The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-05-23
Gangs and Gang Leaders.


1t is an odd thing that the moment
you say gang" to a policeman he
bristles up and tells you there is 40
such thing in existence. There used
to be gangs some years ago, he will
admit, but since he was appointed
Chief, or Captain, or Sergeant, or
something, they have all been sup
pressed and the members sent to State
Prison, where they now are--and then
he will give you a list of their names
and the terms they have to serve.
Well, it is a fact which does great
honor to our police that gangs no
longer exist in this city of the same
virulent type Of viciousness that used
to make night p~erilous in certain
regions. The really deadly gangs
have been broken up for the time be-
ing, and many of their members are
in Trenton.
But on that account our police must
not fall into a Fools Paradise. They
must not rest content with their glory
and allow the ruffians of the city to
regain confidence and organization.
They must remember that crime
grows In ~obscurity and that, un-
fortunately, every year new genera
tions of recruits for the army of
disorder are maturing in the city's
slums.
Thus, while Chief Murphy with
reasonable pride asserts that the
gangs of this city have had to give
way to the strong arm Of the law,
complaints reach this Office that the
Red Tiger gang is recommending its
outrages. We learn, too, that Cap
tain McKaig has recently had to raid
the Henderson street gang, and he
admits that letters keep coming to
him complaining of outrageous be-
havior in the street by lawless bands
of young toughs.
Here is an item of yesterdays news
which tells the story. We quote it
from u sole contemporary, because
in the present case it holds the
position of an unprejudiced Witness
Stable Gang Captured.
At half-past two O'Clock this morning officer
Conlon made a descent on a Laidlaw avenue
stable and captured four boys, members Of the
notorious Laidlaw avenue gang, who were sleep,
ing there. They were Thomas Mannion, aged
fourteen years; Joseph Heslin, sixteen; John
Carroll. sixteen; and William Lynch, fifteen.
Young Mannion is a tough one: He told Justice
Wanser that his father would not let him 20
home. The other boys said they staid out be-
cause they were going fishing in the morning. 1t
was shown that the boys are a constant menace
and annoyance to the neighborhood; that they
stone houses and persons on the street, and pilfer
bread ond milk from the houses in the vicinity.
Justice Wanser committed them for ten days.
But this is not a dangerous gang,
says the policeman, it is only a posse
of disorderly boys. True, but these
are the stuff that the real vicious
gangs are finally made from. This is
the training school.
Street rowdyism and corner loafer-
ism are at the bottom of this form of
crime. We recently had some young
men and women sent to Jail for i'm
proper conduct in the street near the
Elevator. Day before yesterday we
had a young girl arrested for disor-
derby conduct in the street with some
men, all Of whom escaped, leaving
her to bear the penalty of their con-
duct.
Any n who walks through the
streets at night must have the convic-
ton forced on him that there is a
large class Of the community who hold
public order and public decency in
small respect. 1t is from this class