My Mamie Rose: The Story of My Regeneration

u that my very first task on coming home

acquaintance of mine and I was satisfied that Bill had been

re only as mongrels when compared to my Bill, my loyal boy. There had not been a day in our

ome and rushing

grew serious and began: "See, here, Kil, whatever we could do for Bill, we did, but there's

glimpse of him. On a bale, nearest to the dilapidated window, there lay my Bill, the pi

few minutes, then, stepping be

or twice, but otherwise he remained unc

"Bill, Oh Bill,"

ing place I found the gaze of his true eyes upon me and, w

empt it, you would laugh at our silliness. Still, I think that some

ramshackle attic, and we sat up late

gs grew livelier every day. In spite of my ocean voyage and change of scene, my health was n

on the Bowery, and became a raconteur par excellence. It was not my rhetoric or elocution which made me the lion of the hour. It was solely the recapitulation of my trip, and, particularly my African experience. This should not a

efer to Mr. Steve Brodie's accomplishments in the bridge jumping line. Whether he really did jump from the Brooklyn and other bridges is a question, which

was surfeited with them. This largely curtailed the number of drinks bought for me by admiring listeners, and I was sorely puzzled how to

in brought me the surety of food and drink. I became a splendid exemplifi

the day, push him into a crowd which is not aware of his identity, and he will pass unnotic

d to be waiting around, "but ain't." Their supposed presence draws the usual attendance of worshippers, and it was solely for the purpose of not wishing to disappoint these worthy people that Steve Brodie, with m

inated by John Mulvihill, at the time the dis

re. A few of the lesser lights of pugilism had their permanent headquarters at Brodie's, while some aspi

r oddities, invariably inquired if "some prominent fighters" were not present. As a rule, Johnnie Mulvihill was able to produce some celebrity to satisfy this cra

ted back-room. Business was dreadfully slow. My quiet was suddenly

y man in the place whom I can introduce to the bunch I got up against the bar. They

nk on the sly and for having often shared his corned beef and cabbage with me, I was quite willing to do him the fav

Mulvihill, "that ain't

t I should face the expectant as a pretended Jack Dempsey, famous throughou

lf to an easy discovery of the palpable fraud, bu

vince them they are in the presence of the real man, and you know enough about Jack Dempsey and

ding? I could not, and followed m

emoniously introduced by Mulvihill to the "easies," who had trav

Dempsey," quoted the artful Mulvihill, and, thereby, started me in a repertoire, wh

husiasm and showed their appreciation of the honor af

et rolling and it was a l

of it and that was no mean recompense. You can imagine some of it, when I tell you that rather often some of the "sightseers" would bring themselves to my remembrance (?)

sex is not the only one which admires physical prowess, and ladies, escorted by gen

for the r?le of Jake Kilrain, the man who tried to wrest the heavyweight championship from t

whispering among the ladies. One, the spokeswoman, st

d chest. They are necessary in your profession, are they not

d gathered around me and with many "oh's" and "oh, my's"

e, and did not happen every night, but it

time, I represented Jack McAuliffe at the head of the bar, Mike Boden at the end of it, and Johnny Reagan in the back-room-all well-known pugilists and champions in thei

mirable accuracy, the said pugilist happened to appear on the scene in person and it was onl

cannot fail to see the wrongness of it, but, at the time of its happening, I cannot

king-Barney Flynn, the King of the Bowery-at the corner of Pell street and the Bowery, we instituted another

serves the two purposes of refreshing and resting the subjects of his majesty. For two weighty reasons the saloon has always be

ften honored by calls from literary personages. For some time, it seemed to be

mbo. "Chuck" Connors. A typical

esents the idiom of the Bowery as it is spoken. I have taken the trouble to compare different stories-each one guaranteed to b

his most important character. The other only uses "ye." One

and or Southern dialect, but whether it does or not, it seems

and "covey." Take my advice and do not use this form of address on the

lacking in gallantry as to call their la

rite phrase is "Wot'ell," which is a hundred leagues removed from the distinct utterance with

ite hundreds

g about us. They are not all important errors or serious mistakes, but are

wrong name. He persists in claiming that thieves are called "guns" by police and fellows. Every man, who has lived all his life on the Bowery, as I have, knows that "gun" means an important pers

assertion. Take a page from one of the many East Side stories extant and r

one must have time to invent and try it. They have no time for this on the East Side, where even time for schooling cannot always be spared. And that accounts for

f fellows, did not wish to curb the fervency of the literary "gents

rney Flynn, the King of the Bowery, was a genial and jovial monarch, the more secluded chamber did not resemble a

ions. In one corner was the voluntary orchestra, consisting of Kelly, the "rake," the fiddler, and Mickey Doolan, the flute-player. Their day's work over-they were both "roustabouts" along the river

Bowery, who live their evenly shiftless live

ion. One night, a writer happened to stumble into the place. Whether his impressions were perceived in normal or abnormal condition is not known. The "gang" was enga

. The "real thing" had very little interest for them. What were we to do? To get the money we had to be types, therefore, whenever the word was pas

lebrities with more paying aims. Their stories of us are still remembered, but only because of their "beautiful and pure sen

writer in question had come here from Philadelphia, preceded by a reputation for his sympathy with those in the

most immediately. Being socially well-connected, or, rather, being well-taken up by society, he had no trouble in interesting his friends in his hobby. He was not niggardly in the spending of his money and quite

manufactured most laboriously and carefully for the occasion. The interest of his friends increased, and on

call of the stage-manager, so did we prepare ourselves to play our parts with our well-known finesse and correctness of detail. By tha

tic approval was unanimous. We were "absolutely charming," "perfectly thrilling," and "too droll for anything." Encouraged by this warm reception of our feeble efforts, we surpassed ourselve

ramme, we were told by our friends how "very glad,

nts on the visitors were many and very much to the point, but were not uttered in the manufactured dialect. There was much laughter and many imitations of our late audience, and none of us had noticed that the p

ake and fell back to addressing each other as "cull" a

ned to the promising y

nother medal for this, but this t

n to what the abov

Y POL