Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-17
THUCG|SM AN ISSUE
In the New York Municipal
Campaign.
MONK" EASTMAN CASE
BEING USED TO ANSWER FUSION
CHARGES.
Two Brands Of the Thug, One Of
Which is Always
Rampant.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
NEW YORK. October 10. 1903.
Tammany is availing itself of the Monk"
Eastman issue as an Offset to the fusion
lists rehabilitation of the red light and
cadet campaign cry Monk Eastman
is the thug and the leader of thugs who.
| with certain millionaire Of New York. is
| now on trial for a deadly assault upon the
millionaire's coachman. the charge being
that the thug was paid for the job by the
rich man. who was suffering under the HUI
initiation OF having been soundly thrashed
by his coachman.
Tammany is really in a position to make
skillful use of the thug ISSUE for 1t is the
simple fact that the gangs Of thugs have
/ fiourished and waxed brazen during the
present administration. Under the Tamma-
ny regimes the old-time gangs such as the
'Whyos." the Red Learys," the Tenth
Avenue Strangers. and others. were either
| broken I'D or cowed and beaten to cover,
for the reason that the regularly organized
cohorts OF Tammany. including the many
thousands Of enrolled Tammany thugs had
such a nrm grip upon the town that the
services OF the outside, independent gangs
became superffuous. When. however, Tam
many was voted out of power. and the fu-
slonlsts stepped in. the Tammanyized po-
lice perceived a glorious opportunity to
cast dfScredit upon the new regime in at
least one respect That is to say. the Tam
manyized police calmly permitted the gangs
OF outside thugs to reorganize and gather
strength-there is. indeed. more than a sus-
picfon In the minds of persons in position
10 watch these things that the police in
certain precincts actually helped. of course
III 1urt1ve manner. in the reorganization
OF the gangs of thugs
Thus. during the past year or So the
newspaper outcries over the outrages of all
Sorts including many gruesome murders
committed by members of these strongly
of he
and prolonged This is exactly what was
desired by the Tammany schemers of the
| police department.
Impression on the Uninitiated.
Citizens not familiar with the situation.
and who have no means of knowing how
the thugs have been not only let up upon"
but actually coddled by the anti-reformers
Of the police department for political pur-
| pose. can therefore not be blamed for rue
fully saying to each other that bad as
Tammany was when at the height Of its
power. it at least succeeded in scattering
| the thug gangs. and there is no doubt that
| this state of mind on the part of thousands
| OF gang-abhorring New York citizens Is go
| ing to help Tammany appreciably at the
| polls. There Is. as a matter of fact. very
| decided opinion In the ranks of the reform
| voters that the present regime has expended
altogether too much OF its ammunition in
| the hopeless endeavor to uprOot the gam
| blers. whilst leaving all of the other evils
under which the town suffers to thrive
| without hindrance or interruption. There
was time in the history of New York, and
| not so many years ago. either, when the
| town was actually terrorized throughout its
| entire length and breadth by these gangs of
| thugs-when it was positively unsafe for
| an unarmed man to venture forth after
nightfaH in any part of the city. This sit
| uation cleared by Tammany when
Tammany saw that it could get all of Its
foul yncE wi
members of the Tammany outfit. and TAM
| many seized the opportunity to manufac-
| ture capital for itself by sending many
| leaders of the gangs to the scanold and DIS
| banding the thug gangs by the simple pro-
cess of breaking the thugs heads with their
| clubs. Whatever the motive. however.
which inspired the Tammany of those days
| to smother and uproot the thugs. Tammany
| got the credit for the work And the Tam
| many that is now fighting for reinstatement
| in power is receiving credit for having peen
! more effectual in dealing with the gangs or
| a few years ago than the reform admins
| ira ton has shown itself to be during its
| regime. Tammany's cart-tail orators are
| already sneering at the "gang-rldden re,
| formers, and the Tammany screens ana
| transparencies audaciously present lists OF
| the outrages or the crimes that have been
| committed by the thugs during the past TWO
| years, when. as matter OF Iact' any pouy
possessing a grain of Information as 10 the
| real situation knows that the recrudeScence
of these thug gangs would have been I'M
possible without the conn1vance, not u say
| the actual cooperation, Of Tammany and
| the Tammany police.
| 1t happens. though. that there are sooo
| many tens of thousands of voters over
| here who really do not possess the neces-
sary grain of Information with respect 10
| the real situation. and that IS the reason
whv Tammany's skiIlful raising Of the
| thug cry is likely to prove an eHectlVe an
| tfdote to the red light shibboleth OF the
| fusionists and accomplish great deal to-
ward the naturalization of the latter issue
| In the show down at the polls.
Breach-of-P Promise Artists.
A New York captain of police. who used
to be one of the stars of the Byrnes de-
teetiye staff, in commenting a couple of
DAYS ago upon the somewhat complicated
prospective matrimonial affairs of a noted
politician Of this state. told the writer that
| he knew of half a dozen accomplished but
constituencies women making their head
quarters In New York who for a number of
years have derived large incomes from
suing or threatening to sue wealthy elderly
men for breach of promise of marriage
The women operate in many different states
under different names, and they exhibit a
marvellous shrewdness in the selection of
their victims. AS rule, they endeavor to
choose foolish. elderly persons with pen
chant for letter writing, and men, TOO,
whose social and financial position Is such
that they will usually arrive at a Compro-
have the cases actually carried to courts of
law The captain Of police mentioned one
woman who lives in a superb home on
Long Island, who has prospered exception
ally in her plying of the breach-of- promise
game. and he estimated that she had had
made something like half million of dol
lars out of it during the past fifteen years
She has now retired" from the business"
and is devoting herself to the careful eiu-
cation of an accomplished family Of deugh-
tiers. There seems to be no law. other than
that of blackmail, under which these cheer
full feminine schemers can be punished, and
the captain said that great ma jority of
the victims Of such women would prefer to
die something like thousand deaths rather
than to invoke the blackmail law to rid
themselves of their tormentors. Thus they
suffer years of protracted gouging whole
sale and retail at the hands of the women
into whose clutches they have foolishly per-
mitted themselves to fall, with no recourse
except to perpetualIy give up upon de-
mand The police captain instanced an
other feminine schemer of this sort who
had three separate and distinct breach-of-
promise suits running in three different
states atsthe same time, the woman tigur-
ing in each case under different names
and she won two of the suitsi
Christian Scientist Gets Dose Of Her
Own Medicine"