The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-07-15
MAYOR ANSWERS sON[I
NEWSPAPER CRITICS
SAYS POLICE DEPARTMENT. is
MALICIOUSLY ATTACKED.
Analysis of Murders Shows that in No
Case Were Officers Derelict in Duty
or that Crimes Were Directly or Indi-
rectly a Result Of Policy Of Admin
iStration, ~

Mayor Jones has taken cognizance
publication Of list Of alleged murders
during his administration, in the Trib-
une and News Of this city, to the OK
tent Of making. the following state
ment: 5#.
"In reviewing the tragedy of the
last week I must protest against the
deliberate attacks, in certain quarters,
making it appear that a regular car
nival of crime has ragged in this city
during the last year and a half, due to
dereliction of duty or incapacity on
the part of the police department..
No Excuse for Malice. Il
"Even the exigencies of a campaign
year do not warrant such malicious dis
.tortion and exaggeration Of facts and
such false and spocious logic, based on
that distortion and exaggeration. That
there has been lamentable number Of
violent deaths in this city during the
last eighteen months no one can deny,
but that the present administration can
be held directly or indirectly respon-
sible for this state of affairs no fair
minded person will assert for mo-
ment, especially when the nature Of
the killings is taken into account. =
Murder is not preventable crime,
except in very rare instances. The fail
ure to detect and punish murderers,
however, is a fit subject Of criticism,
and if, as alleged, there have been
twenty-throe distinct murders in Min
neapolis in eighteen months, the nature
surrounding them certainly have a
bearing. -. 49,
Analysis Of Crimes. q
ttTn tho 1:e& 1~:11:~,. u *.
been so vigorously, not to say mali
| ciously exploited during the last few
days as evidence of tho incapacity of
| the present police administration, there
appear but four cases that can be
grouped as crimes directly due to Grim
lnal association and environment, and
hence might furnish some basis for the
contention that to secure results in
police. work there must be close ALI
ance. between the authorities and tho
criminal and quasi-criminal classes.
| "The first Of this class of cases is
the Roggatz murder, which occurred
in. the second month Of the present ad-
ministration and which was surrounded
by SO many elements Of mystery and
contradictory hypothesis that even no
two Of the experts Of the press agreed
on a theory of the crime. But this baf-
Hing crime occurred before the new pol
icy Of enforcement Of the police from
their former criminal allies had oc-
CURED and can hardly be used to sus-
tain the theory that the new method
lacked in effectiveness.
Witnesses Keep Still.
HThe two saloon killings of last
year, resulting from drunken quarrels.
nave not been avenged by the law, al
| tho every, effort possible was made to
secure. evidence under the most diff
cult conditions. Witnesses who must
have known the guilty parties in both
cases could not be compelled to testify
and there was a sad lack Of assistance
from the, friends Of the victims, who
might naturally have been expected to
co,opsrate with the police. .,--, .
! 1.-THE Bader murder may also proDer-
4 ~ be charged against he, police depart
ment SO far as results in securing the
murderer are concerned, but one Of the
newspaper critics of the present admin
! istration knows from it's own. relation
to the case how difficult it is to trace
a crime Of this sort.
Feuds Of Foreigners.
"Of the other crimes with which the
good name Of Minneapolis has been
slaughter: can no more be charged up
to the criminal annals Of this CITY than
if it had occurred on the Dakota prai-
ries or the plains Of Montana. A gang
Of transients from foreign shore
dropped into town for short time, To-
Gated themselves in a somewhat obscure
part OF the city, engaged in a deadly
any but themselves, and whatever evil
dence existed was stubbornly concealed
by the surviving members of the party,
who were brought back to the city by
! the police, and subjected to the strong
est possible pressure.
mAs to the other hs killings in this
avenged, either by the hand of the law
or thru the suicide Of the murderers,
or the perpetrators are still under pro.
cess of the courts. The alleged cases
of infanticide and the case Of de-
composed body found in Minnehaha
creek cannot properly be placed in the
none of them was there sufficient evi.
dence found to warrant action by the
county attorney.
Police Stand on Merit.
tThis is in no sense defense Of the
police department which must stand OF
fall in public estimation on it's own
record, fairl made up. It is, how.
ever, meant as q protest against the
| /
tire community, based on the wholly
untenable theory that to secure protec
ton to life and property there must be
, open or secret alliance with the forces
In society that work everywhere FOL
corruption and disqualification, with
which forces today almost every city
in the country, from Chicago and San
{ Francisco to st. Louis and Kansas CITY
is engaged in life and death strug
: gle. = -...,,1s.-.. ..-s--2 -s@...-'|
$50 far as the remainder Of my ad
1ninistration is concerned, there will b.
, no departure from the policies now il
[ operation, altho every effort will be
} made to prevent and punish crime il
! this rapidly growing city that is pos
sible with it's small police force anc
: with no financial provision for track
5 ing criminals, once they get outside the
city, b.
|