New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-03-13
THE LAW AND THE POOLHOONS.

The law firm OF Howe & llummcl has wit
fen letter for publication urging the repeal
Of the Ives Pool act. This letter suggests that
tho movement t. amend the act, by making
the bogus commissionr business pracised in
tho city poolrooms-thc receiving OF money
ostcnsihly 10 bet it clscwhcre-a felony pun
i-hablo with imprisonment for not less than
year. is pushed in the interest Of the jockey
clubs Howe & IIummcl are tho counsel OF
the city poolroom>. and their suggestions are
bv no means di,intcrcstcd. They wish 10 SEQ
the poolrooms kept open, because the keepers
Of those rooms pay fat sums for legal services
II would not be any easier To close the pool
rooms if the Ives Pool act were repealed than
il i, now, because the corrupt Tammany Polio,
Justices always decide that the poorOOms are
doing legal business in accepting sO-call"d
" commissions" under the prcteyt that the
money is to be bet on a racctrack whether
betting on that racctrack is legal or not.
The Ives Pool act permits betting on rcgu-
larry chartered racccourscs on accdays only,
and on each track for such days only, between
Nav and October - in each year, but at no
other time and place Now if the poolrooms did
business only between May II and October
Is. and did actually send all the money which
they take in to the betting rings of the rcsu-
larry chartered racctradis of this state, to be
wagercd in those betting rings. then, and then
cnlv. would ire Tammany Police Justices have
a SHADOW Of excuse for declaring that the pool
room keepers were net violating the law. But
every one knows-and no one better than the
Police Department and the Dstrlct-Attorncy
that these poolsooms do nothing Of the sort.
Competent detectives could easily discover
certainly the Grand Jury could-that no tce-
graph company tclcgraphS any such commits
sons 10 the iacccourscS. that no express com
pany transmits any such commissions, that no
messengers arc sent with any such commissions.
Moreover. the pretended commissions"
which the po,r20m, have been receiving since
October 10. even upon the admissions Of the
propriotols, have been to put money in bets on
the winter rlcciracks where betting was never
lcgaizcd until the passage Of the racciracl bills
by the Ncw-Jcrscy Legislature only few days
ago What unboundcd assurance, what a
wicked defiance Of law and dcccncy. have cur
Tammany Police Justices been guilty of then,
in declaring that this bogus commission bust
ness was not Il violation OF law? And how
would the repeal of the Ives Pool act aid in
closing the city poolrOomS while such Police
Justices remain upon the bench? In no way.
The only way Of closing the poolroomS, while
our Police Department and our District-At:or
ncy show 50 little disposition to secure tho
Overwhelming evidence against them, which
can be secured by the use of sufficient energy
and zeal. is 10 amend the Ives Pool act as
proposed by the Society for the Suppression of
Vice. The p,Olroom keepers are already in u
I anc at the thought Of the passage of such al
amendment, and their counsel prepare for
publication disngcnuous and mi, leading let
ter in the hope of helping these lawbrcakcIs.
II racing in this State were entirely abolished
not single poorOom in this city would be
closed unless some such legislation as that
proposed by the Society for the Suppression of
Vice should be adopted There would still be
Iacng in New-Jersey ard in other States and
the pcolroom business would go on in the same
way a. at present. when there is no racing in
this STATE. Under the protection of the Tam
many Police Justices the fraudulent prctcnco
OF commission business would still flourish
worse pcstlcncc than cholera smallpox or
yellow fever now ravages this cty-thc pool
room pcstllencc II bcggars families ana breeds
thieves in great number. 1t can be stamped
out by the proposed amendment to the Ives
Pool act. While Tammany continues to pro-
tcct the poolrooms as it is doing at present