New-York tribune., 1901-08-11
UP TO ODELL, SAYS MOSS
MURPHY A MERE FIGUREHEAD, AND
WHOLE POLICE FORCE NEEDS
REORGANIZING.

TT is now up TO Governor Odell to say
whether or not he viii let Commissioner Muir
ply remain" said Frank Moss last night
1T is up to the Mayor to the Commits
sioner of Accounts to investigate, and to en-
ploy his own power a magistrate in the same
way that Justice Jerome has used his power
as a magistrate.
And it is up to Murphy to say whether or
not he will remain he is.
1T may be that Police Commissioner Murphy
is entirely innocent in this scandalous exposure.
But he is not the head of the department He
is nothing. He gives orders that none obey.
unless they want to and he makes suggestions
that nobody pays attention to- Devery is the
real chief of the department. He is a rough
man, brought up in a bad business, and doesn't
know any better. Very likely in other mat
ters than police matters Devery is a straight
forward man.
''It is up TO Mayor Van Wyck to reorganize
the whole Police Department. This is the only
solution of the trouble. The Mayor should ap-
point commission and allow it six months to
enroll an entirely new Police Department from
TOP to bottom, retaining only those men who
have an absolutely clean record.
The Mayor is a magistrate and has power TO
do at least as much as Justice Jerome has been
doing.
That Deputy Commissioner Devery had
knowledge of what was going on between his
department aad the poolrooms and disorderly
houses is evident from the instructions he is
sued 10 the telephone operators at headquarters
to follow Whitneys instructions
'Of course, the telephone operators must have
had criminal knowledge Of what they were doing,
but we can't identify them by telephone conver-
sation Nor can we identify Captain Vreden-
burgh by telephone conversation.
Il advised with Justice Jerome and others on
this whole action. We would like to have kept
It open little while longer, because Whitney's
+ next payment to Dillon was due in a few days
/ hut we thought best TO spring it at this time
/ I have every confidence in District-Attorney
/ Philbin ard his staff, which encourages me to
! hope for some results.
We have Whitney dead TO rights, and If he
sees his own interests he will help US. Whitney's
crime is not bribery. as he did not promise to
pay State official. but il is felony to aid and
/ s5et pOorooms. 1t is also compoundng a felony
/ to arrange for tipping off the poolrooms with
/ reference TO actions of the courts. We didn't
/ make any raids or fictitious raids following our
tips to Whitney, for the reason that we could not
/ rife with the processes of the courts. The
4 Nahoney combination Of pooroom keepers has
al! the force of the ruling political power behind
I II, and ii is very difficult to corner.
AS for Captain Delaney's offer of 500 a
month 10 McClintock il not crime. He
merely wanted TO be advised of what was going
Oh in his precinct
Mr. Moss said that other warrants would be
issued before long. as his society had in its pos
session a mass of testimony duplicating many
people.
Mr Moss yesterday received many messages
or complimentary nature on account of the
revelations following the arrest of Whitney and
Burgdorf