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Show jRL Tc JVabob Cops of Gotham and I II '4 Their Graft. H J1 jl i (Special Correspondence.) H M . I "With a sort of cynical eagerness New York is B I If I .looking .forward to revelations that are promised, f MIS J soon in tlie courts of the real wickedness of tlie B f m t police force. Of course it will be shocking, but fB jpi ' New York enjoys once in a while the sensation H h ' ' of being shocked at its own wickedness. A per- 11 t : ' son can be as good as he pleases in this great tim i metropolis of the west or as bad as he pleases B '1 i nobody will interfere and the only penalty he in- H , J curs is tlie consequences of his own behavior. t ! I i s promised in this case, however, that the B M f truths to be revealed will even go so far as to Bi j ' stir the city out of its cynicism. There is no Bi 3 doubt that a shrewd political game is being B if played with the purpose of again defeating Tam- Bl J , many in the fall and the reformers are trying to B j ' roll up all the evidence they can to coax the antl- . Bl S i ; $ Tammany clement into fusion again. Bi i'li ' To return to the police one who has not lived lfi' ; in New York for the last ten years can hardly BI 1' 1 - conceive oi the system of blackmail that has been ' Bl ii K built up by the men sworn and paid to protect the B ,m ' i public. The police, in fact, have been, to a great Bl J'fi ; ) extent, an agency to spread vice and crime, in-' B ,'j stead of checking it. Bl U Curiously enough behind all of the perfection B p J' . of the system stand the good church people of the B ' jf ijl : ' state. They have undertaken to make the city B ' j! pure and they have passed stringent laws that no- H ;i ' It body cared to obey. The country is cecldedly for B jijj I blue laws and the city is first as decidedly ror the B tfj4 liberality of the cities of continental Europe. The H Iwt country made the laws for the city and the city H ! Ira has simply laughed at them. Hi j 1 1 ' It was this conflict that certain policemen HI aj l about twenty or thirty years ago saw an oppor- Bfl I It k( tunity to profit. According to the sentiment of H ' ; the city they could permit places of various kinds HI I j( 'm to be run in defiance of the law. According to Uf h is tlie law tliey coud snut these places up at will. HI if k they made tlie persons who wanted to disobey Hi fill i ie law pay for e Privilese of pleasing the city. Bl 111 $ t was not a very open thing at first, but the Bi 1 ffiH I policemen found it a good thing and so it grew B , I into what New York now knows as "The Sys- H P"I1 m tern." Big politicians saw what a possibility of B I m H revenue there was in control of the unlawful Hn i ' m K places and they took hold of the gome. It be- H Cj SI jl came engrafted onto the city, with protection H l 1 I from such high sources that nobody concerned B S; m I needed to fear to ply his trade. BB Urn t - this began coming out about eight years BB m; j ago when the Republican legislature sent the Lex- Bli'ifffi ' ow committee down to New York to find out what HbiIIiIm 4 conditions really were and when Dr. Parkhurst Hi 8,11 W . and John TV. Goff and their aides forced from Iwfhtl M various police officials admissions that they had BWlkfH ! bean influenced by bribes. But much as that Bfifu'lufi i committee did, and it uncovered enough to turn Hal ''mm 1 le citj over to a fusion administration and to 1 mm. start Theodore Roosevelt on his way to the presi- Bjlifi I dency, it did not show a tithe of the actual cor- Bffii sal f ruption that has been coming out piece meal since BlCj$ 1 Tammany regained control of the government five BBffl I! I years ago and various leaders started out to get H I evorytbing they could to lay by for a rainy day. BBiij f Under Chief Devery the "System" flourished as BBffl'll I " never had before. Everything was put on the Hl 11 basis of yielding the greatest possible return from BHlii3 Pf lawlessness. Bp1 la f W For the profit of the police themselves the low- BUl "(it est forms of vice were left. They got their rev- HBi'SiS; , enue from collections from women, from opium BHHJMf I joints and from the dives that were not omy per- BHtBJ I mitted to flourish, but were encouraged to open. HBt S For the detectives there was another source HS I of "graft." They consorted with the thieves and BhY I sometimes even with the burglars as has been HIbB m shown and demanded part of the proceedings of hBbhB ' 8 Hwl HHUHi'li a crime. A person who might wander into a "tenderloin" saloon in those days and show a "roll" of money was likely to be found in the streets the next morning suffering from "knockout drops." Should he complain to the police it was a favor to them, for generally they would frighten fright-en him away with a threat of exposure of his wayewardness and when he was safely out of the caso would insist on division of the stolen money. On tliis income police officials waxed fat and wealthy. Devery accumulated a goodly fortune estimated at almost $500,000 in the less than four years that he was chief in "real estate" operations. oper-ations. Captains to whom the favorite precincts were given showed like prosperity. For permission to keep saloons open after hours there was a regular tax which went to the various district organizations of Tammany, with other like privileges that kept the leaders from complaining. For the big men the great "graft" was reserved, re-served, the revenue from the gamblers. It was a regular charge that they had to pay, something like $500 a month to open a house and anything from ?100 a month to $500 to remain open, besides be-sides occasional contributions when public senti ment ran too high for the consciences of the men who were extending "protection." The pool room branch of this profession was let out to a syndicate, at the head of which were well known gamblers and they and the poll, cians who were associated with them are men of millions now. The policy game, which is designed to take the pennies and nickels of the poor, was let out to another syndicate, the head of which has a beautiful .home in the heart of the fashionable district. There was plenty of money to silence anybody who wanted to talk, and plenty of power to deal with those who would not take toe money. The 'system" was bold and defliant all through the reign of Devery, which ended a year ago. The public knew of it in a way, but nobody would tell just what it did and who were Benefited. Some of the smaller ones concerned fell into the let of the law, but they kept quiet, knowing that they would be protected, and the big ones carried on their trade as usual. Conditions practically remained the same up to abount the beginning of this year. A reform ad. ministration had come into power and there was a reform police commissioner. But everybody knew that the captains were still taking money, that the gambling syrdtcate was still in control of the business throughout the city and that Devery was still practically the chief of police. A blow that shook the whole organization was struck, however, when District Attorney Jerome recently had raids made on the two greatest gambling gam-bling houses in America, one next to Delmonico's and another near the Waldorf-Astoria. He sent the head of the gambling fraternity, Richard Can-field, Can-field, scurrying to England, and has had Frank Farrell, the reputed head of-the syndicate, brought into proceedings to makeTiim suffer for being a common gambler. His action caused a run to cover. Nobody knew what somebody might tell to get him into trouble and some of those knew about things have been telling in order to keep others from telling on them. The police, too, have become frightened. At least one of the captains who has been taking the blackmail has been offering to tell all that he knows. Right on top of that a captain's wardman, one of the collectors of tribute, has made a full confession to the District Attorney, Implicating men high up in the police department, and they are shivering for fear of consequences. Hints have been given already that further revelations will come from some of them. So the whole system" is likely to be laid bare. New York will know how it has been paying men to foster all sorts of vice and crime. Yet I rather rath-er believe that New York will enjoy the details for New York likes to feel that it is in the lead in whatever it sets out to do. |