he argued that he was merely exercising the normal duties of a notary public. The case was dismissed on the condition he take down the law office sign which Steingut claimed was put in his office by an old tenant. In 1915 Simon was convicted of unauthorized practice of law at the beginning of a major sweep, in which "hundreds" of unlicensed lawyers were under surveillance. Steingut was sentenced to 30 days in jail, but his supporters raised the $250 fine in lieu of imprisonment. The services these little mayors undertook ranged from explaining government, legal or business usages to constituents to intervening with institutions like banks to providing holiday food or winter coal for the poor. Simon Steingut made it a practice to distribute Christmas baskets to the poor of Second Avenue, and even on his death bed he instructed his son Irwin to distribute the usual number of baskets. Simon Steingut was a loyal Tammany soldier, and only one time acted contrary to Tammany interests. That time was just before the divorce from Lena, and Steingut exacted revenge from the highly connected Harburger clan (which included Tammany politicians and officials) by arranging for the sale of the building which contained the Tammany clubhouse for the Harburger 10th district. Evicting the Tammany Club was Steingut's retaliation for Leopold Harburger acting as Lena's counsel. But Tammany was above such petty squabbles, and Steingut was back in its good graces and rewarded with the commission for acquiring property for a new theatre to be built on Second Avenue between Fourteenth and Twenty-Third Streets. The $350,000 real estate transaction was for a syndicate led by Timothy ("Big Tim") Sullivan and included other Tammany politicians. Working for his father in a business so intimately connected with the favors of Tammany Hall, Irwin Steingut had to become involved in Tammany political work. But Simon also introduced his son to electoral politics of sorts. Simon himself never ran for government office. (He once announced his candidacy for Alderman of the 10th ward in 1911, but decided against it.) But each year he went before his constituents and stood for election at Ike Hirschborn's saloon at First Street and Second Avenue, and for 30 consecutive years he was elected "Mayor." Only in 1911 did he come dangerously close to losing. It was then that the new courthouse was built at the beginning of Second Avenue, and