The Newark star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1909, 1909-10-06
PRIEST AND SOLONo
sQUARELY At ISSUE
ON HARRISON LID
Father O'Connor Reiterates
Charges of Wide-open Condi-
t~ions-Officials Deny.

The Harrison Common Council last
night made a warm defense of the
towns morals and adopted a resolution
calling upon the Rev. Maurice P. O'Con-
nor, rector of the Church of the Holy
Cross, Harrison, to produce any evil
dence he may have of violations of the
law. This is an aftermath of remarks
made by Father O'Connor last Sunday
in which he declared that violations OIL
the law were frequent.
Today Father O'Connor reiterated his
charges, however.
Several members spoke on the sub
ject. Mayor Joseph p. Riordan said III
part:
AT the II o'clock mass last Sunday,
Church of the Holy Cross, Father
O'Connor said that saloons were doing
business on Sundays and that gambling
and other vile institutions were going
on without Interruption from the Off
cials of the town. He also said that
the officials of the town knew of these
things, and as | was listening to him
l took this to myself as Mayor of the
town. l hold Father O'Connor in the
highest esteem. AS Mayor of the town
of Harrison / am head of the town and
can be held justly responsible for vio-
lations of law and order, so that | took
these remarks in an official way. Sc
far as / personally am concerned 1 dc
not know of any gambling house or
saloon being opened, as | do not visit
them. 1t is the duty of the chief of
police to look after these things.
If there are saloons doing business IL
legally, I now tell the chief of police to
stop it, and If the chief will tell me who
ties his hands l will cut the string. The
chief of police should wake up or the
band wagon will come roun and the
moving day will arrive very shortly"
Then Chief of Police Michael Rodgers
stepped forward and said:
1T there are any disorderly houses,
poker joints or similar places in this
town / don't know them, and if any
body has any information about such
places / would like to nov it. l have
never said that my hands We're tied and
will always act on information if it is
only brought to me-"
Father O'Connor was inclined to be
amused when he heard today of Mayor
Riordan's denials of the towns wide
open condition.
Il will produce no evidence, as he
asks the priest declared. ''The whole
town is its own evidence. All they
have to do is to Loo about. 1t is not
UP to me to remedy the evil; let them
send their own paid officers around
and investigate. If they can't see what
is going on they. must have been up at
the Arctic regions with Harry Whitney,
where it was night for one hundred
days.
when / made my remarks last Sun
day they were addressed to my congre-
cation, not to a grand jury. But if at
any time the matter comes before a
grand jury l will have legal evidence
to offer. There are seventy saloons in
the town, and every one of them is
open on Sunday. Everybody knows it
every man, woman and child in the
town knows it, except the officials, APP
parently.
"They say there is no. gambling i n
Harrison. From the number of broken
hearted mothers and wives who tell me
of their husbands and brothers and
sons being ruined by it here every day,
I know there is. 1t is strange the Of
f1cials cannot see it going on"