Maspeth, L.I., is at its merriest on Sunday. Every beer tap in the village flows in a copious stream, baseball flourishes in half a dozen “parks,” and picnics abound wherever grass and trees happen to be neighbors. Brass bands play the latest and most popular melodies, crowds of people help to kick up the dust, which seems to be the chief part of the roadway, and the street cars which run out from the Eastern District of Brooklyn are crowded with pleasure seekers.
Maspeth is no doubt a breathing place for lots of city people, but unfortunately complaints have been made that their recreations Sunday have taken an objectionable form, and now Maspeth must reform its methods of Sunday observance. Early last week District Attorney John Fleming wrote to Sheriff Goldner of Queens County informing him that many complaints had been made of disorderly conduct along the road in the lower end of the town and on the street cars which run along that thoroughfare. The Sheriff sent for Chief Holdsworth of the village police force, and instructed him to see that order was maintained along the road. Reports got out too that yesterday was to see a descent upon the saloons, parks and picnics generally.
Holdsworth yesterday had the stretch of highway from the Brooklyn City line to the end of the “park” district well guarded by his men. There was a crowd of visitors, as usual, but so far as the road was concerned good order was maintained during the day. As complaints had been made that persons, riding on the cars were insulted by roughs, the police kept a fairly close watch on these public conveyances. During the day, however, no effort was made to close the saloons or to stop the ball playing and picnicking. Something of the sort had been expected by the saloon keepers, but in the afternoon they said that they understood the police would devote their attention to the street.
Holdsworth says that the trouble is largely due to the fact that disturbances are caused on the way to and from the village on the Brooklyn side of the line. His jurisdiction doesn’t extend into Kings County, but people seem to hold him responsible for that territory as well as his own.
The ball players, or rather the spectators at the games, undoubtedly made a great deal of noise yesterday, and the picnics were not particularly quiet. At one “park” several thousand Hungarians held the biggest picnic of the day. Among the visitors was an unusually large proportion of women. When the crowds started homeward late in the afternoon they showed evidences of lively experiences at the ball games. One street car bore two young men with heads bandaged and bloody, another passenger carried his arm in a sling and another had utterly collapsed under the influence of the beverage of the place.