The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-08-15

u LIZ In vi W. OHS
Paddy Divers and other rumshops on
Park Row where they are generally to
be found. We have also on the JUDGES
bench the distinguished ex chairman
of the board of excise, a man whom L
denounced from the pulpit in unmeas
ured terms at the time of his reap
pointment on the board, and who car
ries the brand of that arrangement as
| originally uttered, though he invoked
all the MA hinery Of the courts under
the influence of Tammany to protect
him from its force. This man during
the tendency Of indictments for penl-
tertiary offences, was elevated by the
present mayor of the city to the posi-
ton of Judge. He has shown since his
elevation to the judgeshlp that he Is
about as thoroughly fitted for the posi-
| ton as would be any criminal who
would be taken from the stCckades ct
Sing Sing and placed up0n the bench.
! He pIeads for the fact that he gradu
ated from the Columbia Law School,
and vet he laid aside his Judicial duties
a few DAYS ago and appeared as attor-
new for q saloon keeper that desired to
open q rumhole within less than two
hundred feet Of a church.
AN INTERESTING BIOGRAPHY.
We have among the recent batch Of
| appointments by Mayor GilrOy, ele-
waited TO a position Of high responsible
! ity, a man who Is a common convict
| for theft, who was convicted for steal
ing as any other ordinary thief. We
have also among these appointments
the notorious John j. Scannell. Mr..
Scannell has been made chairman OF
the board Of fire commissioners at a
salary Of S., 900 a year. The biography
Of Mr.. Scannell has been recorded
briefly as follows: He is Tammany's
leader in the eleventh district, vas a
saloon keeperand professional gambler.
For many years he kept the COmtOn
house, the Iii repute of which extended
over the whole city. His reputation
as a professional gambler is that Of M
of the best known men IN the prOfeS-
sion. He began his political life by
committing a murder at a gambling
house at Twenty eighth street and
Broadway, where pools were being sold
on an election. While DOnOhue, his
victim, was passing through Twenty
third street at the corner of Third ave
nue. one night, he was approached by
a man believed to be John Scannell.
He was a tall, thin man, precisely like
! Scannell in appearance, and was dis
guised in 8 wig and SLOUGH hat. AS
Donohue and his friend approached,
the man drew a revolver and fired,
the bullet struck DonOhue in the body,
passing through q rib and lodging IN
the beck without dOirg him any seri-
Gus injury. About two years later
Scannell met Tom Donohue in a pool
room III the basement at the northwest
corner Of Twenty eighth street and
I Dr~@1rvo~ D1I E-T111I lS- H. GS-~
five bullets in him. At the first DOnO
hue fell to the ground but Scannell
fired the remaining four shots from his
pistol into the Frustrated mans body.
DOnohue died instantly. Scannell was
arrested and tried about two years
after wards He was acquitted Of the
murder on the ground of emotional in
sanity and sent 10 the lunatic asylum,
from which he was discharged at the
end OF five or six months. Scannell
has been a prosperous gambler, being
a partner of John Daily and is repute0
to have accumulated a fortune. His
prominence in TammanY Hall politics
is due to the friendship Of Dick Croker
and Ed Stokes, which he secured under
peculiar circumstances. The three men
were al confined in the Tombs at the
same time-1674-each awaiting trial
for murder. Croker was innocent of
the crime Teputed to him, but Scannell
and Stokes wer both guilty. The last
named was the slayer of Jim Fisk, and
was at one time under sentence of
death for his crime. The friendship
contracted under these extraordinary
circumstances has welded a more or
less powerful influence in Tammanv
Hall ever since.
H VALUE OF A PULL,
Second. We see the fact in the de
hatchery OF our courts OF justice in u
cities. About all q certain grade Of our
courts IN this city and in other great
cities are good for is in working vari-
GUS pulls. Some time ago in this CITY
a man was arrested charged with a
f%elOniouS assault, the penalty Of which
was seven years in the penitentiary.
He was put in jail and evidence was
manufactured sufficient to convict
him. But for the intervention of a
friend who had money enough to hire
a lawyer to prevent the infamv from
being consummated, the man would
have been sent to the p~enitentiary for
a crime committed by another man.
and this job was put up through the
influence of court officers. When from
this pulpit last June [ denounced the
infamy Of the re appointments of Joseph
Koch to the board of excise it, was the
easiest thing in the world for Mr. Koch
to consult a pal on the judges bench
and secure a warrant for my arrest.
though he knew every word l said was
true, and to compel my attendance
from day to day at the Jefferson Mar
ket police court extending over a period
of two weeks, during which time it was
necessary to have bond8men and wit
nesses waiting at the court. The court
was absolutely, from judge to scullion
who swept the room, at the command