Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-03-20
The Coafict In Municipal Affairs to
60 Braysly On.
The Latest Phases Of the lnternecine
Strife, as It Appears to Regis
ter Reporters.
Last Nights Murphy Temperance Meet
ng--lnteresting Interviews = Board
Of Education EVading a Debt
"A Sensational Case.

STE what the next move OF the chief actors
in the matter will be. IL is universally ap-
parent that both Mayor Grub and the Chief
of Police have gone Too isr-the one in his
aggressive warfare, and the other IN the de-
fensiye-to admit OF a retreat from the
stand taken, and the battle must be fought
out to the bitter end. The first mentioned
official d clares that, having sworn 10 OBEY
the law, giving him general supervision over
the city, he can not but insist on calling the
attention of Negligent heads of departments
to gross yiolstions of the city ordinances,
while Chief Smith places his hand on hts
heart and declares in a sweet, silvery voice
that be is Chief OF Police, and hopes he
knows what he is about.
A REGIsrER scribe sought Mayor Grub
yesterday afternoon and had quite a long
chat with him over the situation. The
Mayor was at frs; inclined to think that this
Journal was waging a fight in behalf OF the
gamblers, but the reporter assured him
that he had Jumped 10 q wrong conclusion,
and that our only desire was TO simply pre-
vent injustice and to point out that this on
slaught was not born of al innate desire to
see the city purged OF sin and made holy
and righteous, out rather proceeded from
some other ard far different motive. HIS
Honor was asked what the Dext move would
be, and he responded that, so far as he was
personally concerned, he was done. He
had asked the Chief of Police to do a'cer-
tain thing, made a part of his duty BY an
| ordinance. and the Chief had fatty refused
Now be would communicate the fact 10
Council, and that body could do as it saw
Fl. Asked 10 be more specific, he said:
~ have noill will toward Porter Smith;
none in the world. Bat | have been elected
Mayor; | was given a copy Of the city ordi
nance, in which my duties were laid down;
/ sTore to perform those duties, and am
going to do il. / have become familiar
with the great evil of gambling in this city,
and | went to Porter smith aud told him
he would have to do something. | showed
him in the ordinance book, Section . Of the
ordinance prescribing the duties of to"
MAYOR ard then showed lin sc t on : q
the ordinance prescribing the duties Of tn
City Sergeant; then | took him out on the
front steps of the City Building, aud poju ed
out several windowsin near By buiIdin 5
where gamblers we're at work, and ask d
him to raid them. he looked at me a d
said: Well, Mr.. Mayor, if you want the e
places pulled you can swear ont a warrant
won't do it, The only thing for me to do
now is 10 report the matter to Council
That | will do; it will, l suppose, be refer
red to the Committee on Police, and my
duties will be at an end. / tell you,
the people Of this city have
little idea of the magnitude Of this
gambling business. Il is the ruirstion Of
our young men. Just stop q and
think of the young fellows who haze run
through moGey lett them By the death CT
parents or re!sIiYss in the past few years,
The amount los; in this city at gambling
tables in the lsS. half dozen years will
reach hundreds Of thousands Of dollars. |
know several ie!!Ows-Soo4 hearted, intelll-
gent men-whO ROW are absolutely penni'
less, and not only that. out som of them
have been driven to theft, Only the other
Gay q vel! known Main street merchant lost
a thousand d2lsrS through the gambling
pECpepslUeS oil = c.erH.
Where does The mou=y co. asked tn
reporter; the gamblers arc generally harl
up, as the saving Is.
ut goes 10 Other cities. As a rules as sool
as 8 Wheeling gambler makes a stake he
takes a flying UP to Pitts5Urg, or Cincin
nsti, or Caicago, or ~some~here else, aui
lOoSes bis pile bucbing against q big game.
Then he comes back, and recruits IRON the
earnings of the clerk and the wages of the
laborer. Its the story Of the fish swallow
ing the minnows, and the sharks swallowing
the fish. The whole matter is a gigantic,
crying evil, and common decency requires
Its suppression.
II am about as anxious to see gambling
suppressed as anyone can be" said a mer-
chant, Yesterday. Il wish the whole thing
could be crushed out, utterly and complete
ly, but do like to see a man have a little
backbone. There is not one man in q
thousand who, if Mayor Grubb had come to
them in the way he went to Smith, would
not have done exactly what the captain
did. Suppose the chief had meekly follow
oil the instructions OF the'msyor, what would
have been the result? Why, simply this:
Mayor Grub wouli have been lauded to
the skies BY the I~ntelligepcer az
he mayor who compelled the
Chief Of Police to raid the
houses, while Smith would have been re.
fered 10 as the Chief of Police who was
trotted about in leading strings and made
to dance whenever the Mayor played a tuns
on MS Fourteenth s.rse; organ. And whs.
a time there would have been in police
headquarters, 20 be sure The Chief, the
Lieutenant and the rest of the force would
have had to tip.foe in aud out hat in hand.
whenever the Msyor should chance in
which would be pretty otten-and instead OF
a city governmunt made up of several Co
ordinate branches, we should have had an
absolute monarchy. Let's break up the
gambling bells, as l believe they vii be
broken up, but let's go at it d~ecently and
squsrelY."
About noon yesterday a rumor Of the
most painful nature started somewhere in
the business part of town, aud soon spread
far and wide, producing a degree OF terror
in the minds Of a number Of young men
which was painful in the extreme. This
rumor was nothing more or less than that q
well known sporting man had made out q
list Of about one hundred and fifty Young
men who had been in his house at divers
times in the past six months, and that the
same would appear in the advertising col.
umns Of the morning papers Many a young
fellow went home last night to supper with
q lump in his throat and many a consulte-
ton was held later between comrades who
had had a shot at the animal of the genus
felis, and missed it. Some powerful pres.
sure must have been brought to bear upon
the sporting gentleman who had started out
-
story was a myth, FOR the card didn't appear,
and several souls are correspouiinglyhs happy.
A number of Councilmen we're talked
with during the afternoon by reporters
Some Of the city law makers were rather
emphatic in their expressions, while others
again, were on the fence, so to speak, aud
wouldn't be interviewed. Following is the
substance of some of these little chats:
Frank Healy-lfG Grub goes to Council
with CHARGES thew will amount IN aho,t