The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-11-22
Interesting Talk with Prosecutor Gon
ON the Developments of the Lexow
Committee Investigation.
UNPARALLELED CORRUPTION
ALL CLASSES OF PEOPLE BLED BY
GOTHAMs VICIOUS POLICE.
Colonel FcIIows's Removal Demanded
Mayor GilrOy's Appointments.

Washington for a few days. has given the
Evening Star an interesting interview OF
nearly three columns on the work of the
committee.
'.It was, as you may imagine he said.
"a tremendous task that confronted US
when we started the investigation. We
knew positively that the police department.
of New York. a most magnificent organi-
zation as regards its own strength, was
systematically blackmailing all classes of
citizens. That tremendous power had
seized upon the community until 1t had OBJ
tanned complete possession. There were
two distinct elements that prevented. at the
beginning. fair start, and hapdicapped
US in our efforts to get reliable Testimony,
These were, first, the fear, and, second,
the apathy of the citizens.
II speak within the bounds of my knowl-
edge when L say that there was not bus
mess 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, al
most without exception, these men were
forced out OF business. One peculiar feat
ure Of the blackmail was that it spared no
one class, however obscure its calling.
have particularly in mind the sailmakers,
who are among the most upright and stur-
dily honest people in New York. They are
mostly retired sea captains commanders of
old clipper ships, who have been forced
out of business by the introduction of
steam or their sons. Not one OF these hon.
est men dared TO open his mouth and COM
plain. So the question was, what classes
should we apply to and appeal to in our
crusade? We were urged at times and
most inopportunately 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
1t would not be wise or efficacious to do So
Our duty was to arouse the conscience of
the people of New York, which had been
smothered-almost killed. The common peo-
ple-the voters-the people who felt the op-
preston Of the police-would need to be
aroused by different methods. They were
to have the i'll effects Of police corruption
brought to their hearts.
HOW THE MASSES WE'RE AROUSED.
THE spectacle Of little boy sitting all
night the doorstep of a police station
crying bitterly for his father, who had
been unjustly arrested and brutaIly beaten
/. by the police, meant more to these people
than the demonstration that the captain
that the commissioner, perhaps, had been
bribed. The common people would not no.
tice such matters, but they would notice
the tyranny of the police over he apple
woman. over the peanut roaster over the
bootblack, the newsboy, the keeper of a
small soda-water stand, the owners of lit
tie restaurants-a great class of honest cit
izens, striving, struggling for a living. 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 in
terested I'm the exposure of the high Off
cia but it would not shock them Ii would
not rouse in them such feeling of per-
sonal resentment as would lead them to go
to the polls and by their votes aid in crush
ing the power which these things signified.
''You may be surprised when / say that
New York, under the rule of the police de-
partment as 1t was controlled by Tammany
Hall, was far worse as regards the individ-
ual comfort Of citizens than ST. Petersburg
under its most violent police regime This
was accidentally illustrated by witness
who took the stand one day. He was a
Pole. who had been sent to Siberia as a
result of the Polish insurrection. He had
escaped and reached this country, and
justly arrested and cruelty beaten. His
story was told with irresistible quaint
ness and pathos. l cannot reproduce it TO
you, as l have not the power to initiate
his peculiar dialect and his earnest man
ner, 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.
POWER OF TAMMANY.
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 if they
should testify the police would hound them
out of the city. When asked IL they could
not go elsewhere and establish themselves
in business they would reply that the perse-
,cution 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 domi-
mated not only that city. but every large
community in the country.
The lower classes of citizens were made
to believe that blackmaii was lawful and
CaQtaIl
of their precinct as the source of all mn
nicipal authority. In effect he was such to
them. This was illustrated by the introduc-
tfon of the word 'pantata into our lam
guage.
''You ask me IL think this power is now
crushed. do, most emphatically. / think
that the public conscience having once been
aroused, the machinery of this nauseous
system exposed, viii be a perpetual bar
against the development of such an or,,ani-
Zation in the future. Consider what great
danger 10 our form OF government lies i'm
the possibility of municipal misrile The
tendency is too strongly toward the growth
of the urban community at the expense Of
the rural. This feeds the machine that if
not watched and checked, will grow to such
corrupting influence as that which We have
just destroyed in New York. Capitalization.
/ believe, as this investigation has proved.
is the danger of the day. / believe that
the example of New York will serve 10
check this tendency toward corruption and
fushed by flood OF pure sentiment. and
matte machinery OF centralized power have
been swept away.
az cannot speak too highly of the compo-
sition of the committee which employed me
as its counsel. Though appointed by a Re
publican Senate and containing majority
OF the members of thar body, these men
have acted throughout the Investigation like
nonpartisans. and they have upheld the
counsel In every move that has promised 10
demonstrate the problem that confronted as
II cannot answer the question as TO where
the blackmail money went or In what pro-