The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-29
p%oLICECAN'TD DOWN ALLEN.
,o,RD APPEALS TO DIsTRTcT At
ToRNEY GARDINER.

,,.,cctor Grant reported to the Police Board
-, thursday that.after four weeks trying TO get
s~,dcnco against the West Side Club at 80 Sixth
.venpe. which is said to be q poolroom con-
80 by ..The" Allen. he was Obliged TO report
%S, ho had been unsuccessful. He had not even
N..o.cdcd In getting enough evidence to obtain
r.rrant. he said, although there was not the
.,,.htsst question about tho character OF the
w., side Club and the fact that Allen was the
proprietor OF H. ~
tanned that there were Eve indictments hang
no over his head in the District Attorneys
oesoe and passed.a resolution asking District
Attorney Gardiner TO bring Allen to trial as
,oon as possible on some one OF the indictments.
NJ Gardiner had not received the resolution
-, n tho time that he left his oflce yesterday
stsrnoon. but he said thnt he would give the
.ot,er his attention when he was officially mott.
e.d vbnt the police wanted him to do.
The action Of the Police Board is the final Of
NV, NJ the police of this city to down O little
man who has been dofying them for about forty
voars. During the past twenty years The
Allan has been arrested on various charges
,anuine from pool selling and bookmaking to
assault and battery. He has mover been con-
vIc,ed of one of the charges against him and
has seldom spent moro than q night or two In
iai, AZ a result Of any Of the arrests.
All through tho administration of Mayor
etronc when 1t was announced that there
wasn't n poolroom in the city, Tho" Aliens
west, Side Club went merrily on. Whether 1t
vns n poolroom or not no one but the members
and Alien can tell. The police raided 1t several
times rs such. although they never got any evil
dence to show that they were right. They in
sist that it has been a poolroom for years. how
Al 49, 49, n attn 0naa nn
there.
asked District Attorney Gardiner to bring Allen
70 trial on are all for poolscling and book
making. Two of them are indictments against
Allen alone; the other three against Allen and
bis assistants. They were returned at various
times between 1894 and 1897. Aliens lawyer
has repeatedly requested that the indictments
bo tried or dismissed, but to no purpose. Allen
himself SAYS that the District Attorneys Office
doesn I dare to try him on any one Of the In.
dic,ments because 1t hasn't the slightest evil
derce against him and knows 1t can't procure o
conviction.
The West Side Club formerly had headquar-
tors In West Broadway. Some m ago 1t
moved to so Sixth avenue. where II has the
Mh SISa nrs' ti nGHh; Closed Closed a and Which Vii Is shut of
from the front room by folding doors. There is
a. entrance to it from the hall by a door marked
locked. Tho police feel sure that II they could
get into that back room they could get the evi.
S Ssnss ab 5hSE E to Ret into ne fa tho h S"ss room 1neS nave
In the front room are a buffet. a stove, g card
table, and some chairs. There is a blackboard
that is all. There is a mall hall room in front.
too. 1t contains a desk, and Allen calls this
his office.
try to make bets on the races, but they couldn't
gel, in. Then he sent several policemen to the
They didn't have to. Allen welcomed them
cordially to the front clubroom when they
came; offered them cigars, and assured them
1 @sn ,E EsFo NO Sn SETTING asds %snt 70 on n'P 4Ghe eFH fnspec ae@
R Eeeen his HsG men on the premises. The scheme
was a failure. for, when Allen got tired Of hav-
ing the policemen around he rose and address
sss i,SiR ioa fhis s arfssn g %e %oss q sha rs We s's g
Tho motion was seconded and carried, and be-
fore the nstonished policemen realized what had
happened, Allen and his fellow club members
come back, either, and ut dusk the policemen
retired for further orders.
For nearly a week this sort OF thing went on
every afternoon. The policemen had no right
10 break into the back room, and 1t Is doubtful
II they could have had they tried. Finally ono
policemen to the West Side Club. He posted
them in front OF the door, in the halls. in Aliens
In front of the door had orders to tell ali who
sought admittance that the place was under po-
lice surveillance. They. obeyed, but each per
stairs. At the usual time Allen made his mo,
ton about going into executive session. and
then he and his friends walked out and locked
themselves in the rear room.
Late in December Inspector Grant got hold
ola man named James McMorrow of 2M King
bet in the West side Club and had won, but
that :; Allen en-, had refused ., to pay the pet; An Of.
was unsuccessful. Magistrate Brann said that
the evidence was insufficient and didn't tend in
any, way to show that Allen was conducting a
Inspector Grant sent n policeman named
Kiely around to the club on Jan. 10. Allen was
getting a little tired of having the police around,
out. kiely looked at Allen, who is q little man
about 65 years of age, smiled, and declined to
who is a rough.and.tumbie tighter, went at him
like a cyclone. He literally, pitched the police
man out into the hall and then kicked him
GoMnstairs into the street. Once outside he be-
,,i Now suppose you want to arrest me-" he
'' The p @ stl; lam f Gid arrest TO 60 INIT M1ah S zen Mapis.
trato Eudlich discharged him, holding that
Allen had acted entirely within his rights in
said, had no legal right on the premises after
ne bad been ordered of.
After one or two other Intellectual attempts to
AaShNS a6oiAho <hAASiH
Grant reported to Chief McCpllagh that he
could do no more. The Chief in turn made
tho report 10 the board and the resolution men.
TONED above followed.
Inc indictments against Allen which are now
Ranging over his head were found on Sept. 10,
lSS7, and Nov. 10, 1897. They are all for pool
eelilnE and booknlaking at the various places
the West side Club has occupied since It's or
eahlLation. These places arc 146 Blocker
street and 5l3 and SAG West Broadway. Each
Indictment has been in tho hands ofAssistant
district Attorney Osborne and ex.Assistant Dis
trict Attorney Mitchell and has been returned by
thein 10 the chief clerk, who has pigeonholed
tnein. On one.of the. indictments Peter De Lacy
appears as bondsmar.
The Allen was born In the old Ninth ward,
~, sna pfGan earning his own living. at the age OF
~, lie worked In a butcher shop owned by
pm Ioole, who was afterwnrd murdered by
Lew Baker. He served in tho civil war, and
Gas a Lieutenant OF the Twenty.ffth New York
'pIuhteers when honorably discharged.
IN the late seventies. while Allen was showing
Il \ revolver TO u friend Of his. Edward Malloy.
she weapon went of and killed Malloy. Allen
%as CHARGED with murder. but there was no evi.
uuence 10 sustain the charge and he reclaimed his
aoerty shortly afterward. In 1899 Allen had a
SCsnt with an Italian gambler named Carrera.
ShIrcra Stabbed him several times with an Ice
pIck, and Tor a long time Aliens life was de-
uh1I Rn nj NJ H.