The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1908-01-30
CLOSES
NOTORIOUS
SALOON
Was In ''MurdererS' Row. -
Visitor Robbed Bare
facedIy.

Without n noise or even the serv-
ices of a uniformed policeman, Captain
Michael ]. Ryan, of the First Precinct
Station, today closed the saloon of
Michael Coumans. at 351 Market street.
and had the proprietor arraigned be-
fore Judge Howell in the First Crimi-
nal Court on a charge of maintaining
a disorderly house. Bail was fixed at
81, 900 to await the action of the Grand
Jury.
Only one arrest was made, and hat
was the bartender, Bernard O'Brien.
who was taken into custody by Plain
clothesmen Troy and King and held as
a material witness.
Despite the quietness which marked
the action of Captain Ryan in closing
the place, there was no little surprise
and concern felt at the saloon, which
is right in the heart of the old Muir
derers' Row. and is claimed by the
police to be the most notorious dive in
the city at the present time.
Over fifty tramps and loungers and
other alleged worthless characters were
lying asleep on the floor around h old
.parlor stove and on the ton of an up
right piano when Plainclothesmen
King and Troy went to the saloon this
morning shortly after 10 o'clock to
close it.
No effort was made to arrest the in
mates of the saloon, u they were
driven out in the cold, a measure not
relished very much by any of them.
According to the police no place in
any city is any worse than the saloon
operated by Coumans. Scores of com
plants have been made to the police
of barefaced robberies of strangers who
happen to enter the place, which is
looked on by the police as the head
quarters for lodging house inmates and
wharf rats of that neighborhood.
Yesterday a man who gave his name
as Thomas Stevens CHANGED to enter
the place. After he bought a drink
about a dozen of the loungers crowded
about him. One asked him what time
1t was, but before he had a chance to
take his watch out of his pocket an
other one grabbed it and ran. This rob
berry was don't In the presence of the
proprietor of the place, Stevens al
legged.
The matter was brought to the atten-
ton of Captain Ryan, and after in
v~estigating the case he sent for Cou-
mans this morning without telling him
what was his purpose. When Counlans
reached the station he. was charged
with maintaining a disorderly house.
A close watch has been kept on Cou-
mans's saloon for months by the po-
lice of the First Precinct, as it was
known to be the headquarters of some
men who would stop at nothing to get
a little money. Policemen on the post
say that there are many loafers who
sleep on the floors of the place. Stevens
they claim, is not the onlyaman who was
robbed in the saloon. but he is the only
one who e went forward to aid the
police ina stopping crimes of this kind.
According to the police, the pro
prietor of the saloon and his bartender
countenance, OF at least make no objec-
ton to, the actions of the h~angers-on.
1t was with such saloons as this, in the
days when "Murderers' Row" was i'm
it's heyday, that the police had much
trouble. They nave been able to stamp
this class of places out pretty well.
When the reform wave swept owe the
city this saloon, under another manage
ment, was the only n remaining of
those which catered to the underworld,