The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-11

Ah"SAth ~ ~ hIbAkrb ITOukb W
impotent American courts without a single
conviction up to this time and the Chinese
court. which administe ~ an outlawed
justice OF its own and Is more powerful
than any American court. finally took the
matter In hand. but was unablet TO accom-
plish anything. In the meantime com
mercial Chinatown has been knocked out.
The restaurants. the shops and the theatres
have lost money. The police are almost
helpless in these fights. The Cinnamon
pop out OF areaways like no many rats.
blaze away and then disappear. The police
when they make the rounds later find the
most ignorant lot imaginable. Nobody
knows even that there has been u shooting,
lot alone anything about the murdered
man.
Among the Greeks there 10 a Matchmaking
organization which collects tribute from
the p%ushcart pedlers. Only a few days
ago a riot broke out among a group OF
Greek pushcart men at the Manhattan
entrance TO the Brooklyn Bridge, but the
pedlers had nothing to say to the police.
Tn blackmail levied by this organization
is based on threats to have the pushcart
licenses revoked. IL il the cheapest Of all
foreign extortion games.
Commissioner Bingham contends that the
force at his disposal in the Detective Bureau
is entirely inadequate to- handle the case
arising in New York's immigrant colonies.
n he wants IL q force Of bright young
men OF various nstionalities h are not
known a. members Of the Police Depart
ment. He would have these mon live in
the various foreign quarters Of the city.
some OF them would be walters, some push
cart pedlers, some BARRIERS. some ba~rtsnders.
In this way they would form acquaintance
and keep in touch with the Affairs Of the diff
ferent quarters. Their knowledge would
be at the disposal Of the Detective Bureau
a crime was committed. They
would be able to give the Headquarters
detectives information in a few minute
which would be obtained after hours Of
under ordinary circumstances, IL at
all. When the Armenian murder case came
up a few weeks ago the Detective Bureau
hadn' a single man who cold speak the
language, and under those conditions il
was an uphill job. Commissions Bingham
has asked the Board of Estimate for s25, 900
for use in emergency work. 1t is planned
to use some of this money in establishing
a secret service force.
NEARER HOME.
Blackmail affords a rich field for some Of
New York's clever Wall Street crooks. Traf-
fc OF this sort has Hourished for years and,
30 FAR as the police records show. there has
been no marked increase. One Of the favor
lite Wall Street methods is TO approach a
financier with a proposed ma or news
paper article. The blackmailer may nave
been s~hadowing the Wall Street man for
days until he has hit upon some incident
that the ~financier wouldn't care to have APP
pear in print. Sometimes he has got his
Information from enemies Of the financier.
The blackmailer sends in his card. probably
with the note hat he is about to submit
for publication a magazine article which he
would like 10 have the financier approve.
The Wall Street nan reads the article, sees
the point and suggests that he would like
10 nave it himself. Then out comes his
check book.
OF course. in almost every one Of these
cases the article would never see daylight
IL 1t was submitted to a magazine or news
paper. but that is something Wall Streets
big men nave to learn.
Then there is the blackmail game among
lawyers. That is undoubtedly the most
difficult of all for the District Attorneys
Office to handle. Suits for divorce and
breach Of promise are begun for the sole
purpose Of shaking down the victims, but
everything has the appearance of regularity
and the District Attorney liz able to do moth
ing. There was one law firm in this city
which was notorious for the power which
il possessed over influential men because OF
the information Of a personal nature that
had been brought TO il. Any number Of
strike suits are bobbing up in the courts
daily, but the officers of the law are COM
PEELED to let them run their course.