ that came along ai 6141-2 o'clock; fifteen and one-hat minutes waiting, and the register showed 1984 “ay teat reached Washington avenue there eighty-five passengers ered and Some five wr six othess were pushed Ip or against the car by: the inspector at that conaer, 4 SUFFERER, ines By Arthur Morison, Author of ‘‘ Tales of Mean Streets,’” but a perfectly rabid collector, who had made every effort to secure the cameo before you bought it; who, moreover, could have seen Mr. Claridge In his back room, and who has perfectly easy access to Mr. Claridge’s roof. If we find it van be none of these, then we must took where circumstances in- dicate."* There was unwonted excitement at MY. Claridge's place when Hewitt and hig cllent arrived, Mr. Claridge came forward eagerly. “The leather case has been found, aan pleased to be able to tell you, Lord Stanway, since you left.” “Empty, of course?” ‘Unfortunately, yes. It had evidently been thrown anvay by the thief behind Hewitt through his epectacts, “Ter very gled Mr. Hewitt has come," he said. “Indeed, I had already fecided to sive the police til! this tinie to-mor row, and then, ff they had found nothe ing, to call in Mr, Hewitt myself.” Hewitt bowed in tum, and them posatble to get from one place to the| asked: “Can I gee the broken desk?" Mr. Claridge led whe way into forced roughly open by some the lock was torn away. Hewitt Other gentle-| ined the damaged parts and. the marke mien made bids, I believe, but I don't | of the lever, and then tooled out of the back window. “Take these people in thelr order. Mr.] ‘‘There are several windows. about Claridge is out of the question, as alhere,” he remarked, “from which it. dealer with a reputation to keep up| might be possible to see into this, room.” ‘would be, even tf ie hadn't immediately| Do you know any of ‘the people whe went you this five thousands pounde—| live behind them?” “Two or three I know,” Mr, Claridge two windows. 5 ly before —belonging to a room or office which is. {n, and who nvuet understand his busi- to lei. Any stranger might get in there ness well enough to know. that he could | “04 wateh. “Do the roofs above any of thoes windows opmmunicate in any way with yours?" : “None of those directly oppecien, howe at the dort do: you, may walk "And whose Mr. | Cler! feat’ custo yee: ;