New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-06-24
THE POLICE scandal.

The first and most obvious answer to the
charges against the police captains is to dis
credit the motives and the character OF the
acclsers. Detective Martinez, we are told, Is
rascal by his own showing, and has been
mixed up in some way with the alleged ap-
| propriatOrs of three dollar sweat blanket.
Sergeant CrOO has had trouble with his supe-
rior officer about a cup of coffee. How can
such men be trusted when they try to swear
away anothers good nameY All this Capt.
Burden and Capt. Williams are entitled 10
urge i'm their own behalf, ana we
must make ample allowance for it. But II
we are to get any evidence as to tho cOnnec-
ton between the police and the panel thieves
we need hardly look for it in the flower OF
good society The men who can tell Ills about
this scandal are few and perhaps majority
of them have had hand in the crime them
selves. If the charges now under investigation
prove true, Captain Burden will not be the
first offender who has been convicted on the
confession of an accomplish, nor Captain Will
liams the first who has been brought to justice
through the personal spite OF an angry subor-
dnate.
The bad feature in the case Of Williams and
Burden is that the public will find 1t extremely
difficult to acquit them of being knayes, ex-
cept upon the ground that they are phenom-
enal incompc.ents. The panel-houscs have
been flaming outrage for years, noOri-
GUS to all the neighbOrhoOd, and when GrOo
and Martinez declare that they could not
exist for forty EIGHT hours without the knOwl-
edge of the captain of the precinct, they say
snly what everybody knows to be true.
,fcw years ago The TRIBUNE published q re-
markabc exposure of these haIntS OF villainy,
giving the location of number of the worst
of them, and showing just how they sus-
tanned themselves by the cOnniyance OF the
police Our reporters were actual eyewitness
to some of the transactions between the patrol
men and the keepers of these houses. The
publication of detailed account of the nvcs-
tigation made by our orders, in Crosby,
Greene, Houston, ana one or two other noto-
rious streets, and the list and description of
the most dangerous of the gambling hells,
published by lis about the anne time, made no
little stir in official circles, and were for a
while among the sensations of the town. In a
short time, however, the various establish
mcnts resumed business on the old terms, and
the blackmailcrs in uniform, encouraged by
the Indifference of their supciiOrs, doubtless
renewed their exactions.
Now, whether Burden and Williams are
guilty or innocent, the Police Commissioners
ought to understand that their Board will be
held responsible for the immediate breaking
up of the pest houses which flourish under
their very noses. little while ago they
rcsortcd to tho timid device of transferring
police captains from one precinct to another
in order 10 break up their entangling alliances
with the criminal classes whom they are paid
TO pursue. That was confcssi, Il that they
were conscious of the prevalence of corruption
in the force. But they waited apparently for
a committee of the Legislature to come here
and find out just how far the cor
irIption extcnded-and after oil the Com
mttce can only repeat the story which
THE TRIBUNE told long ago. Now, Messieurs
Commissioners, the publication of the police is
not properly the concern of the Legislature ;
il is your business. The investigation that you
have ordered is very well for a beginning
The people will expect you to make it quick
ard complete, and then 10 .clow it up with
some decisive and enduring action. But we
do not need an investigation 10 discover the
existence of panel-housoS and other dens of
vice. Why don't you shut them up'