Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-15
Belief That Tammany's Reform Move
ment is bluff"
TO FREEZE OUT SMALL GAMBLERS
Instances Cited of Similar Efforts in
the Past.
HOW CROKER WORKED ONE
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.


NEW YORK March IA, 1900.
The impression is growing here that the
present reform movement that has been
sweeping the city recently is largely
of the nature of what the poker players
whose quarters have been raided during
the past week would call a bluff" Even
old line, old time democrats have little con-
fdence in reform movement executed UNI
der the auspices of Tammany Hall. There
are some peculiar phases of the recent war
on vice that remind one Of the orders is
sued a number of years ago against the
pool rooms. That was when Richard
Croker first became interested in horses,
and when he commenced to indulge in the
sport of kings" He had formed the ac-
quaintance of the Dwyer crowd. had even
gone a step further and arranged a practi-
cal partnership with the leading wealthy
horse owners in this section.
Suddenly, without warning one day the
order Issued that all of the pool rooms
in the city must be closed. And they We're
closed. And what is more they were kept
closed for long period Of time. Never be-
fore or since has great. a pressure been
brought to bear upon the uncrowned king
of Tammany. District leaders swarmed to
the hall breathing out threatenings and
slaughter against the man who had ruined
them and their friends the most powerful
forces in the party in this city appealed to
Mr.. Croker in vain.
Croker Turned Puritan.
For the first time in his life, and, per-
haps. for the last time. the chief of Tam
many Hall turned Puritan and preached
against vice in fashion that would have
gladdened the heart of the most sincere
New England clergyman. Pool playing, he
argued had ruined hundreds of young men
and boys, had caused the hearts of thou
sands of mothers in the city to break, had
induced the clerk to abstract money from
the till under the impression that 1t could
be returned the next day.
Some men would gamble and would bet
on horses, but these old-timers knew what
they were about, and If they went to the
race tracks and lost their money that was
their own business 1t was only when the
little gamblers found their living gone that
they Joined hands with the church people
in a spirit of revenge, with the result that
horse racing was swept out of New Jersey
by constitutional amendments and the laws
of the state of New York were so altered
that horse racing was allowed for only
limited period of time, and pool selling was
replaced by bets between gentlemen, the
English system practically being adopted
in this state. Mr.. Croker and his high
toned racing partners having made a mint
of money out of the race tracks by this
time, gave up the fight and sought green
fields and pastures new in England. Pool
rooms gradually came back to the city,
We're winked at by the police, and eventual
with race tracks in full blast in the suburbs
it is doubtful whether Croker and the rae
ing syndicate behind him would have ever
been willing to give up the good thing
which they held in the hollow Of their hand.
Tammnny's Power Demonstrated.
That demonstrated conclusiveiy that
Tammany Hall could suppress vice pro-
vided 1t was worth Cookers while. And
there Is much in the recent reform wave
hot ind ha NJ this
famous pool room order or years ago. In
the first place, the very time of the year
selected for the crusade causes one to be :
suspicious Of its permanency.
In month SO Coney Island will be {;
halo of glory from end to end, and all of
the characters, male and female, who now
haunt dens Ike McGurks, the Tlvoli and
the Haymarket, will be found at the sea-
shore seeking a summers outing Indirectly
but directly seeking whom they may de-
YOUR. Then again, though it is generally
admitted that Theodore Roosevelt sue
ceeded in keeping the saloons pretty well
closed during the winter, the storm of in
dignatfon that was called down around his
devoted head during the summer tine,
when picnic parties were raided, when
bicychsts We're refused q glass of beer at
the wayside inn, when the poor foreigners
were not allowed to purchase ice Sun
days in the densely populated sections CT
the city, ultimately led to the downfall Of
the Strong administration and the transfer
of Roosevelt to Washington. 1t was the
hot summer season that checked the wave
of reform inaugurated by DR.. Parkllurst,
alienated the foreign vote and caused the
return of Tammany Hall to power. 1t is
doubtful whether the Sunday closing law
can be enforced in this city during the
warm weather, and the Tammany Hail
leaders know it.
Movement Regarded With Suspicion.
The fact that this war on the gamblers
was inaugurated by the gamblers them
Scl1 lev
men to look upon the entire movement
with suspicion. District Attorney Asa Bird
Gardiner, the man who was elected on a |
platform Of ITO with REFORM" turn
Ing reformer may Illustrate the old adage
that politics makes strange bedfellows, but |
there are more persons who seem to think |
that the district attorney Is not sincere in |
his professions, that he has not seen
great white light, that what is being done
Is being done for effect. In other words, |
that a gigantic bluff Is being engineered
by Tammany Hall. The manner in which |
the crusade was worked up through the
newspapers. the fact that secrets were d. |
vulged that only gamblers could have i!
given secrets that the Mazet legislative in
Vestigating committee could not unearth,
arouses the suspicious of men who know a |
thing or two. |
AS a matter Of fact, there is scarcely |
newspaper man in the city who does not
know that the information that has led to
the recent shake-up was given out by the |
biggest gamblers in the city. In ali por- |
lions Of the city gambling rooms had been |
springing up during the winter. and as a |
result the big gamblers, who have been |
have been compelled to pay high tribute /
to the police, decided that now was the |
time to run all the little fellows out of the |
business.
Power of the Gamblers.
They were confident that they could get |
a suspension of the order any time they /
pleased but that in the meantime the lit |
tie fellows would have been shaken out or |
frightened away. When Canfield's quarter /
of q million dollar gambling establishment,
located next to Delmonico's. is closed; when |
the proprietors OF Kelleys princely poker
parfors have been held to the grand jury
the average man will commence to believe
in the sincerity OF District Attorney Gardi-
ner and his new-found reform friends.
Completion of Work Ordered.