Rock Island Argus., 1894-11-22
POLICE BLACKMAIL
As II Was Uncovered by the
lexow Committee.
soTHANs OCTOPUS WITH A CLUB.

Doings OF the Animal Given by the Man
Who Asked Observation-Disclosures OF
the Corrupt System Included Every
thing in Sight. from the shoeblack Up,
and Reached Other Cities.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22.-John w. Goff,
the Prosecuting attorney for the Lexow
committee, who is stopping in Washing
ton for few days, has given the Evening
Star an interview Of nearly three columns
on the work of the committee. 1T was,
as you may imagine" he said, "a tremen-
dous task that confronted us when we
started the investigation. We knew posi-
lively that the police department of New
York, n most magnificent organization as
regards its own strength, was systemat
ically blackmailing all CLASSES of citizens.
That tremendous power had seized upon
the community until it had obtained COM
plete possession. There were two distinct
elements that prevented, at the beginning,
a fair start, and had escaped us in our
efforts to get reliable testimony. These
were, first. the fears, and second, the ap-
nthy of the citizens
Everybody Was Blackmailed.
knowledge when say that there was not
business man in New York city who had
not felt the power of police blackmail.
There were perhaps very few instances
where honorable men had refused to give
their tithes of illegal tax TO the police,
but almost without exception these men
were forced out of business One peculiar
,ature about the blackmail was that it
spared no one class, however obscure its
calling. l have particularly in mind the
sailmakers, who are among the most up
right and sturdily honest people in New
York. They are mostly retired sea cap
tains, 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.
Was Not Wise to .s(io Higher"
$50 the question was. what classes
should we apply to and appeal to in our
crusade. We were urged at times, and
importunately, to go higher and nail
the responsibility to the source of author
ity. On this question we held most earn
est consultations, and finally decided that
it would not be wise or efficacious to do
So Our duty was to arouse the conscience
Ol tHc people oi view WHICH niil
long been Observation-Disclosures killed. The
common people, the voters, the people
who most felt the oppression of the po-
lice. would need to be aroused by differ
ent methods They We're to have the ILL.,
effects of police corruption brought to
their hearts.
Gave Them an Object Lesson.
1.-THE spectacle of a little boy sitting all
night on the top step OF a police station,
crying bitterly for his father, who had
been ufljustly 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 fellows would not
notice such matters, but they would notice
the tyranny of the police over the apple
woman, over the peanut roaster, over the
bootblack. the newsboy, the keeper of n
small sodawater stand, the owners of little
restaurants-a great class of honest citi-
zens, striving, struggling, for a living.
Hard to Move the well-to-Do.
1.-The men at the clubs, the more idle
classes of the population, drinking over
the fancy bars of the uptown hotels and
restaurants, dining at the cafes, might
possibly be interested in the exposure of
the high official, but 1t would not shock
them it would not arouse in them such a
feeling of personal resentment as would
lead them to go to the polls and by their
votes aid in crushing the power which
these things significd.