| Show JUDGE SWANN ON THE INNER CIRCLE x thy worship no god save eave graft and they bow down at the shrine of 77 their Idola idolatry I 1 in these words woid s judge edward swann of the court of general sessions in new york summed dup up the police X situation judge swann has been a careful and patient student of the po alca for na any yearb haas upon numerous occasions fit to speak about police matters maffer a from the bench ile he has listened with astonishment at ai times to the testimony given by X policemen and police detectives at the trials of men charged with being common X gamblers and upon more than one occasion he has heard beard the foreman x of ii a jury jirry return a verdict of not guilty in g gambling ambling cases where the district attorney had to rely almost ex elusively cluel vely upon the testimony of policemen and their stool pigeons judge swann was asked it if in his F opinion and from information that had come to him in his official capacity capaci tj gambling houses and disorderly resorts could exist unless the police stood for such euch places and for the violation of the law you cannot make me believe that such resorts could run wide open or run at all for any length of time unless the police knew about it ho he said 1 I yvis wish to say eay right here that the police department Is as a rule la Is made ulof up of a lot of honest courageous tearless fearless men I 1 am am very fond ot of the everyday every day policeman dut but in this present inquiry that has been brought about by the brutal murder of herman rosenthal it Is shown that graft exists in the police department today there exists in this city what Is known as a graft committee it has hag also been referred to as the inner circle they are the men who ore are responsible for the 1 judge swann was asked whether in his experience the average juror ju or would believe the testimony given under tinder oath by a policeman speaking for myself he replied 1 I believe the average policeman when he comes to the witness stand to give testimony but nik my experience shows only too often jurors will throw the testimony of a policeman out and acquit a defendant although I 1 felt certain and so eo did the district attorney that tho defendant was guilty and that a verdict of guilty should have been ren render derod d in accordance with the evidence presented to the court and jury jl 1 I must say eay however that my opinion Is that only a certain few connected with the police department indulge in graft |
