The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-13
.lllegitimatc Business in Merchants Hotel.
 IS RUN BY R. ALEXANDER
 Chief of Police Talks of His Efforts. MoutgemeTy Parents Plead for En- forcement Of the Laws But With out Av.il-story Told by One Citisen.
IS RUN BY R. ALEXANDER

Police Chief A. s. Gerald of Mont gomery declared yesterday that Robert Alexander, who conducts a gambling house on the third floor of the Mer- chants Hotel on Bibb Street, had defled him and that his department was pow
 erless to drive Alexander from his ille- gitimate businesss
 The trial of Alexander, who is a well known gambler. charged with assault with intent to murder as the result of a shot fired by him at Goodwin Jones Saturday night, was continued in the Recorders Court yesterday afternoon until this afternoon. Alexander has
 employed counsel to defend him in the case and the trial promises to be inter- estinE.
 The shooting attracted considerable attention Saturday night. as both men are well known in Montgomery. Alex ander came to Montgomery about two
 months ago and leased the Merchants Hotel and made extensive improve
 ments in it. It is said that the hotel
 is merely a blind for the existence Of
 a gambling room on the third floor of the building. The police believe that there Is a gaming room in the build ing and Chief Gerald says they have made repeated efforts to get evidence against the men but have been unsuc- cessful.
 The announcement in The Advertiser Sunday morning that the third floor of the Merchants Hotel was being used as A gambling hall caused much comment. Impotent Chief Gerald. Speaking yesterday with reference to Alexander and his gambling house, Chief Gerald of the police department said:
 For the information of those per sons who are prone to crfticise the po- lice for their apparent neglect of this matter, I want to tell you some or the | things we have done to stop 1t. "I have had men stationed in front | of the hotel at night with instructions
 to take the names of every man who | went in there. We have sought to view 1 the interior of the third floor in vari- | ous ways We have tried to see some | thing from windows of adjacent build ings, but the hotel windows have been
 kept closed and the back windows-tne
 windows of the room in which believe l the gaming is carried on-are barred l and boarded.
 Tt would be impossible to catch
 anyone gambling on the third floor by going through the lobby of the hotei | for they have men on watch there. A l touch of the electric push button at the clerks desk at the first sight of policeman would stop everything up II stairs so that by the time our men got there, the inmates would be sitting | around reading or everybody would be
 asleep. Should the police attempt to
 raid the place by a sudden rush, it Is
 my information that four heavy doors i would have to be battered down in order to get an entrance into the room.
 We would catch nobody gambling and | if we found any gambling tools, we
 would have no right to conflscate them for it is not a violation of the law for 1 a man to have such tools in his pos | session.
 without securing evidence enough
 to convict the men. I fail to see what good would come from smashing four
 or five doors to find lot of men read ing newspapers or books.
 T had Alexander arrested the first
 day he arrived In Montgomery. but could not hold him on a charge of | vagrancy for he was to take out a license and conduct a f1rst-class hotel. | told him then that I would make
 his stay in Montgomery as unpleasant
 as could and have done everything