OCR Text |
Show HEARING BEGUN $l ' EXTORTION CHARGES! I 'Wife of Pool Hall Pro-! j prietor Tells of Alleged Payments to Officer. j Preliminary hearing- was begun yesterday yester-day before William Reger, justice of the peace, in the cases of R. A. Radke, patrol- ( man, and J. A. Egbert and J. E. Woodard, detectives of the police department, jointly joint-ly charged with having extorted money from Raul Sedar, proprietor of a pool hall on the west side. Mrs. Sedar was the first witness. She i teestified that Radke came into the kitchen of their living rooms, at the rear of the pool hull, on January 2$, and asked her for a drink of whiskey, saying he was not feeling' very well. She said she went to her bedroom and got a fc.sk obtained for her by her husband when she had influenza, and gave him a drink. Shortly afterward, according to the testimony tes-timony of the witness. Detectives Kgbert and Woodard entered and searched the place, taking tho bcttle. Within a few minutes Radke returned and said to her, "I would like to break your head," the witness testified. She y;iid that a conference con-ference between Radke and I he detectives was followed by an explanation that ihey would keep silent if they got their price, $300, ;js the condition on which revocation revoca-tion of the license of the place might be avoided. Mrs. Sedar said her husband was not in the pool hall at the time and that she told him everything when he returned. , George Pezel, cousin, of Sedar and partner part-ner with him in tho conduct of the pool i hall, testified that $100 was paid to Radke in the pool hall on January 2H and I $200 more in Radke's 'room on January ; Of tho later payment, Radke let i them have back 5100 at the time on their plea that they must meet their rent, I according to tiie witness. He said Radke said, upon returning the $1C'U( that he had ! decided to let them off easier and that they could pay him $0 on the first of the month. Mrs. Sedar testified that Radke had said, when naming $300 as the price of silence, that they must have $100 each. Pezel was on the witness stand when court adjourned, the hearing being continued con-tinued to 10 o'clock next Tuesday morning. morn-ing. Assistant City Attorney Horace Smith was present as associate counsel for Egbert and "Woodard. Asked by the prosecution, to define his position in the case, he answered that lie was present to protect tho interests of the police department depart-ment on the presumption that it is conducted con-ducted in accord. with the law. |