The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-13
AL ADAMS, POLICY KING
xxErcH OF MAN WHOM IT IS
 SOUGHT TO CONVICT.
Has Become Millionaire by Fleecing Poor Through Game of "Poilcy Called the Meanest Man
 in New York.

New York Sun. ,,, ni.,r,ct
 AI Adams, policy king, whom Dls..,Ss Attorney Jerome ana Sap.. t send to ss.;se,, has been described as the mean sst man in New York. This IS resuis of the special form of gambling out Q. which he has made a fortume, annrsx
 while William M. Tweed ana ms friends were lotting the city TeasuS - occurred to an industrious fankee ha,a, m d simmons that a fortune r,an smart .no,irh to devise 4 way to TOD the pooL of the cents, nickels and dines, wv . represented the amount oyer their ear = ings not necessary TOT 'ns saw that the gambling field proper was well cosereu. and that there was little room TOT newcomer. ,na ,ro. ,.i1ed him with a gambling game sum ciently exciting to Induce him 10 rsA, not only his nickels and dimes, put ens very coppers in his pocket and not only s,nor of tho East Side of New. York 10 the game of policy, and at the same time he laid the foundations or tne toI- tune of perhaps ss.0Ooooo and mayne sf;- o00 GOO which Al Adams. the present poi- lev king. is said to possess today.
 sirnons didn't know what he was do- inr for Albert J. Adams when .he began hiring men to write policy m the cieaI Eh0nS. East Side. He made a great deal ot money himself, and so did ms two brothers who later were his partners, but the total earnings of the three were insignificant compared 10 "hae 1>i Ao ans has made.
 There is no comparing Al Adams WIs. M ZachaTfah Simmons. or with any otMet gambler for that matter, because III tno history of New York there has been only one Al Adamas. Other men nave con d.,cted policy games. even during the time that Al Adams was the king or the game, but policy as Al Adams has con ducted it has been form of larceny so mean that those engaged in It are neio in kind of contempt by other gamD- lers. .. a,nna m the small change of poor men. htIt on the nickels and dimes or Worklng women and the cents of children as well. He has absorbed their homes. ana m some cases the very clothing on tneU hacks. and worse than all hs has cre- ated an army of gambling crazy men, women and children.
 The term policy fiend" very aptly de- scribes a large per centage of Al Adams s yictims. Honest men and women have become thieves to get a few cents Wltn which to play policy, and on the East Side there are hundreds of littie cniidreh who take the cents given them Dy char- itahly disposed persons for candy, and snend them on policy gigs instead Al Adams has placed the opportunity 10 .ssmble within the reach or every per son with a cent. and his fortune. accu- initiated in few years, shows In what fruitful soil he planted his seed.
 Today Al Adams is as money mad as he was on the day, many years ago, Wneh Zachariah Simmons perceivins In him talents which have since developed be- yond all expectatio IS. induced him to give up his job as a brakeman on tne New Haven Railroad and become pol icy runner. Even now, with a fine pros- poet of going to jail. Adams is still rak- ing in the small change of the poor Just as fast as he can get it.
 Every day sees the value Of his real estate holdings increase every day, his outside business interests. and they ln- clnde banking and brewing. are worth more to him: yet so greedy IS he that he continues his plundering of the poor through the medium of game, not of chance for the player, but of certainty for himself for it's manipulation is one Of the Improvements which Al Adams has made on the original Simmons game.