The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-01-01


responsible for the condition of the depart
ment If we had consented to do what
the committee and its counsel has done we
would have thereby surrendered our point
of vantage, sacrificed our prestige and the
Lexow committee would never have been
heard of. We are not charging the COM
mittee nor its counsel with dishonest
intent. but they blundered and they
Numbered badly"
"Mr. Byrnes al a component element OIL
the department was 10 that degree de-
PENDANT. BY being taken into the conn
dence of the prosecution he woulo nlm'
self have got out of the box and ON to the
bench, where he could kick against the
very men who were no more the subject OF
indictment than he was. We are not say
ing that there was any understanding. OF
at least any written stipulation, that II ne
would tell what he knew about the men 10
the department that were criminals he
should not be called to the witness-stand,
or, if called, should be allowed to use the
stand as an opportunity for crimi-
mating his official associates and celebrat-
ing his own personal and official inno-
cence. But whether there was any such
slip ulation or not, the acceptance OF MS
assistance practically involved the deal,
and when the committee came down from
Albany for the express purpose of inves-
iigating deals it ought 10 have been pune
tiliously careful to avoid even the appear
ance of having a susceptible side for the
sort of offense they were designated to de-
tect and adjudge."
After complaining of the Discrimination
of the Lexow' Committee to consult with
their committee, the statement continues:
"We of The executive committee feel
that our fight during the last thirty years
has been a contest with Mr.. Byrnes. He
has known very well that our intention
has been to secure the enforcement of law
In this city, yet he has logged our steps
from first to last and has omitted no efforts
to discredit us in the estimation OF the
community. II the executive element of
the Police Department had been able to
accomplish its purpose it would have
crushed the Society for the Prevention of
Crime, there would have been no Lexow
Committee and Grant would have been
Mayor to-day instead of Strong.
'Whi!e our agents were making 1t IN
comfortable for their associates. Mr.
Byrnes represented to the police justices.
so the press informs US. that the issuing of
warrants to irresponsible parties ought to
be stopped. We raised no question as to
the wisdom of the rule proposed by Super
intendent Byrnes in this particular; we
are only calling attention to the fact that
it was he who ruled in the matter that the
immediate effects Of the rule go adopted
would retard the operations of our detec-
tlves. We understood, and the community
understood that was the object which Mr..
Byrnes had in view"
Here DR.. Parkhurst mentions what he
calls the efforts of Byrnes to discredt the
society by the arrest of its private detec-
tives for levying backmail. and con-
Times:
within three days of the attack he
stru OK our society another blow by trying
to dlscredit Its president. Unless all the
newspapers of that date lied, he called to-
gether the reporters, and In terms of I'M
restrained bitterness published to the
world a mass Of backguardism touching
the motives of my work, the base impulses
that inspired it-all of which was solid
and contem ptible fafsehoods. l am writ
Ing this without amin osIty, but he lied, all
the same, aud the object of the lie was to
break the power that l was exercs ing
against the yici0usness OF bis department..
He made a vile. sneaking insnuation
against my church by saying that he knew
Of well-trodden path that led from my
vestibule to disreputable resort. From
low-lived viciousness that taunt is easily
entitled to the prize, for he has since con-
dod thot hot trA1
individual and he is In no proper sense a
member of my congregation, and the bust
ness card of that individual party has
come into my possession from Mr.. Byrnes'
own hand"
DR.. Parkhurst at this point Incorporates
the interview published last year with
Superintendent Byrnes. in which the latter
excoriated DIR. Parkhursr and tacitly
charged that members of the doctors
church needed more watching than did the
police force. The statement proceeds:
'Our agents, acting In the legitimate
discharge of their duties as representa-
tives of a society chartered By the State,
were mobbed year and more ago by the
toughs and thugs that sprang TO the relief
of Byrnes and his department when we
pressed them uncomfortably at the Essex
Market Police Court. The papers next
morning were full of the details of the
outrage. but Mr.. Byrnes. on examination,
was unable to discover that any outrage
had been committed necessitating action
on his part, and in that way claim was
made that the agents need not look for
official protection and were to be consid-
cred as legitimate prey.
Now. that is Byrnes. He is the man
We have had steadily in eur eye for three
years, and he has had us as securely in his
eye. AS the community knows, our work
has meant nothing but the overthrow OF
mjsrule in this city. Byrnes has known
that as well as the public, and yet he has
fought US. Now. why has not The Sena-
torial committee. through its counsel. M ade
itself familiar with these matters? We
have urged that Mr.. Byrnes should be
asked whether prior to the Senatorial IN
vestigation he had known OF the rotten
ness OF the police force. He bad or he
had not IL he had and still kept his
mouth shut he was unspeakably vile, and
If he had not he was an unspeakahle i'm
beetle. Now. why did this committee in
sist that Mr.. Golf, in his characteristic