The herald., 1897-03-04

the Big Swede Burke, and other conf
dence men about the place. He had also
seen these men on the streets and in
front Of the hotels. He had never seen
them at the chamber of commerce, but
had seen them at the Natick house.
Detective Hawley said that within the
past two or three months he had occas-
lon to frequently pass the Elite saloon,
and had always seen these bunco men
standing in front of the place. He and
Auble had gone personally to Mr.. An
derson. one of the proprietors, and told
him that II he kept that class of men
about his saloon the place would be re-
ported to the commissioners. 1t was
the latter part Of January of the first
of February that Anderson had been
notified. These men were usually seen
about the streets, in front of the Natick
house and Nadeau hotel. and the de-
pots; in fact, any place where they
were likely to meet strangers. or as it
is technically called "catch suckers"
In answer to a question by Mayor
Snyder as to whether these confidence
men did not sometimes have cards print
ed purporting to represent certain lines
of business. to assist them in gaining the
confidence of strangers. Detective Haw-
ley said that he knew OF no such case,
but 1t was a notorious fact that certain
so-called doctors. or specialists" did
stand in with these men.
Detective Auble said that II had been
known by the pois- that bunco and
confidence men made :, Elite saloon
their headquarters. on one occasion a
young man from the east. an invalid who
had come to the city for his health, had
been decoyed into the saloon. and robbed
of every cent that he had. The man had
complained to the authorities. and he
and Detective Hawley had gone to An
derson and told him the circumstances,
when the latter had returned the money.
Asked whether he had seen bunco men
about other saloons. Auble said that
only few days ago he had seen two or
three of them hanging about the new
Green Room saloon, and had notified the
proprietor, who had told him that he
would not permit them to remain about
his place. In answer to a question by
Commissioner Preuss, as to whether he
thought these men were imposters, or
whether they were really imposed upon,
Auble replied that he thought they were
real suckers"at least they looked and
acted like the genuine article.
Commissioner Wyman then gave the
details of an attempt of this same gang
to bunco a young man from the east
who came to Los Angeles with letter of
introduction to himself. He had been
met at the depot by one of the men, who
claimed to know another gentleman
to whom he also had q letter OF intro
duction. and took him to the Elite sa
loon, where the barkeeper attempted to
assist the steerer. The young man was
too shrewd to be caught, and left the
place without being inveigled into card
game.
This closed the hearing for the police
side of the case, and Anderson was
was apparently taken completely by sur
prise by the array of evidence against
the place, and said that he knew moth
ing of what had been going on. He said
that he had made a mistake in taking
O'Brlen as a partner, and In view of the
developments he had not improved mat
ters with Thomas. He only knew of
one case where man had lost money
in the saloon, the one reported by Au-
BILE. and he had promptly refunded that.
at the same time telling Thomas that
he must run the place straight, or get
out, and that Thomas said that he would.
He claimed that bunco men hung around
other saloons, and that when he was
trying TO do his best to make the place
respectable he should be given show.
Mayor Snyder called attention to the
fact that an attempt to murder had been
made in this saloon by the same gang,
after be had been personally warned
against them, and that an innocent man
had been shot. This. his honor said.
made his case an aggravated one.
Anderson admitted that this was SO,
and that while he was not to blame ap
pearanoes were against him. and all
that he could do was to throw himself
on the mercy of the commissioners.
Chief Glass stated that he had no per-
sonal feeling against Anderson, did not
know in fact. that he was interested in
the place, but that the saloon was a
dangerous resort, and he had felt 1t his
no oh rAn nj q
other places OF a similar character.
The commission declined to rescind its
action revoking the license, and the mat
ter was dropped.
Commissioner Forman was granted
one weeks leave of absence, after which
the chief was instructed to issue let
tered star to Humane officer c. H. Clarke
who had already been sworn in as a
special officer, and the commission ad-
journed.
FOR CUBA LIBRH