Omaha daily bee., 1901-01-14
JANMED DOWN ON SPIT POINT
ST, Louis Grand Jury Handles Police Force
in Merciless Manner.
SHORTCOMINGS HELD UP TO PUBLIC scoRN
Report Ladies out Large Cob of
Censure for the Mayor and Diiates
upon Election Frauds and
winc-Room Evils.

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 13--The final report of
the grand jury, composed of prominent
business men who have been investigating
municipal matters, has been returned.
Twenty-four indictments only four Of
which are for minor crimes, are
made public The remainder, which
are against persons not yet in Gus
tody, are withheld. Among the twenty in
dictments is one against an official of the
house of delegates, who is charged with
attempting TO bribe "A states witness
against men accused of highway robbery.
He will be served with bench warrant on
Monday
The Post Dispatch says OF the report:
Accompanying the indictments was the
report of the grand jury touching their in
vestigations of police bribery and election
fraud charges together with the result OF
their investigation OF public criticism on
the conduct OF the police department.
Lack of cooperation between the Board
of Police Commissioners and the chief OF
police calls forth censure; corrupt use OF
the police in politics drawn from instances
during the last election, as Investigated by
| the jurymen, is condemned. and in this
connection meeting at the Planters hotel
| preceding the last election, where II Ia
charged that the police heads met and dis
I
police in their conduct toward the deputy
sheriffs under a republican administration,
are stgmatized by the jury as rcprehen-
/ sible.
The jurymen throw up their hands when
! they come to that portion of their report
| treating OF the many charges, specific and
| general, Of wholesale election frauds. They
! dismiss the charges as simply appalling
! by reason OF their multitude and varied
| character. SO vast was the evidence of
! this sort of corruption that the jury ex-
presses itself as utterly inadequate to cope
/ with the situation because of the limited
time at their disposal
A short chapter of consure is devoted to
the failure of the mayor to attend the
meetings Of the police board. OF which he
Is an oX-oflcio member by law. The jury
saws that opposite political affiliations are
no excuse for the persistent. and. TO them,
studied absence of the city's chief execu-
| tive.
Wine room evils are branded as being
among the worst iniquites of municipal
life and the evident failure OF the police
to crush this violation OF good morals re
celves a brief but sharp rebuke and the
| efforts by civil influences to eradicate the
sin are applauded with the admoniton that
the police exert more potent power In
dealing with the issue
The condition Of the city's eleemosynary
institutions are classed as wretched. What
the jurymen saw during personal visits to
the places is painted in the most depre-
catory manner and the kind OF admnistra-
tion of public affairs making possible such
conditions are referred to in an ironcal
strain.
In the foregoing connection the report
says that enforced economies and over,
crowding are carried on to such extreme,
that so far as they relate to methods the!
have made II necessary to employ ther
is an upcomfortaby close relation between
lack of funds and crime.