The times., 1901-04-06

open, and its going to stay open long as the
! majority wants it open. He believes. as his
| profession proves. in putting bold front
and taking chances; men who afraid 10 do
! this and yet graft. DE they policemen or politi-
clans. become for him unmugged thieves. -
In his book, Powers That Prey" Mr..
Flynt says conciseIy:
| ''The Platonic idea OF the case is that between
detective and criminal there exists natural
| feud like that between the shepherd and the
| wolf The simiIitude Is perfect in but one
1 respect; both wolf and shepherd live at the ex-
pense of the flock.
It is this condition of things which, in
! the present article. is so frankly eX-
| posed that it has made the Police De-
partment of New York very angry.
| They say that the author has put
| stigma on whole body of men" This
| is true; but if the stigma is deserved it
/ might as well be there.
Here is another interesting bit of de-
/ scription of the life of the Under
| World" in New York:
! ''No one knows absolutely how many guns
| there in New York; the Front Office itself
could not tell for a certainty the number Of first
/ class thieves who the streets at this
moment; but u Il generally accepted fact
! among the guns themselves that every day in
I the week there enough grafters in the city
! 90 people a good-sized county seat. Collected
and classified the great majority would I've found
10 be rather small fry hut q sufficiently large
number of them would have to be included among
the Number One They live in the city
mainly during the winter, and in The spring
jump out in 'mobS' to the various resorts
There is doubt that the privilege 10 have
home within the jurisdiction OF the police costs
all the hrSt-claSs men something, but am not
prepared to give any trustworthy schedule OF
prices. The Power that Rules referred to in
the beginning Of this chapter i man that
know could be bribcd TO keep quiet about
thef'S presence in New York. and If | were
thief myself ! should not hesitate to offer him
twenty-five dollars when introduced to him.
and 'tenner' from time to time during my
stay in town. For this remuneration ! should
expect that he would refuse to tip me of
to his >lperiors and shield from orders TO
call at the Front Office. II he broke faith with
me and brought Hp on the carpet.
should DO what a gun OF my acquaintance claims
Is always his practice under such circumstances
-'sqUeal oH the copper.
And here is little English pick
pockets opinion of the duty of the po-
lice toward one 'joint:"
Sc There amt no use talkin lie said. after
we had been sitting quietly at a table Tor a few
minutes. observing the antics OF the habitues
of the place, this is dead tough. l wouldn't
allow this. r | was the chief, I'll be -- If
would. ! like open town where everything
goes all right enough but I'd douse the gim
here. Chspmaus got gall than have
'' Perhaps be can't help himself suggested.
There may be somebody over at the Hall that
stands for it,.
Wen. / wouldn't give a -- whether the
whole push at the Hall stood for it. I'd put
the lights out here as long as ! was captain, and
the Comm >Si0uers could switch me uptown II
they liked I'm thief and bad one II YOU
like, but no captain OF police has got any busl-
ness protectiu' this kind of a joint. and | know
it and YOU know il. I'd like to see this town
couldn't help it. but not any more'n the police
Do. Do you know what the coppers cost this
bgg2 Vel. its ten million plunkS easy. And
what do the citizens get for it? The Broadway
squad an dead easy town to graft in
One may say that this is Satan rebuk-
ing sin, but it is undeniable that when
Satan finds occasion to do anything Of
the sort the sin must be rather spectac-
ular.
There are dozen bits of testimony in
this article which bear evidence of their
truth on the face of them. One Of the
incidents recorded by Mr.. Flynt con-
Germs the "ex-gun" mentioned at the
beginning of the article. A man from
out of town was robbed of eighty dol
lars in circumstances which he did not
care to have published in the papers at
tached to his right name. The detective
in question made a graft of the eighty
dollars and secured the release Of the
culprit. the victim Of the robbery not
being able to give positive and irrefu-
table testimony. and the detective re-
naming silent and non -committal. An
other interesting statement is made by
a well-known thief who makes New
York his haa5uuar+ars opR cove tLa+ If
the police force Of that city chose TO do !
50 it could give warning of his where
abouts when he is doing business"
elsewhere. He said:
4 am known in York as well as any of the
Nanderbiits are as far the cOppers concern
ed. and they keep track Of me through mouth
when I'm ont on the road cause I don't bother
them here IN town. ] fence good deal OF the
sEag here, but they don't know where / do it,
and what they don't know they amt worryiu'
the police think they know; that's good copper
doctrine; but the guns can give EN- cards and
spades an beat en- about KNOWN what's gon
on. u | leave town lOoNn' seedy an come back |
SWELL they know Z I've made strike some
where but nine times out o ten they don't know !
where il came of. and don't care. II ] make !
touch here in town aud tle hollers big. they'll !
land me If they can; but / never done time !
vet that money wOuldnt a got out OF T I'd !
had enough OF il. Why, Nalling himself. the /
old Superintendent. said in his book that there |
wasn't crime in the calendar that Jay Gould !
could be convicted of Il he wanted to pony up |
enough plunks. It's more or less the same way |
with a gun. II he's got enough fall money he |
can square the whole bloomin' town"
And again:
zone Of the seyerest criticisms of the detec- |
tive department Of New York that ] heard per- |
tained TO what a gun described as its four
hushiu stunts
% The poor pub swallows the CUFF every time, |
too he went on. They make pinch o some !
second-class old thief like Jim Mason OF some |
Of the have-beens o. twenty years ago, and tell |
the reporters that they've copped out the fyest /
on the turf. The pub don't hear /
Of a really good gun bein copped out in this |
berg once IN six months. Look at the police !
columns in the newspapers Nine out o every |
ten pinches Is East side door-mat thieves
% The pub doesn't hear OF many good touches |
IN New York either ] could not help saving.
90 No. If YOU mean banks an ioolry places:
but the Big Nan Nhe PinkertonsD : protectin' |
most o. them; 'taju'J the Front Ofice. The |
guns leave the Big Mans territory alone if |
they can. II there was two banks standin' close
together. an one O. them a member o. the
the guns 'ud tackle the other one FIRST. The
Big Man protects the Bankers Association
Banks -
All this is picturesque Information
enough, and the public VIII be likely to
ask who is responsible for the state of
things According TO Mr.. Flynt, the
Under World" which should know best
who are its worst enemies, declares
that the captains Of the precincts.