Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-09
BARNEYS CLEANED OUT

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There's one thing that Gen. Bingham. the
army man who Is at the head of New
York's police department. has done that has
attracted hardly any attention. because Il
has been done 30 quietly, and that's the up
roofing Of the barneys" said New York
politician who was In Washington recently.
''Barneys? Well, barney is crooks patter
for barnacle. And you know what barna-
cle's long suit is-getting next and hanging
on. A barney, then, Is q mean dog of q
crook who preys upon and blackmaiis fell
lows with whom he has. done time in prison
-one-time offenders. generally, who, after
doing their bits, have pulled themselves out
OF the mire and gone to work to make
something Of themselves New York was ale
ways more or less full Of these barneys, but
no effort has been made to get rid Of them
since Inspector Byrnes time, until recently,
when Gen. Bingham tackled the job.
AT that, It's pretty hard to snag the
Of their victims are afraid to squeal, even
when they are being crucified. The way In
spector Byrnes got at the barneys years
ago involves a bit Of q story.
There was contractor and builder In
New York who had done a five-specker in
Sing Sing back in the seventies. He had got
into business hole, had foated some bad
paper to tide him over tight place, with
fore discovery, and had been landed.
''t1e did his bit uncomplainingly, and when
he got back to New York his friends, con-
vinced that he was an honest man at heart
gave him the hand and sent him along. Not
many years passed before his business as
came something huge, and his business as
sociates, In those days of his advancing
prosperity, were all men who had no idea
whatever of the one blot on his record.
Then the barneys, a crew of whom fast
ened themselves upon him as soon as he be-
gan to do we'll after leaving prison, became
something outrageous in their demands. He
produced them for years, Until the amount
of their exactions had run away up in the
tens Of thousands. Then one day, driven to
distraction by the 'leeching of the barneys,
he went to police headquarters in New York
and saw Inspector Byrnes, the greatest of
all head policemen since police forces were
first organized
MIR. Byrnes simply wrote down a list OF
the barneys' names and sent word to them
that he'd like to see them at headquarters
at a certain hour on the following morning
They appeared there in bunch-no crook
ever dreamed of ducking an invitation like
that from Byrnes. Byrnes made poor fist
tion-he was the least garrulous man ever
knew. He only said a. few things to that
bundle of barneys, but what he said was
enough. He told them that he didn't feel
disposed to crowd them any, but that he
considered that twenty-four hours would be
ample time for all Of them to pack up their
gear and get out Of New York. He added
that II one of them was found in New York
at IL o'clock the following morning-and
there'd be a little quiet hunt at that hour
that one would be real sorry. so he would
that he hadn't taken polite and civil tip
and sought a change Of air.
They all went away from there, all
right. and then. through channels with
which he was familiar, Inspector Byrnes
passed out the word that he wanted all
men in New York who were suffering
thn 6cr,,o dc 10 49,
down to headquarters and talk things over
with him. They eagerly seized the chance
held out to them. the poor devils who had
been suffering blackmail ever since they
tried to do the right thing after leav-
ing prison. and Byrnes chucked the bar
neys out of New York by the dozens every
week Tor nearly year. and he kept them
out, too. during all the time that he re-
manned at the head of the New York
police force.
A similar incident recently brought the
attention of Gen. Bingham to the barney
question, and he has been quietly warn
months now thus taking heavy shadow
from the soul of many a man =n6H.=en.
deavoring to walk in the path of rectf-
tude. z%-----=Z4-.-s>--.-.
Of these barneys working unfer cover, Of
course, but they occasionally butt into
sunken rocks at that There was one 81
them, an old-time con man. who made q
years ago
one Of the headquarters men In New
York told me about 1t.
"A young fellow who had done a bit
for piece of juvenile check-kiting worked
ton of manager of "a big wholesale cut
glass establishment in New York. He
stood for the heavy and constant digs Of
the con man. his barney, until the time
nice Brooklyn girl. and then he made
up his mind that. with domestic surround
ings and conditions. he was going to
need the coin that he'd been dishing out
to the barney
$50 one day he told the proprietor of
the establishment that he wanted to have
bit Of talk with him after business
hours. and. working up his nerve to ten
sion. he came right out fiat and told his
boss that he'd once been Jagged and re-
lated the circumstances of his case. Then
he told his employer how the barney had
been preying upon him for years.
q" He's got two knives hanging over me-
he told his boss. You're one Of them.
and the other is the girl 1 want to marry.
l want to know how I stand with you be-
fore tell him to do the worst he knows
employers smile broadened as his story
was unreeled. When 1t was finished the
employer said:
YOU'D have saved lot Of money II
an ex-lag myself-they had me in Joliet
for more than year for alleged arson.
was only released after 1t had been con-
clusively proved by my friends that
hadn't burnt up my Chicago store for the
insurance. I'm your friend. and I'll help
you to get shut of this dog. The next
thing you want to do is to tell the young
woman you're going to marry, as well as
her father, just what you've told me, and
If the girl Is worth marrying and the old
man worth having for dad-in-law, they're
not going to hold 1t against you. Put on
your hat right now. son, and I'll go along
with YOU
And that's just what they did-went to
Brooklyn together, the employer who had
had his hard little dose himself and the
employe who was still taking the bitter
medicine. The young man told the girl,
and she staked him to hug and asked
him If he thought any such thing would
ever make any difference to woman who
honestly cared for him. The employer
told the girls father. and the old man
replied that he wasn't bothering about
what kinds Of devilment young whelps had
figured in when they were eighteen or
nineteen years old-their- records since
they've been shaving was what cut Ice with
him.
1.-THE barney visited the cut-glass estab-
lishment a few days later to make dig.
The young man took him up to loft,
where they held those conferences and
then he almost beat that barney to death.
Then he booted the dog all the way down.
stairs to the street. and invited him to go
IT, -NIs--