The Jersey City news., 1899-12-11

come perhaps outlawed Some of the
special matters which demand the con-
| sideration of the Grand Jury require q
very large amount OF Tune tta,, e5, Inv
spent and for al onger period tnan aias -,
| Grand Jury is in existence, ano aiso tn5 =, =
assistance of expert accountants ana ana
others before any testimony n.y. before 'ne
Grand Jury itself can be taken
IT, under the law, matters wnien men uef ef
serve attention in this large neie o. o.
special Investigation, and wnlcn 5hs I9rrt 3rrt
refers to the Grand Jury could pc sS nrss
thus examined and the results pToouceo
to the Grand Jury, much valuable time
would he saved, and often crime olssor+
cred which cannot be under present
methods detected in time for acton IN
Hudson county and in some OF the y. III. ~. :
cipalities therein the management 81 Ine
public affairs is open to graVe iyss
tigation of the public AFFAIRS OF TINS Souiisy =
and of the cities therein, II honestiy a., aiio u
fearlessly made, would be OF great a,,IS HarIS
to the people Of the county, ana Wouiu
result either in the elimination q eviaf f
alleged to exist or demonstrate ths hai. -
that our public affairs and puDHc oliclaiS
are not as bad as they are at times tep
resented to be and thus would ne sel a.
resi- scandals and rumors which aIisct
orr local government and officials ana i' ae-
ter many good citizens from pareieipD'---7
in our public affairs. s,,,5a -
This Grand Jury in order to lncluue %
far as possible the work oulfisu ~ IA af
Court in its charge by sup7el ~ nc I'm mai
ters to which the Court dIrecteu It's a. a.
fsntion. and the Grand Jury nave LiaIe ~
known to the Court by lndict a.
ready presented. and in this nnai piessnl-
rnenS herewith the result OF ltS tdDol 2.
In many cases where bills nave not 9esd ssa
found the bills have been dlsmlsssu aIq -ii
the discharge of the parties, II ~ '0A'
recommended and ordered. .eorred
Treating Of the special matters reterreo
to by the court ,,s ,,o,i sailing
First. gambling and aiegeu dae +l5en pper Sefore
~ ~ a II Grand Jurv and from the ponce
otficiajs Of the different cities, and evil
dence presented through the Frqsscuneoii a. its
office This Grand Jury reports that IN les
o1,inian pool selling and the business -
carrying on pool rooms does not eAlsS - ~
anv material extent in this county hiis
some may crop out occasionally, y,sa,i- yee ~
seens that the police have energe-casliyy cal y
sunnressed this form of wrongdolng. Inls n.
IS especially true, we are glad 70 says ~ a
regard to Harrison, Where a new ne" eni0t ~ ID
poIice is actively enforcing the law anu anu
endea ayoring to stamp out CRIME thdl mas
heretofore seemed to nave peeh ploteIltS l,,
The slot machine business ads ~ ooTn
e,lhsfantiallv suppressed. only occdslon-
a11v are these machines found IN opera
zion. and the police can eraulcate llt tls
evil by seizing the machines anu tnlou , ~
the Prosecutors office the same cal pS
and are destroyed under the proVisioLis
If the criminal statute. We are OF lne
opinion that if the police are coIllinu4Ss ts,i
w summarized DV the GrdIQ JdilCo - N-A-~
county. Slot machines and other I1s, forms
of gambling will completely ana qulggly
disappear The police of the Guy o. or,lInf ~
boken reported TO US, through ensir al al
lowed in Hoboken and that Wnere .lAs +,ee,y ~
istence Of such machines was knoWH tney
were suppressed, but from Inc I'd feIl,r1o' iurv
large number of machines We're olscVN-
cred In the city OF Hoboken. me , ponce ponce
with but little diligence couIo Hasv taets
fonnd these machines apparently nao lnsy
been so minded. These macnlneS, on us
coyerv, were promptly seized py the Fros. ~
ecutor's detectives, and Will be proken uP
and destroyed when the SeVeral cases "
which they relate have been hearq-
Omr information is that the green gooqs
enterprise does not exist at this time IN
this county. 40 c,,ndav
law. it may be that public sentiment Goes
not demand a complete enforcement -
some Of the Sunday lays. Ihe tbe differ-
ent municipalities and of others whose
testimony the Grand Jury has heara' IS
to the effect that these violations OF tne
Sunday law are hard to remedy, and we
nresent that perhaps, the best IS cone
mat can be done under the circumstance
With the exception of the city OF HOBO
hon Sunday concerts, shows and theatres
are not allowed, and are not IN operation
in this county ~.
In Hoboken, however, much laxlty a on
this subject, and also IN me malIea u been elo
found. Open and public performances OF
melo-dranlas are permitted at pupl,S
theatre in that city on SUNDAY OF eacn tYl
week. So long as the chief pollce oIacldls
nf that city do not insist on the enforce,
ment of the laws these performances viii
nrobably be tolerated The Grand jury
has found bills of indictment asallst nS snS
keeper of the theatre in question; and
1as wherever possible endeavored to exact
from the proper responsible onlclals ,s7 ue5
cent enforcement of the sunday laws anu
~ officials
citv of Hoboken we have presented plllS
af indictments for the non-enforcement Oh
those laws This theatre in question IS
filed with young people az us Sunuas yen'.as,
ances are no different from the week oay
performance at said theatre.
Concerning the allegau ton tnat the Gut
tenbere race track has opened, is aDout
to omen in violation of the law, the facls
presented to us do not warrant the con-
clusion that there is any violation OF the
law in that connection.
the subject of making municipal contracts
and the subject of general extravaganza
In this connection we nave examined GER
| tain of the officials of the different cities,
and we find that the laws in such matters
are generally complied with, but there is
some evidence, particularly In the man
| a cement Of the affairs OF the city OF t1o-
hokeu of great negligence and extravag-
ance in the furnishing of supplies to the
county institutions and in the making or
public contracts.
This Grand Jury has been profoundly
shocked by the sworn testimony of some
| Of the witnesses produced before 1t, and
| the charges which had been plainly made
| by those witnesses in connection with the
| conduct of certain officials in Hoboken in
| the matter of the making OF contracts ana
| the granting of franchises This was SO,
| for Instance in relation to the recent wa
| ter contract the Rutherford trolley fran
| chise matter, the electric lighting con-
| tract and asphalt paving contracts. and in
| connection with bills incurred by the city
| for municipal printing and supplies Some
\ of this evidence in these matters directly
| and seriously affected the city officials of
| Hoboken concerned in the giving out or
| the valuable public franchises. However,
| the testimony disclosed that the wrong
doing in question occurred prior to the
| time during which the officials in question
| could be indicted under the criminal OUT
| laWry statute of this State.
| This Grand Jury was impressed in this
| investigation with the unfortunate truth
| that the press of the city of Hoboken,
instead of being a cOnServator OF puDlc
| morals. was actually and plainly engaged
! in the business of blackmailing persons
| and corporations instead Of acting for the
| public benefit by exposing fraud and
| Wrongdoing, and by preventing the giving
/ away of valuable franchises. Some Of the
| men directly connected with newspapers
/ in the city of Hoboken appeared before
| this Grand Jury and admitted the re-
| ceiying by them of bribes from pool room
| keepers in said city, and from corpora
| tions desiring valuable franchises. Some
| of this testimony directly charged GER
| tain of the chief city officials of the city
| of Hoboken with participation in the
| bribe money so paid. These offenses again,
| however were back of the time during