New-York tribune., 1880-01-10
LOCAL MISCELLANY.
NIP wAILING FREES HIS MIND.


A TRIBUNE reporter called upon superintendent
Wallng Yesterday morning, with the idea of ascer-
tanning if possible whether the police or the
Excise Commissioners were responsible tor the
wholesale evasion Of the Excise Law which was
shown bv TIL TRIBUNE yesterday. Mr.. waning
was found in his office, and the irascible Old gentle
man was in a very bad temper. He was talking TO
another person present about The TRIBUNE edl-
tora upon the subject, and his voice was loud ana
harsh Turning to the reporter he continued MS
remarks in the same manner
"Why should TIE TRIBUNE go and publish such
an article as that" he asked. (which throws all the
blame upon us for matter we have nothing 10 10
with T"
I" don't think it"
doesn't il. though know it does, and in the
worst possIble manner. II bame5 this Department
and il blames me- | tell you and there is no ground
forIt."
{" But you can answer it. i"
"AnsweritP That's what sou want me to do, l
suppose"
al mean that"
"Yes. yes: it is easy to answer it, but what good
can that dot charge yOn with being guilty Oh
petit larceny for instance, and without KNOWING
ANYTHING about the case publish it. What good
does it do YOU to prove afterward that the c"aiRe
Is not true Before you wrote that article You
But the facts arc"
81 tell you this that whenever the Commission
FRS have sent me list Of persons Offending against
the Excise laws those persons have always been
arrested We cannot do any more than that'
Whenever they refused to license a place. and they
inform me that the person is still selling lmWe-
datelv notify the captain of the precinct TO take
measures against the offender But the COmnlS-
siOners don't want these people arrested Inc COM
missioneIs brought n list of unlicensed places IN
DF..f nsnf
Them TO force them TO get their licenses, but dis-
tinctiv stated that they did not wish the people TO
be arrested. SAID: That is perfect farceand non
sense: they don't care anything about us uneSs we
do arrest them.' However, sent to the captain OF
the Thirteenth and gave him the iSt and toid hln
what had been said. | said TO hlin: You cannot
,stlfy yourselves in dong tins IN any shape OF
manner. The records show that the list mas Deeh
given ont so Won must 90 to work and get the ne
cessarv evidence He did so, and the persons were
held 10 BALL ..
Cannot the police take independent action
How can theyi They cannot 90 and buy liquor
because there is no fund for il they would Lave TO
paw out of their own pocket"
{" But they might see others drinking" .
THAT wouldn't do. The magistrates would not
hold them for that The man who lays the INFORM
alton must actually taste the drink. or now IS he 10
swear that it is spTituOus liquor that Is beng con,
sumed Aud how is the policeman to do TINS
General Order 2O3 passed June :, LStO Teaqs as as
strct the Inspectors. and through them the Gap
tans TO cause the members OF the force engaged IN
to in these resolutions TO be uicsseu ~ po-
lice uniform, and caution them not to take any
measures 70 induce OF couhtehlnco tnc sdio t VI
drinking of intoxicating liquors; Dut thls snaI hot
release him from the duty of arTestlng anY person
committing offence in his view. In other WORDS, III
preycuts any officer going into saloon ana calling
for drink for the purpose on arresting the persons
selling II. Yet here, according to Your own report
although the police are not allowed 10 20 on Iese
'The fact is that they, are 50 few compared with
the vast number Of law breakers
SO fewi What can policeman In Uniform doI
They keep the doors closed, and anyway he Is not
allowed to 60 in. To enter a place where lquor IS
sold is q violation Of the rules. Rule 0oZ saye: NO
member of the force shall in the statl0n-h0nse OF
elsewhere, while on duty or while oil duty IN uni
FORM drink any kind of liquor or smoke, or except
In the immediate performance of his duty enter any
place in which any kind OF intoxicating liquor may
be sold or furnished You see the general order order
for,,ids him 10 60 in any such places in citizens
dress aud this forbds him going III in uniform
"I saw emphatically that the Excise BOard-they
have Inspectors who 90 around III ctlzens dress
should procure evidence; and tneY nave never pro-
cured such evidence and asked to have the arrest
made but what IT has been done. And at any tine
when thev ask To have an arrest made 1t will be
done | say this emphatically. | have even said
that the arrests should be made without waltlngfor
warrant If necessary"
'Were the twenty-three arrests maze Dy oIueI ol
Il believe they were all made by the police indie
pendently. Daring the past three months ending
January /, 10 arrests have been made for Offences
against the Excise law"
" In how many Of these cases were you furnlshed
with evidence by the Excise BOardP
Not one-haif."
Then the police able to arrest these offend
ers il they choose. despite what you have sald =
"Of course they NAV arrest them lhey are
bound to arrest them if they see them onenalng.
But the police regulations prevent them, IN many
eases from seeing the offence committed. The Board
has large number of inspectors IN plain clothes,
whose duty il is to furnish evidence TO us OF such
cases. The very first list they sent to me was ac-
companied with statement that they did not de,
sire arrests TO be made: and just lately
had a list of thirteen names in the Twenty
ninth Precinct. Out of these only SIX
were unlicensed hquor-sellers the Others
either bad license or were not IN the business at
all And in that list you publish this morning
there are many who have been arrested by Us ana
held 20 bail. and still 90 on with their BUSINESS
Talk about the disreputable people selling drink
without a lcensc-why see the number OF dlsIepu-
table people who are licensed. Look at the places
i'm Pearl and Chatham and William. and other
streets m that ncighborhOod. The TRIBUNE knows
then and could speak Of them if IT chose"
"Tbcn YOU consider tne Excise Board Is to blame
for tins liuuOr selling without license y
"Go ana ask them how many inspectors they
boNe nd ubo those iugDpCfOIG do