The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-16
PARKHURST AFTER BINGHAM.
CALLS on THE MAYOR TO REMOVE
THE POLICE COMMISSIONERS.

Declares THAT He Has Failed 10 Close Law.
Iess resorts Calls On the Y. NJ. c. A 90
Wttness, and the Y. VI. 4. 4. Promptly
Declares That Psrkhurst 10 wrong.
DR.. Charles II. Parkhurst, as president
Of the Society for the Prevention Of Crime,
made public yesterday a long letter he
had written to Mayor Mcclellan declaring
that the police force was not properly
run. Parts Of the letter follow:
The Society for the Prevention OF Crime
reluctantly finds itself obliged to submit
to your Honor's attention certain features
Of the present police situation with which It
Is due to you that you should be made &C
QuAinted and in view OF which 1t behOoves
you as Chief Magistrate OF the city 10 take
action immediate and drastic.
Before specifying some OF the conditions
which illustrate either the criminal indiner-
once or gross incompetence OF your Com-
missioner Of Police. IL Is proper 70 call your
attention to one feature OF our chartered
method Of municipal government, exceed
ingly pertinent to the pr esent situation as FOL
lows: Under the form Of administration
legislated for this city. commission ershlps
are not an appliance for relieving the Mayor
Of responsibility. but rather are they the
channel through which he Ia 70 sxsrc'se His
EG1DONolDIlby, inc COnuuCt Oh eNGIg AcpdIt-
ment and the shaping OF each detail In every
department having Its direct r~elevancy TO
the executive head Of the city. 40 that IL. for
example, gambling houses or bawdy houses
are flowed to do business. the line OF ac-
countability. IL followed mp. leads back
straight and dir ect to City Hall and to you.
II you nave any commissions who either
will not or cannot discharge with Meet the
duties OF his commission ership and you allow
kls~ lnAAAAst.lry - aNmR d ~ ~ la in hia nIaCA
without dlling II. you become offcislly guilty
Of all that his malfeRsance involves.
Now your subordinate. Bingham, Is, in our
estimation. one Of such commissioners He
either cannot or he will not. aud il is time
that you either rooted him out Of ONCE ortime
that the finger Of public scorn should point
TO you as the prime and original offender.
Persisting as you do in the retention OF the
present Police Commissioner. you become the
party charReable with the lawlessness and
dIssoluteness rife in this city. That Is. you are
chargeable with II II you are aware Of its
existence, and IL you are not so aware one
should enlighten you upon II. and that IL what
we now for the second time undertake TO do.
An illustration or two will serve present pur-
pose.
VIII does not your subaltern, Bingham.
take up that West T~wenty-third street matter
that has been a beastly nuisance to the Y. NJ.
c. A. ever since 1904, and that they have been
for Ave months pounding policemen, captains
and Commissioner to have corrected. a. Is
fully set forth in a letter addressed TO Mr..
Bin chan under date of May. 1905. a copy OF
which | hold. Perhaps you are still ignorant
Of the situation and that Il why we inform you.
and il must sufuse your face with a blush OF
ipenable modification to know that a religious
organization like the Y. NJ. c. A. shoul have
to neglect it's normal duties and attend to
matters that belong TO your representative.
the Police Commissioner. but that belong TO
him only because they first belong t. YOU and
have been delegated 10 him only for con-
venience of administration
The v. VI. G.. A. people have been hammer
ing away all summer. and the closing words
of a letter Just received from them and writ
ten under date OF October II are as follows:
This gives in a general way the results OF
our efforts to do the work they 1.-THE policel
are hired 10 do, The Deputy COMMISSIONS
seems willing TO help us. but somehow nothing
ia accomplished" II YOU desire to get ad-
dItional details of this sample case. as one
would suppose you would, you might COM
municate with the director OF that association
at 2i5 West Twenty-third street.
For the purpose Of specifications We are
rsadv To give you the addresses OF seven
disorderly hotels in the Eighteenth precinct
against which we have corroborated legal
evidence: twenty-five disorderly hotels. sa-
looms or houses in the Twentieth; more OF
the same in the T~wenty-frst. Twenty-secOnd
Twenty-sixth and Twenty-ninth precincts;
twelve in the Thirty-second and something
more than Atty in the Nineteenth precinct;
and a lot more in other localities,
Equally are you responsible for the pool
rooms that your administration ia allowing
IN run unmolested. A Roodly number OF
those, too. we have down fine. which are
commemorative Of numerous others that are
being run more or less clandestinely. Even
the injunctions which have been served upon
them. in certain cases. need not prevent your
men from entering and securing evidence.
II evidence is what they and your Commits
siOner want.
Now. YOUR Honor. do you want to bear
the responsibility Of this? The responsibility
h on YOU and none the less on you for all your
having a COMMISSIONS that You have put
in secondary charge OF the department.
II under your Mayoralty the gambling houses
are allowed TO continue 10 run they are your
gambling houses: continued liquor tax law
violation Ia your ransRression bawdy houses
are your bawdy houses.
Secretary Dickson OF the West Twenty
third street branch q the Y. M. c. A. SAID
last evening that the nuisance referred toby
DIR. Parkhurst was the presence Of a number
Of disorderIy houses in the neighborhood
OF the association quarters. Mr.. Dickson
said that when complaint was made to the
police last May they took immediate m
efeetive action in raiding the places com
planned Of. The action Of the police was
prompt and loyal, said Secretary Dickson.
sThe keeper Of the houses were put under
bonds to awnit their trials, which have not
as yet taken place