Read Online Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series by David Pietrusza - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: David Pietrusza
Tags: General, Social Science, Crime, History, Biography & Autobiography, Sociology, True Crime, 20th Century, Biography, New York, New York (State), New York (N.Y.), Criminology, Urban, Criminals & Outlaws, Criminals, Baseball, Sports & Recreation, Nineteen twenties
Ads: Link
just 5'4"and 122 pounds. He was also an actual champ, of sorts, possessing a still-somewhat dubious claim to the world featherweight title. Attell began fighting on the streets and in the alleys of San Francisco, generally against larger Irish neighbors. In August 1900 he earned his first professional purse of $15. His mother hadn't wanted him to fight but when Abe brought home the news of his victory-and the cash-she wanted to know when he'd fight again. He fought ten days later. By October 1901 Attell laid claim to the vacant featherweight title, although he would not fully solidify his hold on it until 1908.
In Saratoga Rothstein, Attell, and their comrades pooled their capital, placed their bets, and lost everything down to their last $100. Then their luck changed, and their bankroll swelled to $2,000. A. R. held the cash-and promptly slipped away and boarded a train to Manhattan, leaving his friends not only broke, but on the hook for room and board. Local authorities tossed them into jail. Eventually they secured their bail and their freedom.
In September 1908 A. R. had met someone special. Twenty-yearold raven-haired chorus girl Carolyn Green was not a star, never had been a star, never would be a star. But to twenty-six-year-old Arnold Rothstein she was everything he ever wanted.
Arnold informed Carolyn coyly that he was a "sporting man." "I thought that a sporting man was one who hunted and shot," she wrote. "It wasn't until later that I learned that all a sporting man hunted was a victim with money, and that all he shot was craps." Actually, her new friend operated a poolroom in the small West 51st Street apartment he shared with gambler Felix Duffy. Arnold and Duffy took whatever bets they could over the two or three telephones installed in the place.
For a showgirl, Carolyn boasted a reasonably middle-class background, as respectable as Arnold's. At least, the story she circulated was that her father was a retired wholesale meat broker; she still lived at the family's Gramercy Park town house; and until meeting Arnold, she never dated without others present. Actually her father was a Ninth Avenue butcher, and there was no town house. The Greens bounced from apartment to apartment in the West 40s.
In 1906 Carolyn completed studies at the Rodney School of Elocution, and shortly thereafter met budding playwright James Forbes, who had just written his first Broadway effort, The Chorus Lady. Carolyn played "Mae Delaney," a small part that required her to try to pick "a winner at a race by sticking a pin blindly into a programme." Rose Stahl, an established leading lady, filled The Chorus Lady's title role ("Maggie Pepper"), helping make the show the hit of the 1906-7 season.
The Chorus Lady ran for eight months before going on the road for an interminable series of one-night stands that caused Carolyn Green to yearn for a settled life:
I remember as we hurtled through the night on a train through Pennsylvania-or it may have been Kansas-I looked out at the little country houses, with kerosene lamps burning cozily behind curtained windows, and thought how comfortable and safe was the life of the persons who sat behind those curtains around those softly glowing lamps.
They weren't rushing madly around the country, putting on and taking off make-up, living in impossible hotel rooms, catching trains, and playing eight performances a week whether they felt ill or well.
Carolyn returned to Manhattan between road bookings of the show and twice for its Broadway revivals. During one such visit, she met A. R. A mutual acquaintance named Albert Saunders threw a supper party at West 43rd Street's Hotel Cadillac. Eight diners feasted on lobster and sipped champagne. Teetotaler A. R. skipped the champagne.
Rothstein noticed only one guest. He took Carolyn home in a hansom cab. The following night he called at her theater and took her to dine. Carolyn remembered:
Arnold, at that time, was a slim young man with sensitive
In Saratoga Rothstein, Attell, and their comrades pooled their capital, placed their bets, and lost everything down to their last $100. Then their luck changed, and their bankroll swelled to $2,000. A. R. held the cash-and promptly slipped away and boarded a train to Manhattan, leaving his friends not only broke, but on the hook for room and board. Local authorities tossed them into jail. Eventually they secured their bail and their freedom.
In September 1908 A. R. had met someone special. Twenty-yearold raven-haired chorus girl Carolyn Green was not a star, never had been a star, never would be a star. But to twenty-six-year-old Arnold Rothstein she was everything he ever wanted.
Arnold informed Carolyn coyly that he was a "sporting man." "I thought that a sporting man was one who hunted and shot," she wrote. "It wasn't until later that I learned that all a sporting man hunted was a victim with money, and that all he shot was craps." Actually, her new friend operated a poolroom in the small West 51st Street apartment he shared with gambler Felix Duffy. Arnold and Duffy took whatever bets they could over the two or three telephones installed in the place.
For a showgirl, Carolyn boasted a reasonably middle-class background, as respectable as Arnold's. At least, the story she circulated was that her father was a retired wholesale meat broker; she still lived at the family's Gramercy Park town house; and until meeting Arnold, she never dated without others present. Actually her father was a Ninth Avenue butcher, and there was no town house. The Greens bounced from apartment to apartment in the West 40s.
In 1906 Carolyn completed studies at the Rodney School of Elocution, and shortly thereafter met budding playwright James Forbes, who had just written his first Broadway effort, The Chorus Lady. Carolyn played "Mae Delaney," a small part that required her to try to pick "a winner at a race by sticking a pin blindly into a programme." Rose Stahl, an established leading lady, filled The Chorus Lady's title role ("Maggie Pepper"), helping make the show the hit of the 1906-7 season.
The Chorus Lady ran for eight months before going on the road for an interminable series of one-night stands that caused Carolyn Green to yearn for a settled life:
I remember as we hurtled through the night on a train through Pennsylvania-or it may have been Kansas-I looked out at the little country houses, with kerosene lamps burning cozily behind curtained windows, and thought how comfortable and safe was the life of the persons who sat behind those curtains around those softly glowing lamps.
They weren't rushing madly around the country, putting on and taking off make-up, living in impossible hotel rooms, catching trains, and playing eight performances a week whether they felt ill or well.
Carolyn returned to Manhattan between road bookings of the show and twice for its Broadway revivals. During one such visit, she met A. R. A mutual acquaintance named Albert Saunders threw a supper party at West 43rd Street's Hotel Cadillac. Eight diners feasted on lobster and sipped champagne. Teetotaler A. R. skipped the champagne.
Rothstein noticed only one guest. He took Carolyn home in a hansom cab. The following night he called at her theater and took her to dine. Carolyn remembered:
Arnold, at that time, was a slim young man with sensitive
Similar Books
