Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-01-18

ALBANY, Jan. 1S.-The report of the Lexow committee has been completed. Chairman Lexow announced that it would be presented in the senate today. It is sure to create n sensation.
 All of the charges made against the po- lice during the session in New York were substantiated to the entire satisfaction of the committed and they have not been sparing in their denunciations of the de- partment from tho commissioners down to the meanest doorman. Blackmail. swindling. cxtortion. brutality and part nership in crime with green goods men. policy and other gamblers and the keepers of disreputable resorts was proved. and Judgment swift and sure in the form of legislation is now to follow.
 The con mittee has prepared bills to remedy most of tho atrocious evils, and they will be introduced immediately after the report has been submitted and read. Not only are the commissioners of police and all of their subordinEtes arraigned in the strongest terms, but the police justices arc also accused, and suggestions are made concerning them. The report says:
 To THE SENATE-In presenting this re- port it is not the intention of your com- mittee to submit comprehensive analysis of the work performed and the results at- tained but rather to accentuate the salient features or a feCOru WHICH, Wnen ClOSely scrutiniZed, will disclose conditions in 0 department of municipal government un- dreamed of at the time of the inception of the inquiry and justly challenging the most serious attention of the legislature. Inasmuch as your committee owed its origin primarily to resolutions asked by various prominent and representative ] commercial and municipal reform organi cations of the city of New York, wherein sweeping and specific charges were made against the police department of said city, it was assumed that specific proof was at hand and would be offered to sustain them. i Mass of Documents.
 We found. however. at the threshold of our kabors that the charges made were in- ! tended to be general in their character and 1 that there was not SCintilla of positive | or affirmative evidence to substantiate 1 them. Thus it became the duty of your committee for itself, through such agen- cies as were available to prosecute its in- l quiry into the affairs of said department. and thereby to itself substantiatc by testi- mony charges which it was assumed would be supported by proof already collected.
 The truo volume of labor accomplished cannot be measured by the testimony ad- duced and yet that which is presented with this report will indicate the magni- uude and gravity of the undertaking. The record shows total of 10, 576 pages of proceedings.
 | This does not include n mass of docu- mentary exhibits which were read and considered in evidence for the purpose of information. Of this testimony 1,017 pages embrace the subject matter of pc lice interference at the polls and the bal ance or almost g. 300 pages, refers to the subject matter of blackmail. eXtortion and corruption. In all CTS witnesses were ex- amincd, of whom Sl were examined on the first and 597 on the second branch of the inquiry. In all about LOGO subp9nas were served, of which upward of 2, 75C were with reference to the second branch of the inquiry.
 While during the first stages of the in. vcstigation the difficulty lay mainly in in. ability to procure testimony, as the inves- tigation progressed, as public sentiment became moro and more aroused, and the developments assumed from day to day c more startling aspect, the number of wit nesses and the variety of testimony offer ed increased prodigiously, and the mair difficulty lay irssifting the good from tn, mass and in Iajecting that which wa: purely cumulative
 Every Conceivable Election Fraud.
 The results of the investigation may b, properly summarized in the general state ment that it has been conclusively show , that in a very large number of the election districts of the city of New York almos every conceivable crime against the elect i've franchise was either committed or per mitted by the police invariably in the in tercsts of the dominant Democratic organ ization of the city of Now York, common ly called Tammany Hall The crimes thu - Il. f be classified as follows
 Arrest and brutal treatment of Repub lican voters. watchers and workers; opel violations of the election laws; canvassin for Tammany Hall candidates; invasion of election booths; forcing of Tamman , Hall pastors upon Republican voters; gen eral intimidation of the voters by the DC | lice directly and by Tammany Hall eleC Ii tion district captains in tho presence an t with the concurrence of all tho police; dt c nial to Republican voters and election dis s trict officers of their legal rights and priv . ileges: cooperation with and acquicscenc ~ in the usurpation by Tammany Hall eleC tion district captains and watchers of a legged rights and privileges in violation ( law.
 Police Acted Tammany Agents.
 In fact it may be stated as characterii tic of the conditions shown to exist by cloud of witnesses that the police COT ducted themselves at the several rollin places upon the principle that they wei there not as guardians of the public pca( to enforce law and order, but for the pu pose of acting as agents of Tammany Ha in securing to the candidates of that O 'e ganization by means fair or foul the larl
 est possible majorities. They evidentl
 regarded themselves as coadjutors of tht
 mi stationed at tho Sayarnl YnOl = for the purpose of securing its succe U whether by lawful or unlawful means, r
 sorting to device, oppression, fraud, tricl
 cry, crime and intimidation of every col
 ceivablc character.
 - Sufficient, however, appears upon u
 record to show beyond peradventure thi
 owing to the practices above referred
 during tho years covered by the investig
 tion honest elections had no existence,
 fact, in tho city of Now York, and tha
 upon the contrary, huge conspira'
 against the purity of the elective franchi
 was connived and participated in by u
 municipal police, whereby the rights al
 privileges of the individual were trampll
 ruthlessly under foot, and crime again
 the ballot held high carnival.
 Permeated by Tamlnany Hall. y The evidence shows that partisan bi
 did not stop with captains. but that
 1892 the president of the police boa - himself. just prior to the president
 election, in defiance of the superintende
 of police, gave directions to the assembl
 captains which, if carried into effect, wou
 have caused riot and bloodshed at the DO
 and would havo precipitatcd encountt
 between the police and the United Sta
 marshals.
 The evidence, taken as a whole, in
 eates that the department was permeat nd by the influence of Tammany Hall; u
 district leaders influenced not only the
 pointment but tho assignment of office n- that forced contributions were levied up
 the members for tho benefit of district
 ganizations, and that a situation has be
 reached under four years of partisan