Rocky Ford enterprise., 1894-12-27
ROTTEN TO THE CORE.
REVELATIONS TO LExOW'S
COMMITTEE.

H6veLAIloNo ~ LEAow'S
COMMITTEE.
Captain schmittbergor Makes Clean
Breast of Hls Misdeeds ON the New
York Forcs.-Rscsivsd Large Sums of
~ Hush Money and Divided II with His
New York, Dec. 21.-Maximillian @.
.Schmittberger, captain Of police and
now In command of the Tenderloin
district made a confession before the.
Lexow committeee toNay to the effect
that the entire police system of New
York with the exception Of Superin-
tendent Byrnes and q few others, was
rotten 10 the core; that blackmail and
bribery, extordon and corruption were
common crimes In the department; and
that mercenary methods alone actu-
ated his fellow officers. His charges
implicated Inspectors Williams and
McAvoy. ex-Inspector Steers, Police
Commissioners James B. Martin and
John O. Sheehan, Captains Price, CAST
lin and Martens, Captain John Gun
ner and Wardmen Dunlap. Robert Vail
and James Canon.
Captain Schmittberger is under in
dictment for bribery. He had pre-
viously refused to testify before the
Senate committee. Yesterday, how
ever, he was rearrested and his bail In
creased. To-day he took advantage Of
an offer Of immunity Of punishment
held out to him by Mr.. Goff, and agreed
to make clean breast of it
1.-THE pillars of the church have fal-
len," he said, on the witness stand
this afternoon, land deem 1t due my
conscience, my wife and my children,
to tell what I know" Meanwhile dark
face assumed a sickly pallor, an air of
utter weariness and detection possess
ed him and he appeared, as he was, in
extreme mental torture and agony.
But no spirit Of sympathy moved the
throng of spectators. Sneers and Sar-
castle laughter instead, answered the
acknowledgment Of his weariness
when at last Counsel Gof permitted
him 10 vacate the witness stand.
After explaining that officers obtain
ed easy positions on the force through
influence and the payment of money,
Schmittberger went on to tell what he
knew Of several dives in his precinct.
which were frequented by all the GRIM
inals In New York. He further said
that no pretense Of observing the ex-
else law at these places was ever made,
and the fast women and criminals did
as they pleased.
would it have been possible for
these places to run open without spe-
cial arrangement with the policeT
Certainly not" t.
''Do you know Of any case where q
policeman was instructed to cooper
ate with the keepers Of these dives to
crush out the facts about small
crimesr
mot personally, but 1t was under
stood that this was a fact"
Mr.. Goff asked about the famous
Clotelle and art gallery attached there
to, which became so notorious before
1t was suppressed. Witness acknowl-
edged that the dive had not been
closed before because 1t was under po-
lice protection.
Witness reviewed his services as a
sergeant briefly and came to his ap-
pointment as captain. He said Com
missioner Voorhis was honest and all
the charges against him false.
"Now, captain, about the time you
were in command of the steamboat
squad you learned, Of course, that the
men on the docks had to give up half
IT their salariesT
Eyes. wardman Vail told me of It. 1
told him did not want to keep 1t up
and he told me that / was a fool; that
men had Just as soon give it up as not
and might as well get it,
.And you finally agreed to this?"
Eyes," ~
"And Vail was your collector. I be-
lever
ayes, for about two months, and
then Cannon was appointed. would
like now to brand Vail as a liar for
saying on this stand that l wanted all
Of the money from the men,"
"How much did Vail collect for you
each month p 55...
About $780,"
"And did you never have to give up
any Of this money to any other police
oficialr
"No, did not"
Witness then went on to say that he
had had conversation with Inspector
Steers, who told him that there was
little in the precinct and that he could
have it all.
"Did you ever give up any money to
himT
mo, did not get enough. lliHI
Mr.. Goff led the witness to say that
ne did not,like the precinct and was
transferred at his own request to the
Sixty-seventh street station.
q "Well, what were the sources of your
revenue there" ~ sf
"POlicy shops-nothing else" ~
"How many were there In the pre-.
cinctr'
"About ten Of them" ~
"And how much did you get from
each Of these shopsw ac
''Twenty dollars each. The Bohe-
mian Liquor Dealers association paid
me about $50 per month" a
"And how much of this did you get p
eighty per cent"
"well, captain, In your collections in
that district, were you ever called up
on to divide with anybody at all? Any
police officialT
II was"
"Who was itr'
"Inspector Williams"
The audience was thrown into COM
motion, and It was sometime before
Mr.. Con could continue.
"How much did you pay him each
month";
''FYfty dollars"
enid Won at anv time ever nav him