New-York tribune., 1903-04-28
AT LAST.


"Al" Adams is at last in Sing Sing. All the
efforts of his clever lawyers and the power OF
his dirty money have not availed him. Stamped
nv rublic execration as the meanest of crimi-
nails. he has gone TO prison handcuffed to
common swindler. 1t IS possible to have GER
tain sympathy with a bold burglar or high
wavman, or with the fOrger or counterteiter
who starts out to measure his wits with So
ciety. We can even say something for the gam
bier who plays straight game for the amuse-
ment at their expense of people who are ar least
supposed to be able TO afford it But the climax
of meanness is fllching pennies from the poor
and ignorant, teaching children to steal in order
to play the so-called game which is only
swindle and in the name of gambling take bets
from deluded victims on what is almost sure
thing for the mathematical chance of the num-
hers guessed being drawn in Adams's game was
prodigiously less than the odds he offered. The
man who would take the pennies off a dead
mans eyes is proverbiaI, but he is really
decent fellow compared with Adams. He may
lack respect for the dead and indulge in rather
grewsome avarice, but, after all, he does not
hurt anybody The dead man will not miss the
pennies. But the poor wretches who, penny by
penny, built up Adams's Millions they and
their families were dragged lower and lower by
his snare.
It was a long lane, but it has turned at last
It is q year and half now since Adams ceased
to enjoy the favor of the municipal authorities
Perhaps some people have been impatient with
the slow results Of reform, but here is one OF
them achieved with great difficulty. 1t took
long course of police discipline to break down
the bulwark which Adams had, with Tam
many's aid, erected for his protection. The per-
sistence which has finally landed him In State
prison is more worthy OF respect than would
have been a sensational conviction Immediately
after the downfall of Tammany to be followed
by an era of sef-satisfaction. From time to
time in the last year and half we have noted
signs of popular impatience not unnatural con-
sidering what human nature is, but we think
there is d growing feeling Of satisfaction with
the solid and more and more apprecia bic re-
suits of reform. From political point of view
we are not at all sure that a procession to Sing
Sing Of the criminals protected by Tammany,
in Office and out of it. will not be quite use
| full as a warning to evildoers now as It would
| have been year and half ago. Memories are
short, and ii is good that row Of Tammany
criminals should stand up in line to remind peo-
| pie what Tammany is as it asks to be tntrusted
| again with power; and If by chance It wins it
will also be good for its candidates to enter Of
| fee with the fresh example before them Of the
wages of crime 1t may help them to give US
a trife better government than they otherwise
| would. If it should happen that we fall into
their clutches. Adams is Cne good warning,
like the gibbeted figures that decorated old
| time crossroads. We hope Mr. Jerome will
| push the investigations Of the dock scandals
which have finally been unearthed, and that he
viii soon put out OF suspense that long endur-
/ ing and too little tried ScanneIl