The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1895-01-18
.HOT SHOTFOR TAlDIINY
The Report of the LexOw Investi-
eating Committee,
MASS OF CORRUPTION UNBARTHBD.

rupt Than Their superiors.
ALBANY, Jan. 1S.-The report of the
Lexow investigating committee on the
New York police department was pre-
sented to the legislature today. 1t rec
| ommends the concentration in the hands
of a chief of police of all police powers,
and that of suspending subordinates with
out pay; the establishment of a bi-parti-
san board of police commissioners with
exclusive authority over elections and the
| judicial fuctions of the department.; pro-
motions on the force in conformity with
civil service rules; reorganization of the
| department. by commissioners, and the
continuance of the committee of investi-
| cation.
The report, which is very exhaustive,
opens with a statement regarding the diff
flculty of procuring testimony at the out
set of the investigation commends the
services of Messrs. w. A. Sutherland, Rev.
DIR. Parkhurst, Mr. Goff and others, and
adds that the inquiry was conducted on
wholly non partisan lines. Regarding
Tammany Hall it says;
1t has been conclusively shown that in a
| very large number of election districts in
the city of New York almost every con
| ceivable crime against the elective fran
chise was either committed or permitted
| by the police, who conducted themselves
at the several polling places upon the prin-
ciple that they were there, not as guar
dians of the public peace, to enforce law
and order but for the purpose of acting as
agents of Tammany Hall. They resorted
} to DEVICE oppression, fraud, trickery,
crime and intimidation of every conceiv-
able character.
The evidence shows, moreover, that par
tisan bias did not stop with captains, but
that in 1892 the president of the police
board himself just prior to the presiden-
tial election, in defiance to the superin-
tendent of police, gave directions to the as
sembled captains, which, if carried into
effect would have caused riot and blood
shed at the polls, and would have precipi-
, tated encounters between the police and
the United States marshals.
The alliance of police captains and in
8 feriOr officers with political clubs so de
I moralizes the force that Commissioner
Martin asked the Intervention of Richard
) Croker, a private citizen, but leader of
Z Tammany Hall, in order to secure, through
the influence of that organization a cessa-
tion of the abuse. The same private citi-
zen, so potent was his influence, was able
by word or command at once to shut up
y. all the pool rooms then in full operation.
The conclusion seems irresistible that
under the circumstances such as now exist
$ in the city of New York, it becomes the
paramount duty of the legislature to re-
move as far as practicable the possibility
j. of political influences securing a control
Z ling power over the police force
The material collected by Rev DR..
Parkhurst and the city Vigilance League
| tvalrr rpll &c fla srSs ~
n months and years of struggle to compel
the police department to perform it's du
T ties, revealing the fact that a private or
ganization was able to unearth, uncover
and fix the actual existence of unlawful
resorts, all of which had apparently es-
capped the eye of thepolice and successfully
e defied their resources for the detection of
, crime.
1t disclaimed the additional circum-
y stance that in the securing of evidence
# against such resorts and in the prosecu-
n tiOn of keepers of disreputable houses the
police were not only found to stand in
Il actual hostility to all efforts made to sup
d press vice, but stood idly by and permitted
9 citizens engaged in performing duties
= which they should have undertaken, to be
e mobbed and brutally assaulted upon the
streets. 1t indicates the amazing condi-
tion of the precincts of the city, houses OF
ill repute, gambling houses, policy shops
pool rooms and unlawful resorts of a sim
e liar character being openly conducted un
. der the eyes of the police.
The motive was the missing link in the
l. chain of evidence 1t was surmised that
y. the motive was a financial consideration
moving between the protected and the
d protectors, and in the course of time evi
Y dence of "a direct character bearing upon
!, the question became so plentiful that 6
- very large amount of corroborative proof
e was necessarily laid aside and remained
s uncOnsidCred.
Enough is shown to justify the conclu-
. sion that at least some of the police jus
e tices have apparently worked in sympathy
r and colluson with the police 1t is beyond
a doubt that many of the poor, ignorant
{ foreigners on the east side of the city have
been subjected to brutal and infamous
rule by the police in conjunction with the
administration of the local inferior courts
The evidence of witnesses shows the ex
q istence of powerful conspiracy in the
neighborhood of Essex Market Polio,
court headed by politicians, professional
b bondsmen professional thieves, police an(
q others who lay plots against the unwary
and lead them into habits of law breaking
| i
n evidence and then demand money as tht
n price Of salvation and if they do not re
v ceive it drag their victims into court and
n prison, and often to a convict cell.
z, 1t is a significant fact that but little cor
-, ruption has been traced into the pockets
of the ordinary patrolman. 1t is probable
IS that large number of them have pait
n sums averaging $500 for appointment t,
the police force 1t is not strange that
Il starting in this way some Of them hav
2. initiated the example Of their suporiors
u and should have became victims Of mos
pernicious and criminal practice You
u committee, however, believes that a yer.
y large portion Of the patrolmen Of the cit,
-, and a considerable number of the supe
riors are good officers and true, reliable
'e and incorruptible men.
Senator Cullom's Recollection Assured.
SPRNGFIELD, Ills, Jan, lS,-The Re