Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-05

house lent an air of genuineness and regu.
iarfty to their operations, and that the
removal carried on so openly and above
poard; Il was easy enough for notch
nouseoreakers, such as these fellows were
70 erect an entrance to the rich home
Gaming an entrance through the basemen.
uoor' tney opened, the front door, and then
they oilthely proceeded to strip and dis
mantle the house. They were very leis-
ureiy and deliberate about it, and smoked
thelr pipes and siested with each other
out on the sidewalk with a fine imitation OF
the manners of professional furniture NOV
ers. There were about eight of them alto
getner attached to the two furniture vans
SO tnat II only took them about two hours
TO gut the hause, so to speak. from top to
bottom They annexed everything in sight,
including the gas and coal ranges in the
kitcnen. Having engaged the services of a
nusht Watchman. the proprietor OF the home
nao not thought 1t necessary to pack away
tne SILVER very rich and historical lot OF
piate. py the way, and the easy-mannered
oaynsnt thieves got every ounce of it. The
most moderate estimate of their plumber OF
tne mouse made it amount to $4,000. all of
Wnicn was snugiy slowed away in the two
vans, while hundreds of pedestrians were
passing by. and while the peering neigh
opIs were wondering what had induced the
absent family to decide to store the furni-
ture OF the city establishment
me night Waterman got around along
toward Z o'clock that evening, and when
ne ne went through the house he found that
the thieves had been considerate enough
70 ieave the gax fixtures and the mantels.
OUT very little else. Since that afternoon
oetectives have been endeavoring to run
GOWN the mld-afternoOn burglars, but not a
trace have they found of the bold. bad
chaps.
Capt. Miles O'Reilly.
perhaps no man living in the world today
osclflates more curiousIy between the affec-
tion and approval Of one element of a COM
munfty and the fear and hatred of another
element than a certain-captain Of police who
was brought over to New York from Brook
iyn rev weeks ago. His name Is Miles
ORellly, and he Is going to be at the head
OF the police of New York one of these
Gays as sure shooting. During the
shake-up Of the New York police a few
weeks ago Miles OReilly who had for many
years been in charge of an insignificant
precinct over in Brooklyn was brought over
mere TO take charge of the most notorious
ponce precinct perhaps in the whole world
the headquarters Of which is the Oak street
station. This precinct includes the famous
Red Light district of New York and every
Dody KNOWS that it was the unspeakabiy
loui state of that precinct that caused
Iammany to be beaten at the last NUM-
ctpal election
For many years the Tenderloin ,recinct
OF New DIRK has been an area Of the purest
virtue compared with the Oak street pre-,
cinct. captain after captain of police has
been sent to Oak street for the purpose Of
making it less stencil In the nostrjls Of
we" York, and every man-jacH Of them
1eH down lamentably in endeavoring to ac-
complish the task. New Workers came to
peileVe that there were more Augucan sta
bles in the Oak street precinct than any
dozen Herculean police captains, no mat
Ter now sincere their efforts, could ever
hope to clean I'D
Most Of the police captains begged to be
he III
nature OF the Oak street assignment and
the police authorities had about given the
precinct up as bad job when 1t was de-
COED to fetch Miles O'Reilly over from
BROOKLYN as last attempt to see IL this
man with reputation for strength, firm
ness and honesty could do anything with
the red light outfit. 3.
O'Reilly Made Short Work of It.
ORe1lly accomplished the job in lust
three days. His method was very simple.
lie was neither highrhanded, persuasive nor
brutal. He simply told the law-breakers
that they'd better be good and that they'd
better be quick about being good, or he'd
land them where they wouldn't be able to
hear the brides sing for long while to
come. They tried all sorts Of methods on
O'Reilly. but O*Reiiiy was Irish adamant to
all Of their suggestions man who ought
to know told the writer that Miles O'ReilIy
hard cash inside of those three days that
1t took him to clean up the Red Light dis
trict had he chosen to deviate from his life
long course of honesty-for the Oak street
rooms. brace gambling joints. and other
plants that regard the purchasing of police
immunity as being as legitimate an ex-
penditure as the payment of rent or gas
ever dreamed Of ever closing his establish
ment up on Sunday or between the restrict
ed hours OF the week days, excise law or no
excise law. and there were several gin-mill
proprietors IN the district who had boosted
that when. they opened up their places,
good many years ago, they had thrown
away the keys and had never closed I'd for
as much as ten minutes since. But O'Reilly
or something. but O'Relly saw to it that
they closed up on the dot Of the minute
that the law required them to close
O'Reilly found that certain famous per-
ness in the Oak street precinct. Peter De-
lacy IS millionaire proprietor of a pool
room In that precinct. He had been run
ming that pool room for nearly twenty
years. and during all Of the reform seges,
and under the regimes Of all of the Oak
street captains of police. he had never
ceased conducting his pool room business.
When every other pool room in New York
was shut up tighter than snare drum
Peter Delacy went right on putting up the
prices on the horses and inviting his horse
betting patrons to come along and bet their
money
One Of New York's Mysteries.
Peter Delacy and his pull had been one
of the standing mysteries of New York for
a good two decades. Miles O'Reilly knew
all about this when he arrived at Oak
street. He had never so much as clapped
an eye on the puissant Delacy in his life.
but on the Afternoon that he arrived at
Oak street OReilly summoned an ordinary
patrolman, the man covering the Delacy
beat, and quietly told the cop to drop
around on Delacy and inform him that he
had better not open up for business on that
day. Delacy didn't open up on that day,
and 1t was the first week day In twenty
years that he hadn't opened up for bust
ness. It is reported that he called upon
O'Reilly on the day that he was notified
to close up, and that he departed from the
Oak street station on that occasion with a
precipitancy very unusual for portly
person.
The closing up Of De1acy started the
stampede. When the grafters of the pre-
cinct saw that the potential Delacy even
had to obey the tip. they all put up the
bars. Unnameably vile for quarter Of a
century the red light district of New