New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-05-08
PRICE THREE CENTS.
TAMMANY RAMPANT.
SOME OF ITS LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
MAYOR GILROY'S wORK-poLICE JUSTICES AND
THEIR FI,NCTIONs AS POLITICIANS.


Mayor through whose admiDistra ions T'mmany
came into full power i'm New-iork il was rot.
Mr.. Grant possessed aspirations-sJcial and potl-
cal-that rendered him inferior conductor OF
the Tammany current. He refused to do several
things which Mr.. Croker had commanded, and
lie insisted on doing several others that were NOS
to Mr.. CrOkers liking. lie declined 10 soil his
hands by the appointment of John j. Scannell, the
assassin, to any office whatever in his gait,
and he imposed Tammany a considerable num-
Der Of respectable ofice-holders. These proofs OF
an intractable nature determined Mr.. Croker to
deposa Mayor Ga mt and to substitute Mr.. GilrOy
in his place. Mr.. Gilroy had been a Deputy County
Clerk. lie had been Commissioner Of Public
Works. In each position he had conducted himself
with perfect fidelity to Tammany and yet had
obtained association among a circle OF respectable
business men, He commented himself to the B,ss
as discreet, intelligent and obedient.
In every respect he has justified the confidence
reposed in him by Mr.. Croker and it is of prime
Importance to understand that tie degree in which
Tammany oflice-hoder justifies the confidence OF
Alr. Croker is precisely the degree in which he
-mbodies the spirit of Tammany. Mr. Croker and
Iammany are interchangeable terms. Since the
boss system of government began to prevail In
Ncw-Yor no one has held power so complete and
supreme "a that welded to-day by Richard Croker.
Pride may go before destruction. and naughty
spirit before a fall and certainly il is often tho
case that the greater the political height to which
a man Climbs the easier 1t is to topplc him over
and the terrible is his fall. There are those
in Tammany and ont who believe that Mr.. Croker's
power is insecure but deny its present ampli-
tude What he says is the law. What he does
everybody else must conform to-
His supremacy has been growth At the death
Of the County Democracy, while his was the argest
h,-
means paramount His success is the result of
cool head even temper, steady hand. clear
comprehension of the forces with which he has to
deal, thorough knowledge of the science Of po-
litical organization, and the moral quality which
enables n man to perceive il when he has made
q mistake and to retire without evident humla-
ton from dangerous position. This combination
of qualities has enabled Mr. Croker to pass 80 far
in advance of al who were once his rivals that
no one now offers to contest his authority.
What Mayor GIroy has done. therefore, in the
four months of his official term, is that for which
| he has had Nr. Crollers warrant and direction
In his earliest appointments he acknowledged his
vassalage and his willingness 10 do those things
from which Mayor Grant had shrunl in disgust
and dis.nay Scannell was appointed member
# the Fire Commission four days after Mayor
Grant left Office and by SHIFT Of positions he
has been more recently appointed TO a new and
full term, and elected the president Of the COM
mission. Scannell is murderer. When he was
thirty years old, he committed one Of the fouest
and most cowardly crimes that ever brought a
rascal 10 the Sallows. He shot man whom he
had been for months pursuing, without giving
him the smallest opportunity either to escape OF
10 defend himself He shot him in the back
while he was seeking TO away, and as the
man fell at his feet Scannell fired bullet after
,.;oh
mont By an utterly scandalous betrayal of Justice
on the claim Of insanity, and after few weekS
confinement i'll a madhouSe he was turned loose
into Tammanv politics again. For the last twenty
years he has lived at great expense without any
visible means of support. II is well understood
that his chief usefulness TO Tammany has grown
| out of his relations with certain classes Of the
| community in whose behalf Tammany intervenes,
for reasons Of its own, to suspend the penal coda
simultaneously with the appointment Of Scan.
NELL Mayor Gilroy put into the office Of Police
Justice, TO sit the bench where the petty
crimes of the city are passed upon, man Whose
record an Excise Commissioner had proved him
to be wholly unfit for any official trust. lie was
nothing else than the agent in the commission
of the vcious resorts Of New-lork lie voted 10
license them ALL No place could he so foul, no
record so bad as TO make him hesitate. He was
arrested and indicted for persisrcntly failing to
execute the excise laws and escaped punishment
only by the passage of an act at Albany, pue
through for the purpose, which relieved him OF
the Indictment During Of his appearances
in court in this case he was in such condi.
ton of intoxcation as 10 render himself ami what
allied him conspicuous. OF such men as Koch Is
Tanmany Hall making judges. Persons who have
been themselves indicted for crime ana whose
escape from punishment was made possible only
b,s oft ba Inols lpffi Dre hp
missioned by Mr.. Croker to administer justice in
the criminal courts Of New-York The appoint.
ment of Koch was the significant because
he took the place of Justice kilbreth whos3
record had been particularly excellent. Us good
IA man as could be found for the Office was turned
out 10 make room for as bad man as the
office ever held
The latest Tammany product in the way of
Police Justice is Barney' Martin. Barn'y has
been indicted, too. When he was in the Sherirs
Office he accepted fees to which he was not Ell.
titled under the law. The courts said that this
did not constitute Just the kind of offence for
which he was indicted and the indictment
dismissed but the law amended that the
things Martin did, if dcne now, would put him
into the State prison. Barney" has had long
career in Tammlny politics. He Mayor Gill
rows Deputy Commissioner Of Public Works. lie
has been Commissioner of Jurors, charged with
the duty of impanelling fair and honest men for
Jury duty in all the courts. How fair and honest
they are appears whenever. ny any untoward acci.
dent an indicted Tammany man is brought to
trial Associated with Koch and Martin as recent
illustrations of what Iaminany is doing to tho
police courts Tom Grady, Paddy Diver
and John j. Ryan. They are all of a kind
DIVERS fitness TO dispense justice was acquired
in dispensing drinks. AS liquor seller he grew
powerful and eminent. and made his way into
the Boar of Aldermen. Tom Grady is dis.
tnguished Mr. Crokers personal friend and
the kind of service he is rendering the city was
made the subject recently of an accusing pres.git-
ment by the Grand Jury wherein il was shown