The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-11-22
MR. G)FF INTERVIEWED.
The New York Lawyer Talks Of
Municipal Misrule.
POWER OF GoTHAMs POLICE FORCE.

Under the System Recently Uprooted in New
York the Individual Comfort of CitIxens
Was Far Worse Than Under st. Peters,
burg's Most Violent Police Regulations.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22.-Mr. John W.
Golf, the prosecuting attorney for the
Lexow Investigating committee, who Is
stopping in Washington for few days,
has given The Evening Star an interest
ing interview of nearly three columns on
the work of the committee.
"1t was, as you may imagine, /" he said,
"a tremendous task that confronted us
when we started the Investigation. There
were two distinct elements that pre-
vented at the beginning, n fair start and
handicapped us in our efforts to get reli-
able testimony These were the fear and
apathy OF the citizens.
II speak within the bounds Of my knowl-
edge when 1 say that there was not bust
ness man in New York city who had not
felt the power of police blackmail. There
were perhaps a very few instances where
honorable men had refused to give their
,tithes of illegal tax to the police, but al
most without exception these men were
forced out of business.
zone peculiar feature Of the blackmail
was that it spared no one class, however
obscure their calling. ] have particularly
In mind the sailmakers, who arc among
the most upright and sturdily honest peo-
pie Of New York. They are mostly retired
sea captains, commanders of the old
clipper ships, who have been forced out Of
business by the introduction of steam or
their sons. Not one of these honest men
dared to open his mouth and complain.
Our duty was to arouse the conscience
of the people of New York, which had long
been mothered-almost killed. The COM
mon people, the voters, the people who
most felt the oppression of the police, would
need to be aroused by different methods
The spectacle of little boy sitting all
night on doorstep Of police station cry
ing bitterly for his father, who had been
unjustly arrested and brutally beaten by
the police, meant more to these people than
the demonstration that the captain had
paid large money for his promotion or that
the commissioner, perhaps had been
bribed. The common folks would not
notice such matters, but they would notice
the tyranny of the police over the apphc
woman, over the peanut rooster, the boot
black, the newsboy, the keeper OF a small
soda water stand, the owners of little res
taurants-a great class of honest citizens
striving, struggling for a living.
"You may be surprised when l say that
New York, under the rule of the police de-
partment, as it was controlled by Tam
many Hall, was far worse, as regards the
individual comfort of citizens, than st.
Petersburg under its most violent police
regulation. This was accidentally illus
trated by witness who took the stand
one day. He was Pole, who had been
sent to Siberia as result of the Polish in
surrection. He had escaped and reached
this country, and about a year after his
arrival he was unjustly arrested and
cruelty beaten. When he was asked how
'$he police of New York compared with
those of ST. Petersburg he answered that
Russian police are gentle and humane
com pared with those of our city.
LAS an illustration of the tremendous
power welded by this organization 1 will
refer to the difficulty we had in obtaining
witnesses to go upon the stand and swear
70 facts that they had brought to us in
private. AT first this applied to all classes,
both reputable and disreputable When
appealed to they would claim that II they
should testify the police would hound
them ont Of the city. When asked IL they
could not go elsewhere and establish them
selves in business they would reply that
the persecution of the police of New York
would follow them to every city in the
country, and we gradually revealed the
astounding fact that the police of New
York dominated not only that city, but
every large community in the country
The lower classes of citizens were made
to believe that the blackmail was lawful
and regular. They came to consider the
captain OF their precinct as the source of
all municipal authority. In effect, he was
such to them. This WIS illustrated by the
introduction of the word 'pantata' into
our language.
you ask me II / think this power Is
now crushed. do most emphaticaly
think that, the public conscience having
once been aroused, the machinery of this
nauseous system exposed, will be per-
petual bar against the development of such
an organization in tho future. l consider
the great danger to our form of govern
lies in the possibility of municipal mis-
rule. The tendency is too strongly to-
ward the growth of the urban community
at the expense of the rural This feeds
the machine that, II not watched and
checked, will grow to such eorrupting in
fluence as that which We have just de-
stroyed in New York. Capitalization,
believe, as this investigation has proved, is
tne udnRer VI tne utiy neHeVe tnat bho
example of New York will serve to check
this tendency toward corruption and pc.
lice domination.
II cannot answer the question as to
where the blackmail money went or in
what proportions it was distributed, for
that is personal matter which would
force me to mention names. Nor can /
tell you Just what lines the committee
Will take upon the resumption of its work
week from next Monday. We will try
to finish the work by the first of January.
Then l will be obliged to leave the com.
miLtee to assume the Duties of my nffican