The Chandler Tribune (Chandler, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 11, Ed. 1 Tuesday, March 26, 1907 Page: 2 of 6
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Ill-Gotten Gains Are
of Small Ayail in
Days of Misfortune
Tie!F'ibufive Fcvfe ikevf
has overtaken Membens
of the'Clark Street G<xn4j'
of Gamblers and Bunco
Men of which Mike' McDonald
was Chief • * *•
Chicago. — The papers announce
that “Mike” McDonald, millionaire re-
tired gambler, Is on the verge of col-
lapse from the effects of the trouble
(hat has come to him in his old age.
His third wife is in juil for the min-
der of Webster Guerin, the lover
whose coldness drove her to insane
jealousy and desperation. His sec-
ond wife, according to the news dis-
patches. is dying in New Jersey.
Traveling on the shady side of 60. Me
Donald faces physical breakdown and
old age in which his ill gotten dollars
must be his only comforter.
Not long ago “Al” Adams, million-
aire policy '‘king” of New York, com-
mitted suicide after serving a term in
prison for robbing the poor through
his policy games. He still had a for-
tune. and his family, who suffered the
social taint of the father, continued to
live In a brownstone palace. But his
dollars gave “Al" Adams cold com-
fort in his old age.
Twenty-live years ago there flour-
ished in Chicago the "Clark street
gambling gang.” with McDonald at its
head. This crowd made a chapter of
history, but it is not the kind of his
tory that is written into books record-
ing the city's growth. Instead. It is
to be found in the records of the po-
lice, and in the memories of men
whose business, legitimate or other
wise, brought them into contact with
the members of the gang.
Misery in Polluted Cash.
Not only was McDonald the mem-
ber of this lot who retired from gamb-
ling with the most money, but he was
the one whose career after he had
quit gambling seemed to refute the ar-
gument that money which is not only
tainted but thoroughly polluted can-
not bring happiness. Now that the
tragic chapter of the murder of her
lover by his wife has been added, even
the seeming refutation of McDonald s
career has been destroyed. The fate
of the rest of the crowd gives abund-
ant evidence that the mills of the gods
grind just as flue in these days as of
old.
John Denting, one of the well-known
Clark street figures in the days when
that street was known from coast to
coast on account of its vice, became a
pauper and died.
“Bob” McCune, alias Keister Bob, is
now a tramp in New York, a plain va-
pored financially except McDonald
himself, was Patrick Casey, who had
charge of the bar. Casey saved his
money and died a few years ago fair-
ly well off.
Others Pursued by Fate.
James Papes, who was a thief as
well as a gambler, broke into the treas-
ury of Springfield, 111., anil died after
fleeing to Canuda to escape the pen-
alty of his crime.
"Jimmy” Carroll, another of the
crowd that alternated gambling with
stealing and who made the police a
world of trouble, continued his outlaw
career until he died, seven years ago,
in abject poverty.
Joseph Lewis, alias “Hungry Joe,”
is suid to have renounced his former
ways, is making an honest living and
is doing better from the material
standpoint than most of the men he
formerly associated with.
“Jimmy” Hoey, one of the most no-
torious denizens of Clark street In the
“wide-open" days and a gambler who
stole, got into a light with Al Walters,
a barkeeper in the saloon of "Count”
Riley in Clark street, and shot and
killed him. He was tried and acquit-
ted.
Most of the gambling men who com-
mitted murder in Clark street in those
days were acquitted, in fact, owing to
the strength of the pull of the entire
gang with the police and the courts.
Hoey afterward married Mollie Hol-
brook, the widowr of “Buck” Holbrook,
a burglar, who was killed at Hennepin,
111. Hoey and his wife went to Eu-
rope and have not been heard of in
Chicago since.
Reign of the Bunko Men.
Clark street became as infamous for
the bunko game in the days of the Mc-
Donald crowd as for gambling. The
bunko steerers were gamblers, and the
gamblers, or many of them, were bun-
ko steerers. Harry Lawrence was one
of the best known of the bunko men.
Before McDonald became known as
the gambler king of the city he was
strongly Interested in the bunko game.
In brief, the bunko game was oper-
ated in this way: The steerers. well-
dressed and suave, sought their prey
in the hotels principally. Steerer No.
1 accosted the stranger, called him by
uny name that happened to occur to
him. The prospective victim eyed the
stranger with suspicion and told him
Michael
^ THE r/SAGEDY
/N GUS MM'S Sroo/o
grant, glad to be able to beg the price
of a bed in the cheapest lodging
house.
Cliff Dehority, another of the old-
time faro dealers, is living in New
York, hut is said to have managed to
keep his head above water since he
left Chicago About the only man who
was intimately associated with the
McDonald gambling house who pros
he had made a mistake. He was not
John Smith of Conrad, la., but William
Jones of Pekin, 111. The steerer apol-
ogized and the prey congratulated him-
self on the colt reception he had given
one "of them there bunko men.”
Steerer No. 1 then imparted the
right name and address of the farmer
to staerer No. 2. The latter did his
work wall Dc formerly lived iu the
stranger’s town, and told him a string
of boyhood happenings that never hup- j
penod, but which the prospective vie-1
Um could not dispute.
"By the way,” steerer No. 2 would
say, “I bought a ticket in a lottery the
other day. Let’s drop into the lottery
office and see if I won anything.”
There were a number of these “of
flees.” A prosperous looking Inan sat
at. the desk, and the walls were cov-
ered with fake lists and reports of lot
tery drawings. In front of the man at
the desk was a big. glittering pile of
gold coin. The ticket was presented.
Baiting the Sharp Trap.
“You are lucky,” said the man at
the desk to steerer No. 2. “You have
won $2,500.”
The cash was paid over to steerer
No. 2, while the eyes of the country
man bulged at the sight of so much
“easy” money. That was the begin
nlng. The victim was told there were
drawings every day. Usually he
bought a ticket, but no matter whether
he did or not, the steerer stuck close
to him and spent money on him, prin-
cipally for liquor. They would re
turn to the “lottery office" and after
some talk between the manager and
the steerer the latter would agree to
bet against a card game. Always lie
was lucky and sometimes he won
Urge amounts. It became a compara-
tively easy matter to draw the farmer
or country merchant into the betting.
An soon as he had lost all the bunko
man thought he had with him he was
steered out of the place and the “lot-
Hfs finish came quicker than that of
many of bis associates, for he was
s tabbed fcy George Russell, alias
White Hue, a bunko man. Russell ac
quired Liu alias from the fact that he
came to Chicago from White Pine.
Nev. He was a lighting man of the
western type, but was acquitted in his
trial for the stubbing of Sir James.
Jcre Dunn i/i the Street.
But beqt known of all, not excepting
McDonald himself, was Jere Dunn,
slayer of * Jimmy" Elliott, the heavy-
weight prlfci* fighter. Clark street dur-
ing the reigu of McDonald was the
Mecca of u-iny crooks, gamblers, con-
fidence met,, bud” n en and other
classes of disreputables, but no figure
ever appeared in the street who, by
force of lifa all-around wickeduess,
commanded the attention that Jere
Dunn got. Even Dunn’s friends did
not claim for* aim any degree of mor-
als. Some cd* them say that he was
"square” witn his partners in crime,
’•ut Ids history disproves even that
contention. One of the men who knew
him best says that Dunn never knew
what physical fear was. li this was
true it is about all the good that can
be said of him, even after his death.
Dunn died in New Jersey last year
of malignant cancer. Wherever he
went he made criminal history and
some of it is worth re-telling in any
narrative of the Clark street crowd.
This notorious character made his
appearance in Clark street in the early
‘80s. The vicious atmosphere of the
PuSSELL
Plugged
A En/fe/nw '5/e (James
V-V—^ '/JCWI/HGS
PAVO/f/EEJfETAOA
OE P/GHE/NG
tery” headquarters were switched to
another room.
Tragic Finish of the Hankins.
Jeff and Al Hankins opened a gamb-
ling house at 126 Clark street. .Al
afterward bought a stock farm in In
diana, expecting to settle down and
get away from the life he had led. Not
long afterward he was found suffo-
cated to death in a folding bed. An
investigation was made, but it was
stopped when it was found that to
pursue it would destroy at least one
reputation. Jeff Hankins dropped
dead of heart disease about ten years
ago. No name was better known in
Clark street In the “wide-open” days
than that of Hankins. George was the
prey of all the boodling politicians in
the county—and there were more of
them then than now—and was inti-
mately associated with the boodle
ring In the county board. He is said
to have furnished the largest part of
the fund of $100,000 which was futilely
spent in trying to have passed a state
law legalizing pool selling on race
tracks.
Garritys Were Fighting Men.
Then there were the Garrity broth-
ers, John. Hugh and Mike. They were
an especially tough trio and known as
fighting men. They were guilty of nu-
merous assaults, some of them of the
most serious character. It was John
Garrity who bit an ear off of Alderman
James Peavey, who was also a gamb-
ler. The men had engaged in a fight
and In the absence of more deadly
weapons Garrity used his teeth on the
part of the alderman's anatomy that
was most convenient, Hugh and Mike
Garrity are dead, having fallen into
poverty, and the same 111 fortune that
pursued most of their fellows. On one
occasion, also, the Garrity brothers,
in the course of a gamblers' feud with
John Dowling, who ran a rival estab-
lishment proceeded to beat Dowling
up in frightful fashion. Dowling was
one of the characters of the old Clark
street that was at once one of the
best and one of the worst. He was
brutal and often beat men with the
butt of the big revolver he carried, for
no stronger apparent reason than u do
sire to see them fall. At the same
time he was generous to the unfor-
tunate, and as a result had many of
the most bitter enemies and a great
many staunch friends. Dowling Most
his mpney after Clark street was
closed to the big gamblers and died of
paresis five years ago.
One of the picturesque characters of
the street was James Watson, alias
Sir Jana*. tUu* the Wig Englishman.
street was Incense in the nostrils of
Dunn. In 1883 he got iuto a fight with
“Jimmy" Hoey, a thief and gambler,
and shot him in the groin. Hoey re-
fused to appear against Dunn when the
case came up for trial.
The Killing of Elliott.
Elliott, with the professional oars-
man Plalsted, was in “Appetite Bill”
Langdon's place on the evening of
March 1, 1SS::. when Dunn entered.
From thi3 point in the story there is
a wide divergence in the alleged fnots.
Dunn, always vain and always boast-
ful, gave a version to the effect that
he was attacked by Elliott and fought
him single-handed for half an hour
after everyone else had lied in terror.
Elliott was more than six feet tall and
a giant In strength. Dun claimed he
shot his enemy only after the lattei
had forced him to the floor and was
holding a cocked revolver against his
breast. The other side cf the story is
that Dunn enteied the place, found El-
liott sitting at a table and. without
I warning and without giving Elliott
I any chance for his life, shot him in
cold blood.
i Acquitted of the Cri-re.
Luther Lftflin Mills was state’s at-
torney, and the trial was of unus tal
> interest. But the jury acquitted Dunr
| on the ground of seif-defense. After
ward Dunn went cast, became inter
ested in race horses through the gif
of an interest in a horse by a frien !
and soon became n;mo prominent*'
on the eastern t He virtually \va
driven out cf c • • » because h- a
thorities. who m those days tolera -■
almost everything that was bid. d-
d ied that Jere Dunn was too dig.*#*
utabIt* and dangerous for even Clark
: street to harbor. In hU advancing
years he fill back ii 1 !.-• power o e
I women and marrie d cue mu* h young
l er than himself who had mom *
! enough to supi ort him.
Thus has death or poverty overt a k
en most of the old C’laik si re d
i crowd. In many cases it was h h
both. In some Instances, as la ihc
. ease of McDouald, health and fortune
, have been left, but fate has i Nye.* 1
! him trick . even leas acceptable than
death or destitution.
In this later, day misfortune seems
to follow th » men who have accumulat-
ed vast fortunes of “tainted" money.
The old Clark street r >ney was pol-
luted. and the misfortunes of the old
crowd seem if "eater than those of the
owners of Di.ited money.
Does monfy 1* big misfortune In pro-
portion to iivtb o# the taint it cai
ATMOSPHERE IN WHICH WOMEN
OF THAT COUNTRY LIVE.
I
Ayche Faike, Talented Turkish Lady,
Who Escaped to London,
Gives Her Personal
Experiences.
j The word "harem" conjures itp
visions of houris veiled in the mystery
of generations of seclusion, and exer-
cises on the occidental mind the won-
derful fascination of the unknown; but
alas! the reality of harem life has no
illusions, no glamor for us, the un-
fortunate daughters of the east, who
have to endure its monotony, bear its
suppressions, and suffer its humilia-
tions from year to year, with few com-
pensations, and no hope.
The high intellectual culture given
in the present day in the harems is
responsible for much suffering. Taught
by European governesses to be equal-
ly proficient in four or five different
languages, able to read the classics
in the originals, trained to appreciate
all that is best in music, art and liter-
ature, we learn of the treasures that
lie in Hie world outside only to I now
that they are not for us.
Loaded with jewels, clad in Parisian
dresses, surrounded by luxuries of
every description, the retirements of
civilisation are ours, and these are
supposed to satisfy all that the heart
of a Turkish woman can desire; to
compe nsate for stifled longings, to still
th^ yearnings to be something more
than a chattel, to have the right ia
think, and live our own life.
Ask a Turk with a family of three
sons and three daughters how many
children he has: “Three," he will an-
swer, and this is symbolical of our
| position; we simply do not count; we
| are possessions, not factors in the
J economy of life. Existence in a harem
is captivity within captivity; there is
no privacy, no locks or bolts to the
bedroom doors, and the servants come
in and out as if the place were tkeir
own. When we go out it is in a ( lose
carriage, attended by a slave and a
eunuch—the latter nearly always
black, so that he may be distinguished
by his skin. We must not leave the
country without the special permis-
sion of the sultan, which is difficult to
obtain, even when health and life itself
depends upon the concession. We
may not have as much as our photo-
graphs taken as a souvenir for a
friend without the same august au-
thority. Our letters, papers and the
little possessions dear to every woman
are not our private property, but are
liable to be turned over, confiscated,
or burned at the whim of a husband,
as a punishment for some supposed
misdemeanor, or to gratify his love of
power.
There is little break in the monot-
ony of harem life: study and sewing,
sewing and study, with an occasional
tea party; but this is not of frequent
occurrence, for, when one visits a lady
friend, all the men of the establish-
ment must leave the house—an incon-
venience not to be lightly enforced.
By law, a child docs not owe obedi-
ence to its parents after the age of 15,
but this is ignored, and never had
effect. Parents are tyrannical in their
authority, and marry their children to
whom they like, making arrangements
and settling details without reference
to the wishes of those it concerns
most. A girl looks on her marriage as
a great catastrophe, a part of the en-
durance which is a woman's lot, and
goes to the man she has never seen,
and to the unknown life that lies be-
| fore her, hating, hoping, fearing. She
I may not love her husband when she
Rooms in * Harem.
knows him; she often hates him, yet
she must vie with his other wives in
seeking his favor; be preferred today,
to be slighted to-morrow, endure the
humiliations, the rivalries, the petty
jealousies which are always a part of
harem life, and go through the awful
scenes which often ensue when the
lord and master has left. Any pref-
erence shown—the gift of a jewel,
a word of praise or admiration—is
enough to rouse the dormant passions,
suppressed until the husband leaves,
hut which then break out into a hur-
ricane of jealous fury, in which they
tear one another's hair out. They are
jealous of one another's children,
sometimes of their own, and there is
no outlet but physical violence for the
rage that consumes them. Compelled
to live in the same captivity with
haled rivals, the irritation is never
allowed to die out and tragedies fol-
low—hushed up, hut none the less
tragedies—of mental misery and reck-
less revenge.
Two Brothers at War.
CONFLICT OVER THE OCCUPANCY
OF THE THRONE OF PERSIA.
Prince Salare-Douleh Gathers an Army
in Revolt Against the Newly
Crowned Shah.
There is a wav cloud hovering over
Persia, and any moment there may
break out open conflict between two
princes of the royal house, the present
shah and his brother, Prince Salare-
Douleh, who has instigated a revolt
| against the new ruler. The beiiger-
| eut prince has raised an army of 60,-
! 000 well armed insurgents, composed
j mostly of Lors, Bakhtiaris and other
highlanders, and seeks to secure the
I independence of the southern prov-
inces of Persia—Loristan, Arabistan
and Bakhtiari.
The plan for this insurrection was
engineered in 1902, when Salare-Dou-
■ leh most cunningly married the daugh-
I ter of All Gholi Khan, of Bakhtiari,
j who is enjoying British protection.
In 1903 Salare-Douleh, after many
\ secret interviews with both Turkish
j and British ambassadors, fled from
Teheran to Loristan with the object of
i inducing the chiefs of the Loristan
I tribes to join him in revolt against his
j father, Mozaffered-dia Shah. And he
[ would certainly have succeeded in his
endeavors but for the refusal of his
father-in-law, Ali Ghouli Khan, and the
friendly advice of one of his Armenian
aides de camp.
At present, however, the deep hatred
he hears toward his brother and the
dislike for all constitutions have driven
him once more to insurrection on the
frontiers of his father-in-law.
Loristan, Arabistan and Bakhtiari
are the central provinces of southern
Persia, and being very mountainous
are so well suited to guerrilla wars
that until now no army has ever suc-
ceeded In penetrating these and hold-
ing the inhabitants in subjugation.
Salare-Douleh is a tyrant in the full
meaning of the word. He often orders
i he beheading of men aecused of the
slightest offenses merely to keep in
terror those who surround him. And
for his cruelties he is the most hated
man in Persia. Any claims he may
put forward for his rights to the
throne will not be tolerated by Persia's
people. He is extremely avaricious
and greedy, and often slays rich
friends and even servants to appropri-
ate their riches. One oase was that
of his secretary, Hadji Arshraf, whom
he beheaded at Zendjan is 1900, and
took his wealth. In this way, also, he
treated two of his rich servants La
Arabistan.
To give an illustration of his cruel-
ties I can say this, that he often horse-
whips his wives as punishment for
imaginary wrongs. Jn short, this im-
pudent prince, who is surrounded by
such slothful advisers as Nassire-Ne-
zam and Yemine-Nezam, and who re-
gards the world merely as a pledge for
his own existence, has sown the seeds
of a civil war which threatens disaster
-to the welfare of Persia.
’ Had it not been for the internal
strife created by parliament and the
riffraff revolutions, the mutiny of
Salare-Douleh could be curbed easily.
But now Mohammed Ali Shah has
neither organized army nor financial
aid, and, most important of all, als
autocratic powers aru at present very
limited by the constitution extorted
from him on February 8.
The present shah, conftf ated with
such threatening and serious events,
is quite helpless. At last England in
the name of international law and the
pacification of southern Persia and
Russia for the preservation of order
in northern Persia will be obliged to
interfere in the internal affairs of Per-
sia, and from that day the fate of
Persia will be sealed.
The outcome of this armed interven-
tion will be either the fall and division
of the country between two rival coun-
tries, which does not seem to me prob-
able, or government by joint control.
JUST ESCAPED THE HOT FLAT.
He was a regular tramp.
Aou say you wait to raise enough
money to go into business?"
"Exactly, mum."
"Well, here's five cents, Now, may
I ask what kind of ii business you in-
tend going into?"
“Certinly, mum. Yer sec, durln' de
past ten years I have bln slttln' on de
park benches hulldin' castles in dc
«ir. Well, now dat dey are glttln' up
air ships ter carry passengers, I'm
goin ter remodel my air castles an'
transform dent inter air-ship stations."
When the woman returned with the
hot flatiron from the stove the tramp
had disappeared down the road.—
-I udge.
Hopelessly Pessimistic!
1 don't believe, b'Jinks!" said Undo
Josh this morning, “that this here
world'!! ever be truly happy ontil ev'ry
Plan in it kin make ev'rybody do ea
hod like t' bov 'em jo."—Judge,
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Smith, G. A. The Chandler Tribune (Chandler, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 11, Ed. 1 Tuesday, March 26, 1907, newspaper, March 26, 1907; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc915664/m1/2/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.