The morning call., 1894-12-30
BYRNES ON THE STAND.

BYRNES ON THE STAND.
He Concludes His Testimony With
Resignation.
NEW YORK, Dec 29-After the exam
iLation OF Inspector Mclaughlin was
concluded, Superintendent Byrnes was
called.
How long have you been on the police
force?"
About thirty-two years. l was ap-
pointed captain in 1870. inspector in 1880
and was made SUPERINTENDENT April II,
1892"
What property have you ?"
The Superintendent gave the location of
the property, which he said was all in his
wife's name. 1t amounted TO $292, 500, all
free and clear.
"How did you become possessed Of such
an amount of wealth? ?"
well, at the time / was placed In
charge OF the detective department. / was
thrown among many prominent Wall
street men and bought stocks. Among
the stocks | bought were Wabash, Union
Pacific. Western Pacific and Southern Pa
cifc. The late Jay Gould was my friend
and he acted as my broker. He made for
me $780, and since his death his son
George has made $4,000. have letter
from George Gould giving the amounts
made, which is in my safe. and l will
most willingly give it to the committee"
Where did you first get your money!
"a friend of Senator Palmer, named
Burridge. very old man. who lived in
Dutchess County. left me $1,000. l bought
money. Old Commod ore Vanderbilt asked
me on one occasion If l had any money
and l said yes, had $1,000 He asked me
for il and / brought it 10 him. About six
or twelve months atterward / got $4,000
back, as he had invested it very success
fully for me. This made me worth some
$4,000 in 1857
The witness then told long story as to
how he became acquainted with Jay
Gould. Il was through catching a man
who wrote threatening letters. Mr.. Gould
offered him a present, but he refused.
Then, Mr.. Gould, he said. offered to buy
stocks for him and did not want to accept
any margins, but Byrnes insisted. He
put up $4,000, with the result that the
amount was increased to $4,000. He
said he could not remember just where he
got the $4,000. but he had it all right he
declared. At the present time he held
5400 shares of stock, some his own and
some on margins.
Every turn of the wheel" said he,
means $500 lost or gained" He esti-
mated he was worth $35O,O00. He refused
to tell the names OF the stocks, a. many
people might go downtown Monday and
lose their money.
II am willing to give the names in con-
fidence to the committee and counsel, but
do not want them to be made public"
Then Mr.. Golf asked lin as to the sup
preston of prostitution.
when / became acting Superint ntendent
put down about 800 houses in the city.
After ] became Superin tendent there came
change. and these women. when they
came before the Police Commissioners
and said they paid for protection,
would not be believed. If they went be-
fore the Police Justices they were not be-
lieved. If they went before the Grand
Jury they were not believed. 1 endeavored
to put an end to the evil and ordered these
houses to be broken up ii possible.
81 want to give DR.. Parkhurst all the
help l can. although he is bounding me
l.
hurst has created a public sentiment,
which would never have existed in this
city if it had not been manufactured, and
without which it would be impossible to
have compelled the owners of these
houses to give up their business as they
have done.
when became Superintendent / be-
lieved the department was honeycombed
with certain abuses. In order to put an
end to that state of things l transferred
many of the officers 10. other precincts,
notably the Eleventh. Fourteenth, Fif-
teentb. Twenty-second and Twenty-niuth.
If thought the officers transferred were
not doing their duty l transferred them
again. l may say that l made it possiblu
for the committee to conduct this investi-
CATION with the success that it has done."
[Applause.l
"Tben." said Mr.. Golf. "your evidence
Is that but for the efforts of DR.. Parkhurst
and the public effect of the action of the
committee you would be powerless 10 put
an end to this state of things. Only for
these things it would have continued ?"
mo; it would to some extent"
sWhy?"
Because / am so tied up ] have no
power to detail men in any precinct. 1
could not move man from here to Four
teenth street without an order from the
Police Commissioners"
But two Commissioners have sworn
that you exercise all the power"
THAT is not So"
"WelI, as to the blackmailing of mer-
chants and storekeepers?"
"Oh. if l was to attempt to enforce cor
poration ordinances 1 would not be Super
intendent OF Police for week."
Mr.. Moss then read an extract from an
interview in which Mr.. Byrnes was re-
ported to have said that the agents for the
Parkhurst society were living on and fos-
tering crime. He at the same time said he
would not do all In his power to purge the
Police Department.
81 never" said the Superintendent,
made these statements attributed to me
In that interview. reported several cap
tains for not carrying out their duty aud
asked that a rule be made rendering the
inspectors liable for their districts. but
this the Commissioners refused"
Have you ever accepted money for snot
i,,r, n 1crv