The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-01-14
CHIEF MURPHY'S REPORT
He Discusses All the Evils
Jersey City is Said to
Be Afflicted With.


submitted to the Police Commissioners
at their meeting his annual report which
was filed. In addition to the statistical
report the Chief submitted the following
document
l have, the hony,r to respectfully submit
70 your Ihonorablti body my report for the
The city has been free from strikes,
riots Or serious disturbances Of any
King nd during the past year.
existing in this city wherein gambling by
cards and SUCH devices is carried on, ex-
esept &c poker playing on private premises,
sion. -
Thirty persons were arrested for this
CRIME, principally in the back rooms of
Us. but is carried on SO secretly that It is
very VERY difficult to get evidence against
were arrested for policy playing the past sst
year Pool selling on horse racing seems
50 fascinating to many of our citizens
though driven away by arrest or police
surveillance are followed to a new place
ts, by their patrons. and the. gambling con-
driven away; sixteen arrests have been
made for this crime and what appears
To- 70 ne tb tne o,y very best of evidence produced
nave .been convicted. Pool selling nv
what is known as hand book" can he
aff1ea baffor on between the hacker and the
this is the way ii is usually done in in otf tbs
The Grand Jury of the Anrl Term co,,a5
the heads of the, police denartrnents IF
uflis county before them, and gave them
10 understand that the sale of IinI,or on
lne sabbath day should be stopped. Or
uerS We're accordingly issued from dsbfs
once for a strict enforcement of the law
against the sale of liquor on Sundays.
Large details were made In plain clothes
tower one hundred men each Sunday. and
n t,1xr< C.
ing or exposing for sale LIQUORS or beer
inns was Kept up for over three months:
one hundred and seventeen saloon keeners
" oe tnelr 1ns oartenders We're arrested, and all
OF cHe1n Dut ten were convicted These
arrests, however, were narly ala made the
hrst few Sundays after the crusade be-
gan; the saloonkeepers quickly found out
Unelr Right to prevent al police officer fore
ing an entrance into tfleir places of bust
ness Without a warrant and as evidence
90 procure warrant could only be got by
az an oncer Witnessing sale of beer or
nquor, 1T was only necessary for the sa-
ioonkeeper to put a guard ON his door and
adnlit no one but those he knew were his
friends in order to violate the law with
safety from arrest. A society of GENTLE
men who believed in the enforcement of
nne law for the prevention of the sale of
liquors on Sunday was organized during
qnls period; they hired professional detec-
tlVeS from adjoining cities and some of
their own members acted as al.taterlr de-
tectiveS to catch violators of tine Sunday
liquor law. Notwithstanding the unusual
vigilance OF the police and the activity Of
the society and its agents the sale of
liquor continued: sut no time was it wholly
stopped. After a few Sundays fully one
half were doing business despite our best
eIorts to. stop them ! gave this matter
my personal attention dor several Sundays
and used aH devices known to our bust
ness TO enforce this law, and to satisfy
myself whether tie sale of liquor On Sun
day could be prevented under our laws
and ann free to report that the law as at
present on the statute books cannot be en-
forced in this city.
There were 1,12O persons arrested for
those crimes; among them We're six for
murder and SIX for manslaughter; ten
for indecent assaults upon women, and
tnirty-eight for robbery on the highway.
remarkable falling Off of the latter
crime has taken place recently owing to
the number that have been brought to
justice.
Eight hundred and ninety-one persons
were arrested for crimes against proper
ty. The city has been more free from
holsc-breaking this year than any SINH
lar period for many years. No great rob
berries. have occurred in our city; there
were but two that amounted to between
$500 and $1,000; two between $500 and $403;
four between $500 and $500, and seven
teen between s100 and 5000. The remain
der were all below S10O The amounts
quoted are those given by the owners of
the lost property. Professional safe bur
glars made us a call once and were cap
Twenty-seven .fugitives from justice
from other States were apprehended in
this city and returned to the States from
where they fed
Eighteen persons who committed a
crime in this city and fled to other States
were captured and brought back for trial /
am pleased to be able to report that
the discipline of the force is excellent;
the officers and men are working in har-
mony, all aiming and striving with each
other to hold up the good reputation of
There has been no evidence of disobed- |
fence or insubordination, and those who
have been guilty of wrong doing are few,
and the offences charged were quite min !
or The six patrolmen whom you gem
tlemen mounted on bicycles have given
good service, not alone in suppressing fast
riding but by doing all kinds of police
duty. The extent of territory a man on
a wheel can cover over that of man on
foot makes him more useful than three
men on patrol dismounted; the theory
that policeman on a wheel can do any
kind of police duty that q man patrolling
on foot can has been proven to be cor
rect. I would suggest that two more men
be mounted on wheels this spring. |
would also suggest the mounting Of three |
more men on horses, to better protect |
the outlaying districts. You will pardon
me for again saying that the patrol force
is entirely too small to give proper pro-
lection to our citizens, when 1t is rea-
lized that there are but one hundred and |
four night posts and ffty-two day posts |
III tLlS city, SOlllGa iQSt cet1 De lOTfQ6Q Oh
the extent of some of our posts, and
what could happen and police officers |
not see it.
All the cities in this country of popu-
lation near to ours have a larger police |
force. The City OF. Newark has twenty |
five more patrolnen than we have. Were |
it not for our excellent electrical appli- |
ances and the amount of extra duty I'M |
posed upon our men when on reserve i
we could not give the protection to life |
and property that we do.
This branch of The service has rnai1l- |
tanned it's reputation for efficiency and |
has done it's part in the good work |
of the department. the past year. Their |
knowledge Of the terminal classes has |
prevented many crimes by the arrest of |
professional criminals before the commits |
sior of crime. The detective force have
secured 2l0 years of convictions during /
the past year, 13) of which were got
by the five men at Headquarters
Sergeant Michael Conlon, Sixth pre- |
cinct, died on July s. Deceased died of |
consumption caused by a cold contracted |
by chasing thief into the meadows and |
getting wet UP to- his waist. He was I
quite young man and gave promise of /
making a valuable officer. Deceased had |
been seven years liz the service
Patrolman John Devlin, First precinct
died on July 6. Deceased was an excel
lent officer. and had made many good I
arrests during his nine years of service /
In concluding this report take great !
pleasure in thus publicly expressing my |
thanks to you. gentlemen, for your Off |
cial courtesy and hearty support given |
me in the discharge of my duties with |
out which 1t would not be possible to
,1~ Itch, t.,I