UNDERWORLD LIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 267, 10 November 1928, Page 11

UNDERWORLD LIFE.

SYDNEY'S "Dl RTY HALF MILE." IT.Z. JOURNALISTLIVED THERI AN-.ADVENTURER AND-'HIS TAiES. Strange tales of : Sydney.-underworld life, where people;slash each, other with razors, and murders are more-than occasional happenings, are : toldiby a-young New Zealand; journalist,-Mr. A. G-;Slee-man, of Christchurch,.who-has spent:ten months living in.-Darlinghurst's infamous "Dirty Half Mile." He .worked - as<" a free lance journalist, turning in stories to the Sydney papers,on the things:he saw, the people he met, and his experiences- would fill-a- hook. Mr. Sleemar is now on his way to try-his luck'iniSan Francisco.. I ' .••'■■'.-. ~ He is a most;-casual young man, arid remarked in an ofMiand'way, whenhe arrived on the Malierio the other , day. that all. his baggage •was on the Sydney wharf when he-left, He had a.viciouslooking four daysgrowth" of. beard ' and it .was certain Vat ' least • that i he did not have a razor. , He had' in.tended to catch the Niagara from Sydney, but had missed, arid so had boarded the Maheno, and as she!- pulled out : a

taxi man with his luggage came dashin; along, the wharf. And' so- this, youn; "stunt" merchant arrived • in Auckland sans baggage, sans clothes,.and,, abov all, sans portable'typewriter—which-t< him was even more important thai clothes:;>'.; V,: : . T V:.'\-S' : .j '~'■. ";'.>■.. "It was a bit of bad luck," Sleeman, "and! suppose-1 will ha.ve.tc buy, new clothes, and a new-typewriter but it doesn't matter much. I i hav« made enough' money;'to-keep • me- going for'a while." \ -'■'".' ' - : Leaving a good'job bn-aChristchtircl paper 1 ten ; months-'ago,, ; Mr. Sleemai arrived 1 in-Sydney-with a^few-pounds c ii his pocket; andnot-the slightest prospect of getting a'permanent : Job. ; He tried but it was useless. .; So he 1 went to'the editor l of - a' well-known. • Sydney : ws*kly.

first' job. A.paragraph in a daily ] stated - that a.returned soldier.had been ( Inedata Sydney court ■ for forging a ( Irug prescription. ' That was all. He ; was told to go'and get the story-of the ] man-who did-, the forgery. New to ] Sydney,'and knowing-nothing of its ins ] ind; puts,-' he was hard up against it. Somewhere in' the vast' city was this , lope-fiend,'where, he had not theslight- ■ }st' idea. At last, at police stations and it'hospitals, he managed to find where ;he - . man 'lived. ■ This was the story vhichall Sydney •• read a day or two \ ater:— ■ ' i^--The" Story of - the Human. Wreck, As a'seventeen.year old boy this derelict went away with the Australian Forces and. fought in France. He had not .seen, 'much' of front- line fighting before.' he v was . badly wounded in ■ the head. He lay,in.hospital, critical, for months,, and to relieve the" agony which tormented • him, to dispel ■ the demons which • his wrecked brain conjured- lip, nurses; gave him drugs. Only when he svas doped did he have any real rest. At last .doctors found that he was being *iven ■ too much, drug,. and so it was lecided-to slowly decrease the-doses. But.the decrease was too sudden and the lid! demons haunted■• him. So he -was lischarged-from the hospital a-human svreck. .- • < Back, to his native Sydney went this broken : man, his memory . only telling aim. of the. fighting he had done for his lountry,. of the torment which' he • had suffered during the years that had passed." He was given a drug prescription,by a ; doctor and was allowdd'a certain. amount at set intervals, but the quantity was not enough to make him forget his - fantastic, horrors. So he had ilteredj.the.prescription, and. for a time le-was able.to'get a big quantity, and le = lived comparatively free from his terrifying dreams. Then he was found mt." - • ' • • ; "Huddled in a • dilapidated armchair, lis >clothes. tattered and-torn, his shoes worn through, his>brown.hair long and ihkempt,.his eyes glistening, the pupils ;ontractedi,to"..a.pinpoint, this, pathetic sgure. told his story. He did not know what: would ; become , of- him. . Nobody blew, ■ nobody, cared. • He, • lived as best ie • could,- eating. a pie at some down-town-restaurant .sometimes once a day, md sleeping in.his cheap.and disreputible'room. ..Once: he;had' heldj a good job,,-but; now his. a life of squalor, lie ;said.,.- ;. v . : "Talked'/With Gunmen. ■ "That's, only one of the dozens of cases of:ithe kind 1 which are found in Darlinghurst," .'.said- •. Mi% >Sleeman, "Paris has

housej New York its Bowery,"'Frisco" its' but if .there are stories such, as actions which I saw as bad as. those I have experienced in. Darlinghurst, well, I think I'll keep away. You have absolutely no conception of- the life these people live. I have talked with gunmen, members of the razorgangs, well-known pickpockets, and women crooks; They are quite prepared to talk to you, and they speak just as though you were- interviewing some, fellow on British trade while he sits in an office. ; ' •" • •";■• "Some of>. these ' restaurants in the •'Birty Half Mile' are hot-beds of crime. It's as much as your life's worth to ask a man to pass the salt. I have seen men wounded by revolver shots' in these places,- and- quite often have seen razor fights. Once I was- sitting; alongside a fellow when a chap, in moving to another table,'knocked the eater's arm. There' was a volley of abuse, then the fight started. It ended in one man stabbing, the other in the forehead with, a fork! That'sthe sort of thing that goes on. nearly, every day. My gosh, you see things happen there," said Mr. Sleeman. Son of a Millionaire. Another story Mr. Sleeman told was one of'ah American 'millionaire's son, who is the black sheep of the family. He is a remittance man in Sydney and-is in love with a chorus girl: He is given an allowance by his father, and the.pair hit the high'spots'. Soon he proposes to marry the girl. "The way these people live is an eye-opener," said Mr. Sleeman. "Quite a number of writers, clever men who have held;good jobs in the States, men from Fleet Street and from Paris, cartoonists who sell an occasional '■ drawing, actors who have faded away, live in these strange environments. They know each other and they give each other -a hand.. There is a certain tragic romance about their life, but they never seem to worry, and battle along in the 1 easiest way. It was a very fascinating experience, and I have not regretted a ; minute of it.- There are plenty of good , stories to be' found, and I managed tot ; make £9 or £10 a week." ' "How did you get that black eye 2" . "That's.another story. You can't live ' in the T)irty Half -Mile' for ten months without getting an' occasional smack," ' said Mr. Sleeman.