New-York tribune., 1901-02-20
PRICE THREE CENTS.
SEEKING THE PROTECTOR"
PHILBINs RAID ONLY FIRST STEP IN
CRUSADE.
REAL EVIDENCE. WHICH THE FIVE
DARED NOT sUPPLY-THE
PUBLIC WARMED.


made upon the alleged poolroom the Parole Turf
Club, at No. 20 Dey-st. Monday. in which
Maurice F. HOlahan. Tammany's president OF
the Board of Public Improvements. and eight
police officers were caught. together with almost
seventy other persons. One of these facts Is
that the raid not the work Of the COMMITTEES
Of Five. but almost entirely due TO District
Attorney Phbin and Justice William Travers
Jerome The Five We're not let into the secret
at all. The plans carefully laid by District
Attorney Philbin. Assistant District Attorney
Schurman and Justice Jerome days before the
raid was made. Then Just at the last moment.
and more than anything else because Lewis
Nixon happened to be in Mr.. Schurrnan's office
when the expedition started. the chairman OF
the Five was invited 10 go along He did After
ward, he said he went as the Five's representa-
tive
This much credit is TO be accorded to Mr..
Nixon. however. The Parole Turf Club is one
of the places against which the Five had pro-
cured certain hearsay evidence. and had turned
Ii over 10 Mr. Philbia; moreover, one of the
Ffve's detectives. who had been lent 70 Mr..
Philbin. was used to keep watch the placs
on Tuesday, and to inform the District Attorney
by telephone az what hour the place was doing
a rushing business. The Five did not even
know what work their detective had been set to-
perform. Mr.. Nixon went 10 Philadelphia early
showed that the Five were not dead or sleeping.
nor had they been called off," as reported. Hs
intimated that more raids would follow. Colonel
Michael G.. Murphy. another of the Five, and
Tammany leader Of the district in which ths
raid was made. said:
This raid proves that the evidence we have
gathered is of some Importance. We have known
that there were poolrooms in the Ist Assembly
District. of course. but there is no more reason
al,
any other. start had to be made somewhera~
PHILBIN REALLY DID 1T.
Notwithstanding these attempts of the Tam
many Purifiers to take credit for the raid ths
truth is that they merely directed Mr.. Philbin's
attention the place. and he went there and
collected his own evidence
But more important than the Ffves connec-
tion, or lack Of connection, with the raid fs the
fact that il is Just step in a determined
crusade which Mr. Philbin will conduct not so
much against Illegal resorts as against those
who protect them. Hardly was the news
of Mondays raid made public before men began
10 say: What does one raid amount TO? Why
close one poolroom and allow scores of others
70 remain open? Mr.. Philbin has simply wasted
time"' The Rev. Dr. Parkhurst was quoted i'm
this vein and when the printed report OF his
words was shown 10 Mr. Philbin. the District
I Attorney said:
Or. Parkhurst would be quite right in think
ing that one raid is loss Of time il had made
il with no ulteriOr design beyond the mere clos
ing Of that one pooIroom. But such was not
my purpose. II am to cope successfully with
the problem of protected vice in this city r must
first get evidence so strong that it will stand the
test of the Grand Jury. petit jury. the Appel
late Division of the Supreme Court and the
Court OF Appeals itself. for I have to contend
with what is probably one of the strongest COM
binations OF money and brains that District
Attorney ever went I'D against-a combination
skilled in meeting and defeating former efforts
To destroy it,
The third important fact revealed yesterday is
that the real objective point of Mr. Philbins
crusade is to discover who collects the "protec-
ton money from the keepers Of poolrooms and
other illegal resorts. That the collector IS a
politician high up in the councils of Tammany
Hal is generally understood but he covers his
tracks skilfully that the hunt for him viii
be both difficult and exciting
THE DISTRICT ATTORNEYS PLAN
Mr.. Philbin is not revealing his methods but
his plan of campaign appears 20 be about as
follows: First make raid a pOolroom, ar
resting the proprietors and holding the fre-
quenters as witnesses. Second. get so much evt-
dence from the witnesses as shall make the con-
viction of the poOroom Keepers certain Then,
when prison doors are yawning for a dozen ore
So of these keepers find out IL three four or
them, disgusted at finding that the protection
they bought dearly. is powerless to protect
will turn States witnesses and reveal tho
name OF the man 70 whom they paid the tax.
Whether this be Mr.. Philbin's exact plan ot
campaign not cannot. of course be stated
with absolute certainty. but at least two devel-
opments yesterday Indicate that il is. One OF
these was the strictly private examination con-
Quoted behind guarded doors by Justice Jerome
and Assistant District Attorney Schurman. OF
seven eight of the witnesses captured in
Tuesdays raid. Their names We're not revealed.
and before they were allowed 10 60 they
warned not to talk TO reporters. This work OF
examining the witnesses Will go on steadily un-
ill Thursday, for which day the examination ot
the alleged pOOroOm keepers arrested on Tues
day is set
The other indication was a somewhat extraOr-
dnary notice issued to the public by Mr. Phil
bin himself. The District Attorney said he de-
sired TO give warning TO all persons who fre-
qTent poOlrOoms and all other places where the
law is being violated. that they may be called
upon any time by the service Of a subpoena
to attend before the Grand Jury or a magistrate
to give evidence TO such places. He
pressed the opinion that the most effective way
70 obtain evidence 10 ascertain the names
OF the patrons and summon them TO testify.
That Mr. Philbin is willing to antagOnize the
large number of NeWY YOT6eTs who frequent
such places by practically threatening them
with subpRnas IL they do not abandon the
resorts where they have become known shows
that he is in deadly earnest. The reason he
gives for issuing this warning Is that large
proportion OF thu witnesses captured in Tues
days raid clerks who would probably lose
their places II their employers learned that they
were IN the nabt or gambling their slender
salaries away in pOOlrOOms. These have pleaded
so hard with Mr.. Phlbin to keep their names
secret and have promised vOluby 10 reform
that he will not expose them il he get along
without their evidence but after the warning
issued yesterday. he wants such persons to