The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-05
How,s THIs. MAYOR K1DFER,


Is gambling maintained in st. Paul.
If so, is it maintained through the coIlu-
sion of the police force and the mayor, or
either?
Within a day or two a couple of news
boys were arraigned in the local police
court charged with gambling. They had
been rislsing their pennies on three-cent
limit in a game of poker. The boys were
not punished by the court. Judging
from this little incident alone, this town
is entirely free from gambling If the
police desired indirect proof that the
gambling law was strictly in force in the
city. they could not have secured more
touching, If not altogether convincing,
proof of the fact.
These neWSboyS were arrested imme-
diately after the appearance in the even
ing Republican organ of an editorial dec
laration that gambling was in progress
here, with the connivance of the police
of the mayor, If not the mayor himself.
The connection between the appearance
of that article In the Republican organ
and the arrest of those boys seems on
the face of things quite plain. What has
the mayor-or. as the Republican organ
calls him, 1.-The king'-to say to this i'm
putation?
So that there may no misunderstand-
;,,rr Ia,
gan. 1t has immediate reference to the
recent charge of Judge Lewis, in which
that official directed the grand jury to in
quire into the existence of wine rooms
and other places of lewd resort. The or
gan says:
Envious and spiteful men, to blacken
the name of the only king and bring to
disrepute his chosen cabinet, have tod
OF places where the colors of freedom
the Red, White and Blue-are blended in
slightly stacks of ivory discs and made
the base equivalent of filthy coin; where
the loWly descendant of Afric's kings
may melt his soul in the poetry of pol
icy'' or cast his stake upon the turn of
dice; where the whirligig OF time
Is Is but a wheel of fortune, behind which
the croupfer stands and checks the prog
reSS OF the game yclept roulette; where
the still humber devotee of the goddess
of fortune may lay his mite upon the al
Tar TAR ana take It out In craps" or plebeian
'cOOn-can.
All these things have been told Of un.
der the rose. and whispered in confidence
from ear to ear Rumors of ''protectlon'
extended and surveillance maintained
where forbidden pleasures awaited the
favored ones have been so common that
even the kings bodyguard has heard
them.
This is all very plain. Neither Mayor
Kiefer nor Chief Goss can afford to ig
more it. It is a presentation Of the case
which shows the writer to have informa-
ton which the mayor and grand jury
should possess If they do not The grand
jury is IN session. This editorial utter
ance of local Republican paper was
evidently designed to be read by the
mayor, the chief and the grand jury. The
public has the right to know just what
the Dispatch Knows. Rumors are gener-
ally current. and have been for a long
time past. that our local police admins
tration is affording protection to favored
disorderly houses. If there is gambling
going on in town 1t is also maintained
by the protection of the city authorities.
Let the grand jury call before 1t those
who have editorial charge of the Dis
and his assistants
This is too serious a matter to be pass
ed off as joke. 1t certainly was not in
tended to be so regarded.