Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-21
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all. 1t was a question of decency, of right
| living, of good morals, of conscience. What
| caused this state of affairs? That is not
| easy to answer. I should not say that the
great size of New York was the sole fac
| tor in the growth Of this octopus, this cam
Ger. that had eaten into the body polite.
1t was an element, though not the chief
| ingredient. The power behind the police
| department was not, as / consider IT,
political party. 1t was not democratic.
form of government, to every principle of
| good rule, good citizenship. 1t was an
excrescence upon the city, might say
| upon the political party whose name 1t
honored Such a growth might have come
upon the republican party as well as upon
| the democratic. 1t was simply the last and
most cruel stage Of centralized power.
las an Illustration OF the tremendous
| power welded by this organization, will
| refer to the difficulty we had in obtaining
| witnesses to go upon the stand and swear
| to facts that they had brought to us In
private. At first this applied to all classes
| both reputable and dsreputable. When ap-
| pealed to they would claim that IL they
| should testify the police would hound
| them out Of the city. When asked II they
| couldn't 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
| York dominated not only that city, but
| every large community in the country
| Can you not understand how this would
| be? New York. as the main seaport of
| America, and the principal outlet to Eu-
rope, is the Mecca of every fleeing GRIM
| inal. Its great size makes 1t safer to the
| hiding man than the forests of Virginia
Therefore, when prisoner Is wanted. bank
| cashier, burglar, pickpocket or murderer,
| the first act Of the chief Of police OF any
city is to telegraph to the chief of police
| of New York. If there be no reciprocity
between them. no aid is given. The New
| York police have four-fifths Of the favors
| to grant and but one-fifth to receive in
the catching Of criminals. A refusal to
aid hurts the lesser official, and he readily
| agrees to a system of sympathetic cooper
| alton that enables the police Of New York
| to follow black-listed persons from town to
| town and prevent their obtaining hveli-
| hood anywhere.
Worse Than st. Petersburg.
"You may be surprised when / say that
New York, under the rule Of the police de-
partment as it was controlled by Tammany
| Hall, was far worse as regards the in
dividual comfort of citizens than st. Peters
| burg under its most violent police regime.
This was accidentally illustrated by wit
| ness who took the stand one day. He was
4 q Pole who had been sent to Siberia as a
| result OF the Polish instruction. He had
| escaped and reached this country, and
about year after his arrival he was un-
justly arrested and cruelty beaten. His
| story was told with an irresistible quaint
| ness and pathos. j cannot reproduce II to
you, as / have not the power to initiate
| his peculiar dialect and his earnest manner,
| that convinced everybody. But when he
was asked how the police of New York
| compared with those of st. Petersburg, he
| answered that the Russian police are gen
| tie and humane compared with those OF
our city. Instances of the brutality were
! to be had on every hand, and recall that
| we had on the stand one day policeman
| six feet four inches in height and beside
him stood his victim. a man barely hve
| feet four inches, who had been dubbed
| into insensbility for practically no cause
| whatever. l make no exaggeration when
| say that New York under the police de-
| what was practically reign of terror I'M
eQualed in history and / hope never to be
| approached again.
| The Police Captain Supreme.
| 1.-The lower classes Of citizens were made
| to believe that this 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 was illustrated by the
| introduction CT the word pantata' into our
| language. Naturally enough the blackmail
| began with the criminal classes-the peo-
1 pie whose lines Of life, and whose avoca-
| tons made them peculiarly susceptible to
| police extortion. Yet they demanded their
pound of flesh from the police and received
| full value for their money. Still the public
| did very wrong in refusing to sympathize
| with these people who were thus oppressed
and forced to contribute illegally to the
police. 1t was most natural for the COM
| Portable citizen to argue that 1t mattered
| not to the community that the criminals
should be imposed upon, that they deserved
! their treatment. But this was a short
| sighted policy; the people did not stop to
| think that an illegal act is dangerous to
| the well-being of a community, whoever
may be Its object; that an illegal act prac-
| tic ed upon the criminal classes is as grave
| a threat to the welfere of the city as en-
| illegal act practiced upon the law-abiding
| citizen. They should have seen that it was
but step from eXtorting money from the
| pickpocket and the keeper of a house Of ILL
| fame and violator of the excise law to
| the levying of blackmail upon merchants.
| 1t was the entering wedge that ultimately
opened the way to the police squeezing all
| the people without discrimination. From
| the unlawful tax upon the bawdy house
came the demand of the policemen for
| fee whenever a man threw awning
| across the sidewalk on the occasion Of the
marriage Of his daughter.
Popular Conscience to BE Reused.
THE remedy? Arouse the conscience Of
| the people. Make them think. Make them
realize that this growth upon the cominun-
| ity ultimately means death to one or the
| other. The laws are all right today in the
| city of New York. The fault is with their
| enforcement by their guardians. The ma
chinery of the courts Is all right; the
trouble Is with the personnel, but further
than that, with the people themselves who
| heretofore were not sutticieatly shocked by
| acts Of fragrant injustice to arouse them
| selves TO efticacious protest 1t was not
sufficient for a woman whose resort of
shame had been closed during the Park
hurst raids to be ordered by the police
captain of her precinct to oren again after
the excitement had passed. 1t did not suiti-
| GENTLY shock the public morals that she,
refusing to obey, in order that the police
hlack,nail fund might be increased, was
arrested for her refusal to violate the law
and thrown into prison. 1t did not suffice
| that she, being unable to furnish bail, was
| forgotten in the Tombs, and would have
| remained there perhaps until her death
| awaiting trial because no one took interest
| in her case, had not our committee begun
work. l can liken New York to nothing
so aptly as vast army pouring in hasty
retreat along narrow road. Thousands
| ere pressing on, and If a man should fall
| by the way, OF hundred should go down
| no one would stop to pick them up. II is q
| race for self-preservation, an intense all
| absorbing, frantic struggle for existence
| The great complexity of interests has
aided In the creation of this great black
mailing scheme. The organization, strong