The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-10-13
OUR LETTER FROM BROADBRlM

Police Outrages-Decadence Of Central
| Park and Rroalway-Who Pays fssr the
Democratic Whiskey ?-Officiai Corrup-
| tion and ExtortiOn-Another brooklyn
Scandal, ETC., etc.
New YoRK, October 6, 1888.
EDITOR CHIEF:
While the three factions, Tammany Hall,
Irving Hall, and the County Democracy
are fighting to see which one shall get this
imperial city by the throat, our streets and
parks, which the thieves of the Tweed ring
left in the best possible condition, have
become an unsightly ruin. Central Park
few years ago was our pride. Its beautiful
avenues and shady hooks were constant
delight to the thousands who frequented it,
but it is SO no longer. It is now the para
disc of tramps and blackmailers, who watch
of an evening for ladies and gentlemen
enjoying quiet stroll and suddenly rush
ing out from their retreats accuse them of
all sorts of infamous offenses, and then by
threats of exposure extort money from
them as the price of their silence. This
would be bad enough if the thieves and
blackmailers were not aided by the police.
We have two sets of police in this city: The
regular police, governed by the police COM
mission, and the park police, ruled by the
park commission. Instead of acting to-
gether, and aiding each other in furthering
the ends Of justice, they endeavor to outwit
and thwart each other, and throw every
obstacle in the way of each others success.
Only last week a gentleman was taking a
walk with his wife. While in lonely place
a policeman rushed out of the bushes, and
with a violent oath, at the same time
fourishing his club, declared that he had
caught them and would take them in. The
gentleman naturally felt outraged and
stood up in defense of his wife, only 10 be
brutally clubbed dragged to the police sta
ton, and thrown into a cell. Next morn
ing when he was taken before magistrate,
and the true inwardness of the affair be-
came known, the gentleman was discharged
and the attention of the park commission
SIAASeA ~ eiiS e'Ais1 HO w
in the course of few weeks, that the po-
liceman was perhaps over Jealous in his
duty, and they will politely request him not
to do it again. This is but one of many
instances where the public have been sub
jected to outrage, and where all satisfaction
has been denied
Broadway, our great thoroughfare, is i'll
wretched condition. The pavement which
the Tweed ring laid in 1868 has never been
repaired, and it is full Of holes and gullies
from the Battery to Union Square. The
street commissioner has no time to look at
it. He is busy looking up the frauds of his
subordinates for it now looks as if every
public department was honeyconbed with
fraud. Thefts of the public funds have
been going on for years, and nobody but
the robbers appear to know any thing about
it. We are having an overhauling of the
city's musty ledger, and it is not pleasant
reading for the taxpayers of New York.
We are asking ourselves who paid the
$50 900 that it took to carry the political
heelers to Buffalo and back. They all wore
clothes in the latest style, nobby hats and
shiny boots, gold chains big enough for an
OK cart were by no means rare, and the dis
play of diamonds would have delighted the
heart of Chatham street or Bowery Jew,
who felt that i'll the ordinary course of hu-
man events they would eventually find their
way into his window. They were hard
looking lot. Just such crowd as you
meet at rat pits and dog fights and slugging
matches in the prize ring. Looking at the
crowd could not help asking myself, who
pays for all this: who paid for the wtiskey,
champagne, brandy, and cigars that these
rutfians consumed? This is getting to be
a serious consideration. Offices are made
to pay 80 that an army of political heelers
ca2 be maintained. Barney Biglen, the
baggage smasher Of Castle Garden, makes
a larger salary than the President of the
United States, and the Sheriff OF the county
of New York receives over SIQ0G0O q year
Iii one way and another we use up i'll our
city and cCuIty Government nearly tnirt: