New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-14
ALL SHOPS THERE CLOSED.
TIDRIDGE-ST STATION POLICE EN-
FORCE ALL SUNDAY CLOSING LAWS
IN THEIR PRECINCT

Desnite the activity of the uniformed police
Ill over Manhattan yesterday the men OF ihe
Jcldrisge-st. precinct, under command or cap
tain Walsh. easily beat all records Tor ohp-
baths work They made in all siXty-one arrests
FOR violation of the Sunday closing laws UP 10
midnight OF these only four were for violation
,or the excise law, The remaining f1fty-seyen ar
rests embraced violations of Sunday closing
laws that have so long been regarded as dead
letter regulations that the small tradesmen Of
,be district We're in a state Of terror last night
The violations charged in the complaints
against the nearly threescore of prisoners range
all the way from the selling Of peanuts worth
sUo cents from a corner stand TO seiiihg hes
uer-st. suit of --hand-me-downs
The crusade against the shopkeepers, pedlers
and the like began early in the day Many of
the prisoners Were men OF Hebrew faith. They
opened their little shops and stores early and it
was not O'Clock when the first arrests were
made Nine of this class were taken TO the sta
lion arraigned in the Essex Market Police Court
and each fined 81 for violating the Sunday
closing laws.
One of this nine was Constantine Zatardta,
Greek. He has big family, lives in a Hester-st
tenement house. and every day stands by little
peanut laden cart at the Bowery and Bayard-
st He sold hot peanuts worth two cents to a
snewsboy and arrested.
Another prisoner has a jewelry store IN
Eldridge-st. He sold Sc watch, and was ar
rested. No matter what the offence, nor how
ever small and insignificant the sale, every man
found in any part of the precinct with an open
place of business and selling to a customer was
arrested.
Young woman went into a little Hester-st.
millinery store to buy a feather with which TO
trim new hat. The man who sold the feather
was arrested. Another sold cape; others sofa
li,Ar fT1rn
underwear, mems hats, nechues: rlppo.s anu
innurnerab bic other little things Each ana every
was arrested and locked up; Many OF mem I'm
succeeded in getting ball. but others We're not SO
fortunate. and had either to stay in Jan or re
sort 70 the usurious demands Of the 'profes-
sional" bondsman.
An day the crusade was kept up. For the
most part the arrests We're made by men in uni
form. who although they did not personally
make the purchases, stood by and saw the sales
made In some few instances the arrests were
made by precinct detectives in plain clothes
The news of the crusade did not get nosed
about the precinct as qunkly as it did when
the policeTnen Of the West Thirty-seventh-st
station went on their now more or less famous
revolt two weeks ago and made raids on the
saloons OF Captain Foody's precinct So the
little East Side shopkeepers kept open, and no.
body tipped them off, to close up
what started the crusade could not be def
-.itely ascertained last night Last Sunday
rbera were about eighteen or twenty arrests
,,nser similar circumstances in the precinct,
and in the week. IT is said, the policemen de-
cided TO close the district up tight in all re-
spects Yesterday While only four arrests were
made for violation of the excise laws, II was
declared by a member of the uniformed force to
be all the violations OF the law mat coulo De
found in the precinct.
I'VE are going to close them all up" said this
policeman. 81 don't believe there was saloon
keeper in the precinct thai did business to-day
that was not arrested. The Sunday closing
laws in this district are going to be enforced
That's all there is TO the whole business
On the part of the shopkeepers there was the
greatest indignation last night On every hand
the police action was denounced as an outrage