Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-08-13
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
The Police InyestIgatIOn-Tram
TIItOn and Beeeher-the big Failure
-BusIness-the Weather.
THE poLlCE INyEsTIeArIoN.

The committee investigating the po-
lice of this city are unearthing some
very odorous matter 1t has been shown
that captains of precincts have for years
accepted from the proprietors of gam
bling houses and houses of ill-fame reg
ular sums of money per week, the con-
sideration being that these houses
should not be molested. And when a
new policeman, or an honest one, re-
ported these houses as proper subjects
for pulling, the captain would run his
pencil through their names and rebuke
the subordinate for oflciousness. Of
course the speculation could not long be
confined to captains. The policemen on
the beats very soon went into the busi-
ness on their own account, and made it
pay handsomely. They charged the
girls SIS per week for protection against
arrest. The same bargains were made
with notorious thieves, and it has gone
so far that it is almost impossible to
either bring one of them to justice
or recover property that has been stolen.
You may imagine the condition of the
city when the police, its guardians, are
in league with the thieves, ,swindlers, and
prostitutes. A little occurrence that
came to my knowledge last night illus
trates the working of it: A citizen was
coming out of an uptown street about
nine O'clock, when he was attacked by
two foot pads, one of whom snatched his
watch. He seized the thief and yelled to
policeman who stood within twenty
feet. calmly looking on. What did the
policeman do? Arrest the thief and re-
store the man his watch? Nothing of
the sort He dubbed the citizen over
the head till he lei go his hold upon the
thief, telling him, with an oath, that he
had made disturbance enough round
there. The thief ran away with his
booty and the policeman disappeared
OF course the citizens will complain, but
nothing Will come, of it. 1t was raining
very hard at the time, and the policeman
had on his waterproof HaVelock and
coat. so indentifcation will be impossi-
BILE The condition of affairs in the city
is anything but pleasant 1 do notknow
which class is the most feared, the out
laws or the police. One thing IS eYide Mt,
no city like New York, with its vast ir-
responsible foreign population, is fit to
govern itself The decent citizens are
largely in the minority, and as a conse-
quence the lawless element governs it.
What the remedy is heaven only knows.
TRAMPs.
The hard times affects everything, even
the profession of begging. When the
times were flush it was easier TO give a
beggar ten cents or quarter than It was
to be twice importuned. Now it is diff
ferent. Men have not got the ten cents
or quarter to spare, and the beggar, IN
less it be a certain case of absolute, hon
est distress, is turned off at short meter.
Now, your regular beggar will never
work, no matter how desperate bis case
may be, and, consequently, when the
times get so hard here in the city, he de-
parts for pastures fresh. They take
their worthless carcasses TO the country,
and then an idea seems to strike them
simultaneously. A farmhouse with no.
body at home but woman or two, sf-
forded them scope for something besides
begging. And so three of them together
march into a farmhouse and ask for food.
If the man of the house happens to be in
they get food and go away, but if they
find the, house unprotected, they change
their tone. The beggar's whine is drop
ped, and in its stead IS the demand of the
sturdy tramp, who appears in his true
character of thief. Connecticut and
New Jersey are fairly swarming with the
pests. Indeed, so numerous are they
that the authorities in some sections in
Connecticut have appointed special po-
NOa lnnt1 of fbar11 Thnrn il hnf
wey with these fellows Every beggar
or mendicant, genuine or otherwise,
should be at once arrested and put at la
Dor in a. work house. If they are legit-
imate-that is, unable to make living
they have a living furnished, for which
they contribute as much labor as they
can do. IF they are frauds, as ninety
nine in q hundred are, they will be
forced to work, steal, or starve. If they
do the first, they will be entitled TO live;
if the second, they will come within the
grasp of the law and if they choose the
third, the world is happily rid of them.
Every State in the Union ought to make
m endicancy a crime, and ought to deal
with beggars as criminals Of the worst
class, One incident occurred TO me yes
terday that shows the material of which
these people are made. A tall six-foOter
stopped and tottering, approached me,
and in a voice as low as not to be fully
understood, mumbled something of
which only "tin cints' and "ate nothin'
for fortv-eight hours" was distinct
"Speak up" said III, can't understand
you." 81 can't shpake loud, Pm too
wake" "Get out, you thief" was my re-
sponse, for had seen the fellow before.
aTo hell wild yez r. was the response OF
this starved, weak man, IN stentorian
voice; and Strengthening himself up, ne
looked what he was, a brawnY' muscu-
lar, rufian, who, in the night and in
the dark. would be an exceedingly un-
eomiortable cor man to meet. That man is
6eggar today, foOt-paaR D. tO,norrGw. ,Rio ,iws
and a burglar the next. by lals MS. time ns
Women and children fifty miles out of the
city. 1,
: There is disagreeable prospect that