New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-03-28
POOLROOMS ON WEST SIDE.
OPEN NEAR FINE HOMES.
DisgraccfHE Conditions from Park to
BOuleU0rd.

While Inspector Walsh has been attracting
much attention by his raids over the heads Of
the Tenderloin captains. and by somewhat spec
tacularly keeping the lid on" in the Tender
lon. conditions in the Twenty-sixth Precinct.
the headquarters oc the IVth Inspection Dis
trict have been going from bad TO worse. In
the precinct which includes one OF the finest
residence sections Of the city. the lid is far
raised thac poolrooms are more numerous and
running more openly than i'm Harlem, and the
discipline and efficiency Of the police are con-
siderably below those Of the police Of the Ten
derloin who are tho targets os every rerormcr.
in the precinct which begins At the northern
edge Of the New Tenderlofn" are more than
a score and haIf Of poolroorns. some the lsrg-
est and best equipped in the city While the
Tenderloin Harlem. and the East Side have
been proclaimed as crowded with poorooms.
and the police have been making more or less
earnest efforts to close them. these places have
enjoyed complete immunity.
That so every Sunday is the price that the
poolrooms pay for this immunity is the asser-
ton Of several employees and owners. and a
policeman who had drunk enough TO loosen his
tongue made the same statement few nights
ago.
The Twenty-sixth Precinct extends from
Fifty-nInth-st. to Eighty-sixth-st. end from
Central Park West TO the North River. Cap
tain Charles Kemp commands the precinct
under Inspector Richard Walsh. All through
the winter there has not been the slightest diff
Guilty I'm placing n bet on any race. In addi-
ton TO the numerous and fourishing pooIrooms
some Of the biggest handbooks in the city are
made in the precinct. The books are openly
made on the streets. and there are probably
less than a dozen saloonkeepers in the district
who do not either make Il handbook or run a
poolroom. So prosperous business is being
done by the bookmakers that several are willing
10 give ODDS Of 80 to l. when i'm other sections
Of the city booIrnakers viii give no more than
Ii 20 on a horse. no matter how long are the
odds at the track one bookmaker at Eighty
frst-st. and Ansterdam-ave.. in addition to
making a book has also interest in a pool
room in the immediate neighborhood and if the
bettor does not care 10 place his bet with the
bookmaker he is taken to the poolroom.
AT LEAST FIVE OPEN.
In Amsterdam-ave. between seventv-second
St and Fifty-ninth-st. at least five pooIrooms
are open In the Sixty-sixth-st circle are three
Of the biggest rooms in the precinct in close
proximity To each other. One Of these three
employs more men and does a larger business
than any other poolroom in the city. with ona
or two exceptions. Near Eighty-first-st and
Amsterdam-ave. a place was opened THURSDAY
when the racing began at Bennings. close to the
one already mentioned In the next block. be-
tween Eighty-1rst and Eighty-second SITS. is
another which has been run interrnittentIy
through the winter. In the same block in CO.
lunbus-ave. Is another frequented by the well
to do people in the neighborhood. which is daily
packed by well dl essed men and by messenger
boys who place bets for the numerous women
Continued second page.