The herald., 1897-03-04
AS BAD AS PAINTED
The Elite Saloon Was Tough Joint-Testi-
moSy of Police Officers

The police commission put in an hour
or more yesterday afternoon in the
hearing in the matter of the revocation
of the license of the Elite saloon on
South Spring street, where shooting
affray took place some weeks ago, TT
the conclusion of which the commission
ers were thoroughly satisfied that it
had been a headquarters for bunco men
and other disreputable characters and
declined to take any further action look
ing to a renewal of the license.
The members of the board were
promptly on hand, as were also Chief
Glass, the members of the detective
force and number of patrolmen to give
testimony. Mr.. Anderson was also in
attendance.
Chief Glass was the first witness, and
stated that he had known for quite
while that the place was headquarters
for confidence and bunco men. 1t was
where the notorious Warren King ami
his gang held out, and there had been
numerous complaints made against Il.
The character of the place was notori-
Gus. The chief instanced the case of Il
man named Tuttle. who had been taken
into the place and beat out Of money,
but he had made a kick and 1t was re-
stored to him This was only one of
numerous cases that had been reported.
Officer Fowle, who was on the South
Spring street beat during the month Of
January, said that he frequently saw
members of the gang with strangers in
tow that they had picked up at the
chamber of commerce taking them TO
the saloon. He had noticed this on half
a dozen different occasions. He had
never seen anything unusual about the
saloon except that these men were
sometimes standing about the front.
Officer Miller in January knew of
man from Santa Ana who claimed to
have been robbed of s1S in the place by
a man named Burke. A man named
King and Thomas, one of the proprie-
tors of the place. was in the game at the
time. The man had been induced to
enter the saloon on proposition to show
him some samples of ore from Rands-
burg.
officer Richards knew in general way
of the bad character of the place. Dur
ing January probably half dozen men
had complained of losing sums OF money
in the saloon. One man claimed that
he had lost 800, but he understood that
this had been paid back. He had on one
occasion in February taken man from
one of the steerers named Anderson.
officer Blackman knew of fight hav-
ing taken place in the saloon last June
between two men and two women. In
January man had told him that he
was fieeced out of some money and a
certificate of deposit for 1925, but had
stopped payment on the latter. This
man had been picked up at the phono-
graph parlors. and taken to the saloon
on the Randsburg ore fake.
Officer Mercer knew in general way
of the bad character Of the gang that
hung around the saloon. He knew that
the men were bunco and confidence ope-
rators. He had never seen any dis
turbance about the place.
Officer Redfern said that on December
23d a man complained to him that he
had been swindled out of 81 playing
cards in the saloon. He had gone with
him to the proprietor, Thomas, who had
returned the money. The man gave the
name of Lee. and was from Washington.
The place was quiet, and he had never
seen any disturbance.
Commissioner Forman wanted to
know how many men were in the habit
of hanging about the chamber of COM
merce, picking up strangers. No one
could answer the question, and the gen
eral suggested that 1t might be a good
plan to have a detective or two about
the chamber to look after them.
officer Thompson, who took the man
Suttle to the chief gave the details of
the circumstance He had never been.
in the saloon himself, but he had seen
the gang of bunco men hanging about
the front of the place. He had seen
the same men around the street corners
and in front of the Nadeau.
Detective Steele said that last year he
and Detective Bradish had seen this
same gang hanging about the saloon
on the north side of Fourth street. be-
tween Spring street and roadway They
had notified the proprietor if he contin-
ued to harbor these men a report would
be made to the chief. He had not seen
them about this place since. He had
also seen them about the Natick house,
and had told officer Fowle to notify the
proprietor He had also seen them about
the streets.
Detective Bradish corroborated Steele
about the Fourth street place. In No
vember an attempt had been made to
bunco a man in the Elite but he would
not bite. This man they had picked up
at the depot. He had seen Warren King,