Evening star., 1901-07-20
STRIKING CONTRAST TO new YORK
Shutting Up the Gambling Houses
at Long Branch.
GOTHAM AN EASY TOWN
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star

oiioii e'ie VI lHiHaI or civil cases, mayor or
minor. disposed of with such expedition
anu economy as in the state Of New Jer
sey. Ihere is no interminable dragging
along OF murder trials. nor any perennial
pro'factlon' la Jarndyce vs.. Jarndyce, of
VIII contests. The criminal and civil judges
OF New Jersey aim to clean their calendars
up with such celerty that when they start
on their summer vacations they leave no
diminished business behind them, and they
generally succeed In their aim.
The contrast between the procedure of
the Jersey courts and the courts of New
hork is startling. A murder trial in New
YORK rarely comes to the climax before
three or four weeks, and some of them
oras along with hung juries and reversals
ana appeals and that sort of thing for
three or -FOUR years. A murder trial of
equal Importance in the state of New Jer-
sey rarely lasts longer than a week, and
the expense to the state is never one
twentieth the expense of even ordinary
murder trials in New York The four Pat
erson fellows who killed the Bosschieter
siri idSt winter We're tried in bunch. and
the trial lasted less than a week If the
crime mad been committed in New York
'he lour CRIMINALS would have been tried
separately beyond doubt and equally be-
yoiid doubt-because a couple of them
Deiohged TO wealthy and influential fam
Tor years. Within less than seven days af-
ter they were hauled before the New Jer-
sey court the four were getting their hair
Gu. cut IN the trenton prison and nicking off
the days on their twenty and thirty-year
sentences. Barker, the man who shot the
Arlington minister for alleged over-atten
ZION 10 ms wife. was on his way "over the
road to Trenton within ten days after his
s sriai oegan, and the trial Itself lasted only
lour days The judge sternly declined to
admit any evidence other than that direct
~ bearing upon the shooting Had that
case been tried in New York it would in
az propaplilty have gone on for a month
or so, and the red-ink editions Of the yell
lows would have famed with sala cious
testimony blazoned forth In big type.
Qulps, outlets, evasions. technca lities,
frivolous objections on the part of counsel
mtnese .hlngs don't go in any Jersey court
whatsoever The men on the bench over
there seem to accept much more of the
spirit ana obvious intention than the letter
or the law. with what beneficial results the
clean condition Of the courts and the wide
spread respect for Jersey Justice plainly
indicate.
realize Their RespOnsibiiity
But the judges Of Jersey hold that thew
have other work aside from simply sitting
in judgment on cases that are brought be-
fore them. They believe that they are on
the bench for the purpose of enforcing the
laws as they find them on the statute books
and they act on this belief.
, ltness, for example. the present state Of
Long Branch. There is no more rambling
In Long Branch today than there is in the
settlements OF the Dunkards. For the first
Time In the history of that seaside resort
public gambling has been absolutely wiped
out. All OF the ornate, superbIy appointed
"clubs'-including John Daly's Pennsyl-
vania Club, the most famous Of them all
are tightly bolted and rank weeds grow in
their yards where choice flowers bloomed
only last year. You can play bean-bag or
Jacks or mumbietty-peg for points in Long
Branch now, but you can't gamble-not II
Judge Fort knows 1t.
stopped Gambling Mt Long Branch.
Judge Fort is the man who closed up the
Long Branch gambling plants. He Is on the
supreme bench Of New Jersey. When he
donned the ermine he took a good, long look
over the Jersey statutes, and he found
spread thereon law prohibiting gambling
OF any and all sorts forever within the con-
nnes or the state. He went to the governor
or the state last winter and asked to have
a little additional power conferred upon him
Tor purpose he had In mind, and the gov
ernor and the legislature granted him the
power he asked. Then the judge moved on
the Long Branch works.
he found, OF course, that Long Branch
didn't want Its gigantic public gambling
business done away with; that the populace
gambling folks for the major portion Of its
summer income; that the business peopIe
were strenuously IN favor Of the perpetual
ton OF the clubs, and that the mayor and
the police had already ranged themselves
against him in his announced intention to
put the Long Branch gamblers out of bus
mess.
The judge summoned grand jury for the
special purpose Of dealing with the Long
Branch gambling business. and the talk
that he directed at that grand Jury made
fine reading
THE law against gambling" he said. in
essence, sis on the books. I didn't put IL
there. But It's there. Consequently, there
is going to be no further public gambling in
the state of New Jersey. Long Branch Is
called the Monte Carlo Of America It shall
not be 80 called at the close Of this year.
He Meant Business.
That was all. The whole matter closed
with Judge Forts instructions to his grand
jury. The proprietors Of the clubs sent
"feelers" to the judge, after the manner
in such cases made and provided, but their
emissaries returned to the gamblers COM
planning OF an exceeding great frost ac-
prietors of the "clubs'-not few of them
mllionaires-raged and snorted In private
and the Long Branch populace fumed, and
the mayor resigned. and the police sulked.
But the big gamblers bought padlocks for
their doors and tackled them on, They
knew that Judge Fort had taken up his
residence a short distance away from the
Branch, and they exhibited wholesome
respect for that man Of law and determt-
nation. The Long Branchites who need the
money have complained time and again to
the Judge that the resort Is sagging woe
fully since the exodus of the big gambling
house proprietors. The judge doesn't reply
to them, Let 'er sag," but he unques-
thinks It. He tells the committees
Of protestants against his course that gam
blers money is not the right kind Of specie
upon which the permanent prosperity Of
any sort Of community should be based,
and he predicts that when the nation at
large becomes convinced that Long Branch
is no longer one vast hive Of gamblers the
place will take jump In the favor of con-
servative, moneyed. law-abiding folks that
will surprise all ,handa-and he Is prob
ably right. Meanwhile. the Long Branch
ties are soaring their young ones with the
name of Fort" and to listen to their end
Of it you might fancy that Judge Fort is
Jeffreys Of the bloody assizes reincarnated
Now, here was a. bit Of Jersey suasion."
The gamblers were simply notified to lock
up, and they locked. They perceived that
the judge on their trail meant sure enough
business
Different in New York.
Could any wel1-informed individual, even
by the greatest possible stretching of the