The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-18
CRINESOF GOTHAN'S POLICE
The LeIOW Report 70 Be Presented 10
the Senate To-day.

ference at the Polls-The Balance Re
fers 70 Blackmail, Extortion and Cor
ruption-A Total OF e7s Witnesses
Examined.
Albany. y. Y. Jan. 1.-THE report Of
the Lexov committee which viii he pre-
scented TO the Senate tomorrow. was made
public tonight D. is a lengthy document,
containing fully 1sco words IL says the
record OF the proceedings OF the committee
shows a total Of 1886 pages This does not
include a mass Of documentary exhibits
which were read and considered in evil
dence for the purpose of Information. one
thousand and seventy-seven pages em-
brace the subject matter Of police inter
ference az the polls and the balance. or
almost ? I'm pages. refer to the subject mat
ter Of black mail. extortiou and corrup-
lion. In all. 61s witnesses were examined
The committee recommends change
in the existing laws. whereby by statute.
the membership of the police commission
shall he and remain equally divided be-
tween the two parties who al the last pre-
cedinE election on national and state is
sues polled respectively the highest and
The next highest number Of votcs-in other
words. the establishment by law Of com
mission substantially upon the principles
now in vogue with reference to the several
boards Of election inspectors throughout
the state
Touching the examination into police
methods az election times the report says
The results may be summarized ia the gem
eral statement that n has been conclusive
~ shown that in very large number OF
the election districts Of New York, al
most every conceivable crime against the
elective franchise was either committed
or permitted by the police invariably in
The interest of the dominant democratic
organization commonly called Tammany
Hall The crimes thus committed by the
police may be classified as follows. Ar
rest and brutal treatment Of republican
voters. watchers and workers. open viola
ton of the election laws canvassing for
Tammany Hail candidates; invasion of
election booths; forcing of Tammany Han
pastors upon republican voters by the po-
lice directly and by Tammany Hall election
district captains in the presence and with
the concurrence of the police; colonial
ton of voters, illegal registration and re-
peating. aided and knowingly permitted
by the police; denial to republican voters
and election districts officers Of their legal
rights and privileges, cooperation with
and acquiesence in the usurpation
by Tammany Hall election district cap
tains and watchers of alleged rights and
privileges, in violation of the law. In
fact, IT may be stated as characteristic
of the conditions shown to exist by
cloud of witnesses that the police con-
Quoted themselves at the several polling
places upon the principles that they were
there not as guardians Of the public
peace to enforce law and order, but for
the purpose of acting as agents of Tam
many Hall in securing 20 the candidates
of that organization by means, fair or
foul. the largest possible majorities.
They eventually regarded themselves as
coadiutors of that organization. sta
toned at the several polls for the pur-
pose of securing its success, whether by
lawful or unlawful means, resorting to
device, oppression, fraud, trickery, crime
and intimidation Of every conceivable
character.
1T is quite evident that the practices Of
the police eXerted an important and de-
cisive influence upon results, a fact which
is made uncontrovertibly plain by the
comparison Of the vote cast in the second
assembly district in the year 1898 with the
vote cast in that district at the last cleo
ton. In 1898 the judge of the court of ap-
peals and minor state officers only were
candidates. In 1894 the govern
orship, the nt-governorship.
the judge of the court of appeals, and
the mayor of the city were in the
and yet the vote cast in 1894, in
the district referred to, was smaller by
more than 1900 votes, or by more than
25 per cent. of the total vote cast, than
that cast in 1898. while in view of the
greater Importance of the issues involved,
there should normally have been a large
Increase in the number of votes polled,
that in 1898 more than 1900
fraudulent votes were cast and counted in
a single assembly district of the city. 1t
was due to the presence of and the reve-
'ations before your committee that SINH
lar frauds were not enacted at the late
election. When we consider by COMPARE
son during the same years of the votes
polled in the town of Gravesend that the
same startling decrease is noticeable.
the conclusion seems Irresistible that the
same forces were at work in the two
localities, producing similar results.
1T was conclusively shown that dur
ing each of the years 1891. 1892. and 1898.
very many thousands of unlawful ballots
were cast by the active cooperation and
connivance of the police, and 1t is TO be
that sufficient time was not at
the disposal of your committee to enable
1t to subject every district in the city
to rigorous examination upon the lines of
,
estimate of police interference
might be reached. Sufficient, however,
appears upon the record to show beyond
peradventure. that owing to the prac-
tees above referred to during the years
covered by the investigation honest cleo
tons had no existence in fact. in the city
of New York, and that. upon the contrary,
a huge conspiracy against the purity of
the elective franchise was connived at
and participated in by the municipal po-
lice, whereby the rights and privileges of
the individual were trampled sruthlessly
under foot, and crime against the bal
lot held high carnival.
1T is a significant fact that police cap
tains whose precincts were specially con-
sdered in this connection, were appointed
by the president of the board of police
commissioners and one of the most CON
spicuous leaders of Tammany. at the in
stance of that organization as an organiza-
ton, and that one Of them, when informed
that watchers had been sent to the polls
at the instance of local reform associa-
lions to aid in securing an honest vote
and count. called the officers of his com
mand together and instructed them that
if those silk stockings interfered they
would stand them on their heads.