Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-02-16
PURIFIED BY POLICE.
Inspector John A. McAleese Makes
His Report of One Years
WORK In THE FIRST DISTRICT.
Speak-Easy Proprietors and Gamblers
Driven Out of Business.
POLITICAL PULLS NOT RECOGNIZED


the first Is wards of the citv, during the
year ending January 81, 1891, according to
the annual report of Inspector John A.
McAleese, made yesterday to Chief j. o.
Brown. The year preceding, $500 arrests
were made.
This remarkable increase is not due to an
epidemic OF crime, but to the uurelenting
war waged against the speak-easy last sum-
mer, and the determination oe the Police
Bureau to rid the city OF loafers, thieves
and thugs. The Inspector. in his report,
instances the suppression of the "Owl Gang"
which terrorized the hill district, as show
ing how this determination was carried out.
Sixty persons connected with this organiza-
tion were arrested, convicted and sent to the
penitentiary and other penal institutions.
Hardscrabble, once notorious for the bad
character of Its habitants, has been puri-
fed, and those criminals who lived there
who are not in the penitentiary, have taken
the very broad hint given them and have
left the city.
Tribute to the Detective Force.
The Inspector calls attention to the fact
that few serious crimes such as murder or
burglary were committed in his district, and
after complimenting the ability antfzealous-
ness of his detective force, refers to last sum-
mer's speak-easy crusade, as follows:
One of the most arduous tasks ever given to
me in the management of my district, by your
self as Chief of the Bureau, was the suppress
sion of the illegal liquor traffic. When l un-
dertook the work there were in the First po-
lice district at least 500 places which were
known as speak-easies. At the expenditure OF
a vast amount of labor. and by use OF the ser
l was able, beginning IN May, 1890, to bring to
immediate justice between 3OO and
400 of these peculiar violators OF
the law. My statistical report will give the
exact figures, and they will be found to bring
the total nearer to 400. The plan OF prosecu-
tion decided upon. to proceed by summary con-
viction to fine these delinquents for Keeping
disorderly houses proved after vigorous en-
forcements TO be effective, where, if the prose-
cution had been committed to the courts, the
cases would have dragged along, the defend
ants would have been out on ball. and pending
their trial would have been prosecuting their
illegal traffic.
Tempering Justice With Mercy.
Another good effect Of this method was that
the summary conviction and fine enabled the
persons arrested to satisfy the law and leave
the business. A large number of the violators
were women, m any of them widows with large
families dependent on them, and to imprison
them would have been severe hardship, but
by the payment of fine they escaped the more
severe punishment and were given an oppor-
tuuity TO become obedient to the laws
In a number of cases it was necessary
to arrest and fine stubborn violators of the law
two and even three times before they realized
the bureau was entirely in earnest, and quit the
business. AS a result, as tar as the First police
district is concerned. "speak-easies" are things
of the past. One coming into existence is oc,
llxy hoar nf hnf fha iS dad
on fact the violators are Immediately appre-
hended and subjected to the severest penalty;
subjected 10 a close surveillance and driven
out of the trade.
A kind of house drinking which in some re-
spects closely resembles the speak-easies, is in
existence, but 1t is extremely difficult to Oh
tain evidence sufficient to secure con-
viction. 1t is done in boarding houses,
where the proprietor or proDrietress
lays In stock of beer and serves it to the
boarders, ostensibly without price and as part
of the regular boarding house supply. But
even of this kind of drinking there is not
enough to challenge serious consideration, be-
the kind wherever the proprietors become ac-
cessible to the Bureau has made people in the
boarding house business extremely careful of
venturing too close to the line of the law.
The Pittsburg Gambler Wiped Out.
Gambling is next taken up, and in this
connection the Inspector says:
Your imperative instructions that gambling
obeyed, and gambling has been suppressed in
the First police district of this city. The
gambler to-day is rara avis in Pittsburg
They have been pushed day and night, in the
teeth of strong political and other opposition,
and the resources at my command proved ef-
fective in Kidding the city of this particular
private character could be driven out
of a. community SO populous as this,
Faro banks, pool rooms and poker
aTe m IS
by men who are not professional gamblers, and
in private residences or club houses. There is
probably less club gambling in Pittsburg than
in any other city of its size in the country.
The gamblers have been driven out, and it is
proposed to keep them out. They recognize
this fact and few are left.
With reference to another feature of the
darker side of city life am able to report the
complete suppression of dives and dance
houses and the extinction ofplaces where liquor
was handled and doled out by women. In this
respect we have model section of a city in the
First police district.
The Inspector refers to the work of the
Bureau in guarding girls and bovsfrom the
snares of great city, and then makes the
following vigorous protest:
APolice officials Chief Difficulty.
Right here 1 want to call your attention, but
more especially the attention of the public to
the fact that many of the difficulties that sur
round the police work of this and other dis
tricts are made by people who are good people,
or very nearly SO. As they talk they want their
laws enforced against every violator, and they
maintain that position until friend or close
ACQUAINTANCE Is arrested. Then they use every
means in their power to retard the action of
the bureau and clog the vigorous administra-
tion of the law. When none of their friends
are in trouble. such thing as rendering volun-
tary assistance to the Police Bureau by giving
it information, which they frequently have,
never occurs TO them. They manifest an in
difference that encourages the criminal and his
associates to believe that the good people are
too fond of their ease to give aid or assistance
to police officer in the discharge of his duties.
To be popular and to do your duty in my po-
stion as Inspector of the First police district
is an impossibility which recognize and make
no attempt to achieve. AS understand my
position 1 am here TO obey your in
structions In protecting the people of
this First police district from the
marauding of thieves. the blackguardism of
loafers on the streets, the ruffianism of the
tough and bully and to maintain such measures
of peace and good order as will assure every
man at night or day within the limits of this
district. that his properly Is as safe as restless
vigilance can make it. and his life on the street
is as well guarded as it is within the precincts
of his own home. Under our patrol system it
it is absolutely impossible for one man or for a
gang of men, for more than the fewest possible
thoroughfare of this district at any hour of the
day or night.
More Patrolmen Needed.
The Inspector next called attention to the
fact that he could use more patrolmen to ad-
vantage. Many beats in his district are
much too large for one man to cover, and he
is compelled to leave them to the vigilance
of loved and trusted officers, exacting from
each the work which should be done BY two
officers at least. The largest stretches of
fo NJ -,