The Washington herald., 1909-08-01

/ industrial warfare, war OF property
! destruction and political influence Of
determination between powerful gam
bling syndicates. reckless of life, defiant
OF law. and anxious only TO claim the
! lions share OF the enormous profits
which in a great city annually are ex-
tracted from the followers OF the race
track. the prize ring. and the gaming
table.
For two years Chicago. the second larg-
est city in the country. has submitted TO
a series of bomb-throwlaE outrages. the
method OF warfare OF tho gamblers.
| Thirty-one bombs. varying in destructive
results from the warning" minor wreck
age done by a giant hreeracker 20 the
shaking Of great downtown buildings by
heavy charges OF dynamite and nitro
! glycerin. have been thrown
The police department OF Chicago. num-
bering 3.sO9 policemen on patrol duty and
nearly 200 commanding officers. with all
the power OF a police organization for
obtaining information from stool pig
cons" and hangers-on IN search for
criminals. has been unable 20 FIX the re-
sponsibility for single one of the out
RACES.
There have been gambling raids, count
less arrests, police investigations" and
1 'sweatings." stern orders. and dictums
/ from Mayer Fred A Busse. Chief OF Po-
/ lice George NJ. Shippy. Assistant Chief
/ Herman Schuettler. inspectors. captains.
and lieutenants.
Big Rewards Onered.
There have been rewards running as
high as 5000 offered by the city council
FOR the arrest and conviction OF a bomb
/ thrower. Investigations and arrests
| played out" orders faded on the bulle-
! tin boards. and rewards went unclaimed.
Then another bomb was thrown. and the
whole farce was repeated
/ What IS wrong with the police depart
ment Of Chicago7 Is the destruction or
/ hundreds OF thousands Of dollars OF prop
/ erty, not only property owned BY the rec
| ogniZed leaders OF the gambling frater-
/ nifty but OF decent. law-abiding citizens
/ 70 go on without let or hlndrance? These
/ arc questions which 100000 indignant
! citizens OF Chicago who contribute IN
/ taxes several million dollars annually for
/ the maintenance Of the police department
/ are asking In an insistent way since the
elimination OF the bomb-throwing war
I fare week ago last Sunday night on
that night a charge OF twenty-five pounds
/ or dynamite or nitroglycerln wrecked
/ the Central Exchange Of the Chicago
! Telephone Company injurlng a score OF
/ people, shaking skyscrapers. and shat
\ tering great plate glass windows. Great
! ing alarm IN the streets. Ine theaters.
and the hotels or downtown Chicago, and
/ putting out OF commission a public utI-
/ ity to the Inconvenience Of thousands or
patrons Of the telephone.
TeIephone and pooIroor,,.
But Il IS far cry from war among
the gamblers 10 an attempt 20 wreck an
exchange OF a telephone company. It may
be thought. But IS f.? a knowledge OF
Just how the gambling business is con-
Quoted IN Chicago viii eliminate the
doubt. Since Chicago changed Osten-
sibly from "Wlde-Open" town 10 a city
in which also ostensibiy the lid is on
the day OF the open pOolroom with direct
communication with tracks where great
races are run with prize rings. where
champions battle and thousands OF dollars
are wagered in the open" and the
scenes OF other sporting contests. has
passed. IL now Is a regime Of gambling
under cover. OF small "fiy-by-night'' pool
rooms, OF saloon hack rooms and 'p~i-
vate" establishments with a regular
limo" OF patrons For all these places
large and small the telephone Is the
medium OF communication. Given a tele-
phone connection into any back room.
4 gamblers pocket telephonlc Layout.
a racing form and row or two OF chairs
| TOY patrons, a lookout" at the door and
two operatives. one In the poolroon, 10
take bets. mark up prices. and watch the
telephone. and the other 90 obtain the
results OF races hot from the wires and
transmit them by cipher over the tele-
phone and poolroom IS established
The Chicago Telephone COMPANY.
/ through Its officials. has maintained that
Il VIII not furnish service for gambling
purposes. Where II has been suspected that
a phone was being used as a gambling
adjunct IL has been removed. some one
informs the police that a small pool
room IS being operated. A raid is made
the telephone wires are cut of and the
gambler is out OF business. at least tenn
porarily. But when a big gambler or a
syndicate is tipped or to the police
and when there are two rich and politi-
cally powerful organizations fighting for
a limited field OF activity with q police
department which cannot or will not IN
terfere. bomb throwing outrages result.
Blame Telephone Company.
The telephone company. perhaps. can
not remove every telephone which is
used for gambling purposes. 1t perhaps
cannot know just what conversations
are carried on over its lines. especially
when they are carried on IN cipher mes
sages. But these arguments are not cal
culated TO appeal 70 the poolroom op-
orator whose places has been raided and
whose telephone has been ripped out
while he knows that a rival gambler is
conducting business and reaplng large
profits. There is the suspicion that the
rival also may have something 10 do with
putting him out OF business either
through Informing the police department
or the telephone company. Then a bomb
is thrown. buildings are wrecked. and In
uocent people are injured
The beginning OF the gamblers war IN
Chicago was on July s. 1907. when an ex-
plosive missile was thrown under the front
porch Of Blind John" Coadon's house
at 262S Michigan avenue. one OF Chi
cago's exclusive residence avenues The
explosive wrecked the porch. tore several
strips Of siding from the house, and broke
several windows. The police investigated.
Condor. who was recognized as q leader
Of the gambling fraternity duricg the
palmy days or racing IN Chicago, was
uncommunicative about his suspicious OF
the identity Of the bomb th-ower He no
longer is actively concerned In gamb-
ling. SO the police reached the conclu-
sion that the explosive was merely a
giant frecracker. thrown by some mis-
creant IN the nelghborhood
J A fortnight later the saloon Of John F.
/ O'Malley. one Of the richest Of ChicagO's
gamblers was dynamited. O'Malley
owns several saloons and small hotels,
and is a political power in his ward The