Sparrow Cop is a true story of the New York Police in Ragtime. It's a biography of James E. Dillon, who began as a "Sparrow Cop" in 1885 and became Chief Inspector NYPD in 1917. It mixes the politics of NYC and the famous Police Scandal of 1912 featuring Inspector Cornelius G. Hayes, for whom the 1960 Broadway musical "Tenderloin" was based. (Both Inspectors Dillon and Hayes are great-grandfathers of the author so the story is written with a personal point of view. A separate book on Inspector Hayes, "Ragtime Cop," is also on Nook. Originally both stories combined into "On Waldo Pond" named for Rhinelander Waldo, the Police Commissioner, whom James Cagney portrayed in "RAGTIME." Connections to Hollywood via Cagney and Winfield Sheehan, Waldo's Secretary, who discoverd John Wayne and made Bernard Durning "A Star Is Born" are also discussed. Bernard Durning's brother Harry M. Durning, son-in-law to Inspector Hayes, sold RKO to Howard Hughes. These are more fully told in "Hollywood Wow Wow" my book on Nook.) Honest Jim Dillon also organized the HOME DEFENSE LEAGUE during World War I. This book presents interesting details of that 20,000 citizen auxiliary force. General Joseph Dillon, his son, organized the Military Police in World War II. Another son, Walter Dillon, was Law Clerk for Justice Albert Cohn, father of Roy Cohn, the famous lawyer. Walter Dillon, Jr,. the author's uncle, was a WW2 hero and writer, whose book "Deadly Intrusion" (1985) won an Edgar Award. "Sparrow Cop" also describes the 1925 Mayoral fight in which Inspector Dillon joined to replace William Randolph Heart's Mayor Hylan with Jimmy Walker. Mayor Hylan's Police Commissioner Richard Enright wrote a movie, INTO THE NET" (1924), which is included. Overall, the story illustrates NYC from Ragtime to the Jazz Age, so one sees how it became more modern in many ways. This story is part of "Times Square Roots" my five-part story on Nook.
