Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-31
Policemen Seem Utterly Unable to Deteo,
Criminals of Any Kind,
MURDEReRs ALLOWED TOGO UND.STURBED
Little or No Effort Has Been Put Forth to
Apprehend Offenders.
PlcKPoCK:Ts AND THIEVES uNMoLtsTfD
Robbers become So bold that They
Enter Residences OF Police
missioncrs and Loot
Churches.

That the Omaha preachers who signed the
petition to the Nebraska legislature. assuring
that body that the police department Of
Omaha was never efficient as now, have
been grossly imposed upon Is plain to every
one who has kept track of police matters
under the present commission If the pres
ent police force is efficient 1t would be
difficult to imagine how criminals could so
more free under an inefficient force.
Only this week one of the most serious
crimes in the calendar was unearthcd by
the discovery of we'll planned grave rob-
berry from one of the principal cemeteries OF
the city, but the police have no more idea
to the perpetrators OF the deed than the
man in the moon. For several days they
have been cropping hopelessly in the dark
without the faintest clew of the grave rob-
bers
This is a most fagrant instance of police
lneficienCy, but no more lagrant than dozens
of others that have occurred since the pres
ent police law went into effect, but which
the police have carefully allowed to drop
from notice. Only when murderers have
been caught red-handed in the act has there
been any danger of their apprehension.
Last May, for example Harry Oswald was
murdered on one Of the public streets Of
South Omaha. The case was turned oven to
the Omaha police department, but nothing
ever came of the investigation that followed.
There were some arrests made, but the
clews were not followed up and the mur-
derer was never apprehended.
CASE OF MRS AXE
Another case proving police inefficiency
still moro conclusively is that Of the murder
or Mrs. Jennie Axe, resident of this city
who was brutally assaulted and pounded to
death just on the other side of the river.
The evidence shows plainly that the perpe-
traitors of this foul crime began their opera
tions in the city OF Omaha; that they took
the woman from this city across the. river
With the well-formed design to make away
with her, probably relying upon the we'll
known dncompetency of the Omaha detectives
as an assurance that they would go unpun-
ished. This case, too was turned over to
the Omaha police department and for few
days members Of the force pretended to busy
themselves following up the trails and then
suddenly lapsed into their usual state Of idle
ness. 1t is needless to say that the mur-
derer of Mrs Jennie Axe is still at large.
Lesser crimes may be numbered by the
hundreds. Citizens have been held up and
.obbed on the highways, residences and
business houses have been burglarized the
city has been the harbor of refuge and ac-
ton for pickpockets, thugs, thieves and
criminals of all sorts, yet no convictions
have been made. Omaha pays upwards of
$500 day for police protection but during
the last year there was scarcely night but
that some one was robbed, yet the police
failed, not alone to apprehend the criminals,
but to recover the property stolen.
What else could be expected at the hands
of police force whose chief IL notoriously
incompetent and many Of whose members
are a great part of the time half stupid
from intoxication? The police, failing to
restrain crime, have succeeded fairly well
in keeping the facts from the public, Here
are only a few of the robberies that have
occurred during the last few months, most
of them not having been reported by the
police. In not one instance in these many
was there an arrest made. The ministers
who want the present state of affairs con-
tinued SHOULD read the record and then re-
read their petition to ths legislature.
About ten weeks ago Hirschberg's jewelry
store on Douglas street was completely
gutted of its contents, cntailing a loss to
the proprietor of about $1,000 The police
failed to recover the property and likewise
failed to apprehend the burglars. The next
day following the night of the robbery,
when every available officer should have
been pressed into service with a view to
running down the criminals eleven officers
spent the whole afternoon playing cards for
the drinks in Nelson's saloon on Sixteenth
street. The burglars escaped with their
booty as a matter of course.
PRIVATE HOMES LOOTED.
Just week or so prior to the Hirschberg
robbery the Kirkendal residence was en-
tered and upwards of $1,000 worth Of dia-
monds and jewelry stolen. The police, as
usual failed to locate the goods or the
thieves. The scouts were sent out and they
found moccsgn tracks, but they signally
failed to find anything that looked like a
burglar or a diamond, Mr. Kirkendall.
recognizing the incompetency of the police,
turned the case over to the White-Most
Detective agency and through this agency
recovered his property.
Along about the same time the residence
Of j. II. Millard was entered by thieves and
considerable jewelry was stolen. The police
worked on this case, with the result that
the property is still missing and the thieves
are stlll at large
Just to show that thieves play no favorltes
along last summer some member of the
lght-fngered gentry paid a visit to Captain
II. E. Palmer's residence and stole nearly
everything but the paper on the wall Cap
tain Palmer is one Of the members OF the
Fire and Police commission, but that was no
safeguard TO his money and chattels. The
same night thieves entered and robbed the
residence of the son-in-law of the chairman
Of the Fire and Police commission. This was
certainly a striking illustration Of police
lnefhclency, but the commission made no
attempt TO reetify matters.
Along about December IS last a sealskin
cape, valued at sl75 was stolen from Kill
patrick's dry goods establishment. The same
day, or evening. $500 worth Of unmanu-
lactured seGlskins disappeared from Ur-