The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-11-23

New York, November l6.-Bishop
Henry c. Potter. bishop of the Episco-
lpai diocese OF New York, today sent
IA letter to Mayor yanwyck, in refer
fence to vice in this city and especially
lon the east side. This letter is the one
promised some eek & when the
bishop publicly announced that one OF
his rectors had been grossly insulted
.by h commanding officials of a Ger
tain police station and that he pro-
posed to take up the matter in a man
Iner which the heads OF the police force
ishould feel.
AT the present writing there are three
movements directed against vice as it
lis displayed on the great east side.
These are quietly conducted in an in
Ivestigation Of District Attorney Gardi-
Iner in connection with Anthony Com
lstock's society for the suppression OF
vice; ~Tamnany's appointment of a
lcommittee TO investigate present con-
EDITIONS n Bishop Potter's crusade.
Bishop Potter in his letter to Mayor
lVanWyck first calls attention TO. the
work that is being done at the pro-ca-
Ithedral, $50 Stanton street, in endeav-
loring to improve the condition of the
poor of the east side tenement district,
in which il is located, and says it has
lbeen recognized as an important fac
tor in promoting the virtue and good
lorder of the community in which it
ministers. He continues:
"Tn view nf fhaca fontc ~ u-o,,lI
tseem that it has a valid claim upon
the sympathy, cooperation and at
least courteous consideration of those
who officially represent our city gov
Iernment and the guardianship of de-
Icency n good morals. I Its here
no other claim for it. The personal
lelement, as far as he is or / am con-
%lcerned, is of the very smallest conse-
lquence; but the thing that is of conse-
lQuence is that when a minister of re-
lligiOn and a resident in a particular
lneighborhood, whose calling n char
lacter, experience and truthfulness are
Jail alike widely and abundantly recog-
|nized, goes to the headquarters of the
lpolice in his district to appeal to them
for the protection of the young, the
innocent and the defenceless against
the leprOuS harpies who are hired as
runners and touters for the lowest and
most Infamous dens of vice, he is met,
IllOI oIiy WILL COIllCIllpl dHQ fQcI iSlOl,
but with the coarsest contumely and
l~obloQuy."
The bishop goes on to say:
II am not, I beg to say, unmindful
lof the fact that the existence of vice
in a great city is, practically, an inev-
liable condition of the life Of such a
community. / am not demanding that
vice shall be stamped out by the po-
lice or any civil authority. This is a
task which would demand for it's
achievement a race of angels n not
|of men,; but l approach you, sir, to
protest with all my power against a
|condition of things in which vice is
mot only tolerated, but shielded and
encouraged by those whose sworn du-
lty it is to repress and discourage it,
land, in the name of unsullied youth
land innocence, I protest, as my peo-
tple have charged me to do, against the
insult, the persistent menace, the
funutterably defi1ing contacts, to which
day by day, because of the base COM
Iplicity of the police of New York with
the lowest forms of vice and crime.
they are subject.
And, in the name of these little
ones, these weak and defenceless Cnes,
christian Hebrew alike, of many
races and tongues, but of homes in
which God is feared, and His law rev.
|erenced, and virtue and decency hon.
Iored and exempli1ed, I call upon you.
sir, to save these people who are in
a very real way committed to your
charge, from a veritable hell, defiling,
deadly, damning, to which the crimi-
nal su~pineness Of the constituted au-
thorities, set for the defence Of decency
and good order threatens to doom
them"
Bishop Potter, in conclusion says
he had no methods to suggest for the
lettering of the conditions, these are
in the hands of the mayor.
Mayor VanWyck at once replied
to the bishop by letter in which he said
he had passed the bishops communi-
cation to the district attorney n then
says:
II wish here to assure you that l
will exert every power which the law
has given to right the wrongs and to
do away with the conditions of which
you complain, and to secure a hearty
and efficient cooperation by the police
department with all who are working
to do away with public violations of
law and decency. I stand ready at
all times to assist and cooperate with
you in his matter"
Mayor VanWyck's letter to the dis
Itrict attorney requests him ii co-ope-
rate with Bishop Potter and the police
department in the movement.
In a letter to the board Of polio
commissioners the mayor enclOses a
tSOPJ "a AN IA -
the commissioners to at once conduct
a searching investigation int the con-
duct of the two police officials whom
the bishop says insulted the clergy
man.
The committee of five, appointed by
Mr.. Croker to suppress vice, held it's
first meeting in Tammany Hall today.
John Kellar, one of the committee, in
vited every citizen of New York to
lay before them any evidence that will
help suppress the dives or prove pub
lie officials guilty of c~onnivance with
terminal vice.
Spare no one;}' was Cookers order
Ito the committee.
Chief of Police Devery had men out
Ito close the dives. He declares the
town will be closed tight. Detectives
tonight arrested nine women on Forty
second street between Third and Sixth
Iavenues and locked them up.