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Hall
of
Fame
was a favorite gathering-place for politicians on the
East Side; and any place where Big Tim Sullivan, Tam–
many Boss of the Bowery and the area contiguous,
planted his "number nines" was good enough, as a rule,
for anybody with political ambitions and of the same
political faith, still nobody who kept needing bigger po–
litical
B.
V. D.'s was apt to limit himself to association
with the neighbors in his precinct or Assembly District.
As his horizon broadened and his contacts increased,
he would be sure to discover, first, the Hoffman House,
whose bar was a great loafing place for Democrats, and
then the newer and more fashionable Waldorf. Big Tim
himself was occasionally seen in the Waldorf Bar, but
I
Big Tim long ago went on, and these two, particularly,
who used to appear there occasionally, are still alive and
apparently going very strong.
At one corner of the bar counter was observed, one
afternoon many years ago, an extremely youthful, slen–
der, and particularly dapper young man, whose clothes
were cut in a fashionable mode, with some of those im–
provements Broadway has been known to add to the
men's fashions of the hour. Every time the young gen–
tleman would speak half a dozen men about him would
roar heartily.
"Who is it?" one asked.
"Why, that's 'Jimmie' Walker. Everybody knows
Jimmie. He's up at Albany, you know. They say Boss
Murphy thinks he's a coming man and will go far. Why,
you ought to know about Jimmie Walker. Haven't you
heard that song, 'Will You Love Me in December as You
Do in May?' Jimmie wrote it. TheysayTinPanAlleycame
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