The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-05
500, OOO,O 900 SCANDAL
WHAT NEW YORK POLICE II
HAS MADE OUT OF BLACKMAIL.
No Such Municipal shame ms This Can
BE Found Duplicated i'm the An
nails Of History.
New York Press.

III Is doubtful III New 1ork reailLes the
magnitude of the scandal which DR.. Park
hurst, the Lexow committee and Mr.. Con
have laid bare. Tom Gould's testimony
showed that the blackmail has been going
on for thirty years. Thus, conservatively
computed, the total becomes more stipend
Gus than has been the case in any other
official steal in American history. Add TO
this the shame of the prostitution 10 the
purposes of crime and disorder of the very
department organized to maintain law and
order-the unholy alliance between blue uni
forms and scarlet skirts, green goods men,
dive keepers, rum sellers. gamblers and
violators of every law but that forbidding
murder-and the disgrace becomes so great
that it is almost Supplying.
1t is not easy to approach accuracy in
figuring up the aggregate of all these steal
ings. The estimates below are not too high.
however. The price charged houses of
prostitution for protection was as well es-
tablished as is the price of pig iron or
wheat-and, unlike them. ii did not fuctu-
ate. When a disreputable house opened its
proprietor was expected 10 pay 500 10 the
captain of the precinct as Initiation fee.
After that, as long as the house was run
ming, a regular contribution OF $50 a month
was called for Default of any payment
was the signal for an immediate raid. A
little figuring will show how much this
amounted to.
Complaints were received by the Society
for the Prevention Of Vice of l,iS5 houses
of i'll fame during the past year. Mt
Frank Moss. counsel for the society, esti-
mates that less than one-third of the ex-
listing houses were complained of. This IN
dicates that New York's number is 400
1t is an expert who says that the average
life of a house Of bad character under one
proprietor Is three years That makes the
limitation fee" of one-third OF the houses
fall due every year. So the total hgures
up in this way:
limitation fees" of 1,500 houses Cooo each),
$3.50, 600 per annum.
Regular monthly payments of 4o0 houses
at $50 per month G6c0 per annum), 2,NO,Wo
This gives a total of g. 45o,Oo per year for
the houses of prostitution, and. immense as
this sum may seem, 1t Is based on hard and
undeniable fact. Remembering that no ac-
count is made Of the extras paid 10 the
police for overlooking other violations or
the law, such as assaults, robberies. ETC.,
occurring in the houses, and the prices paid
for bogus bail bonds when inmates were
arrested land proof that this latter was a
considerable item has been offered TO the
committee), it will be seen that these hg-
ureS are small.
GREEN GOODS ASSESSED.
The blood money paid by the green goods
men makes a total sum of great size. but
smaller than that paid by the houses of
prostitution. 1t was shown that the main
operators-there were four of inem who
controlled the whole city-paid the police
captains $50 a month each and the detec-
tive bureau from s75 to $3.50 a month each.
Average this at $500 a month each, and you
get Sl,200 a month, or a total OF $4,000 per
annum.
The exact plumber of writers is un-
known. but at the lowest calculation ii was
not less than eight for each boss"
Writers paid $50 a month each. Thus
thirty-two paid not less than $1,000 a month,
or SIS, 200 per annum-
city's blue uniforms by the gamblers is. al
present, hard to guess at. As has been ex-
planned, there were three classes of these
contributors: the gamblers proper, the pool
room keepers and the policy-shop men. a
conservative estimate land 1t probably falls
short of the fact by one-halp guesses that
their payments amounts to $500 a month
in all, or $4,000 per annum.
The average price paid by merchants for
was SIS a Year. At least two thousand mer.
chants gave this tribute, amounting, in all
to $4,000 per annum.
Then come five hundred peddlers. who
were permitted to violate city ordinances
for So a week. This made $4,000 per annum
AT least one thousand owners of signs
fruit-stand keepers and bootblacks en-.
croached on the public domain to an ex.
tent which the police thought justified ar
assessment of So a year, making $4,000 pc
annuni.
To wind up the list it is necessary to put
some estimate on the amount paid by sa.
loon keepers. There are about seven thou
sand saloon keepers in New York. and al
least one-half of them violated the law
and paid for 1t. Among them must be in.
cluded not only violators of the / a.. m
and Sunday laws, but those who sold liquor
wholly without licenses and those who kept
concert halls at which various wrong do
irgs were tolerated. Prices ranged from
the thousands down to the low hundreds
doubtless. 1t is unquestiouably fair 10 pu
the number at $500 and the price at $50
a year each, thus getting a total Of S1,750,
600 per annum.
THE GRAND TOTAL.
From ALI these figures the following tahl.