The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-12-03
CHECK ON THE THIEF.
RIOT OF CRIME AND ROBBERY NOW
IN NEW YORK CITY.
Gotham Is in the Hands of the Phillis-
tines; Churches Are Making De-
termined Fight for Existence;
Breakdown in the Bowery; Tam
many Hall is Hurt; the Passing
of Laffan; News From Big Burg.

of the most widespread outbreaks OF
crime that ever tmeatened life and
property in this town, desperate meas
ures are being taken today by the Pc
lice of this city. Alarmed by the
recent records of growing burglary
petty theft and murderous violence
the authorities have determined to
make some stand against the profes
sional crooks who are Known to be in,
vading this metropolis in unsual mum,
bers. Half dozen bold gangs of safe
breakers that have already looted the
vaults of score of offices and ware
rooms under the very nose of the night
patrolmen are today suspected to be
planning operation on an even more ex'
tensive scale. Sneak thieves are making
nightly raids on homes in all sections
of Manhattan with inpunity, and even
the most audacious highway robbery
is reported. Every evidence points to
the conclusion that the criminals OF
the country are making mark of Go
than, and only the most immediate
emergency measures can avail to pre-
serve even show of law and order.
Crushing the Churches.
Almost stranded in the whirl of the
shifting population about this island
scores of staunch churches are today
making a determined fight for exist.
ence in many changing quarters of the
town. Principally in the Harlem region
where slums are rapidly succeeding Sec
tions of high residential class of the
oldest church organizations are report
ing Wholesale loss of their members
through removal. With the inevitable
retreat of the gilt edged moving van
before the congestion of rising tene-
ments, deacons, elders and wealthy par
ishioners are being torn from the form
er places of worship which now stand
sadly out of place in their sordid
surroundings. While churches and syn
agogues are sprouting up for the new
inmates of these suddenly changed
neighborhoods, the sacred edifces of
the passing population are facing de-
molition for the value of their sites
as the congestion grows. Empty pews
are daily growing more common in
every church here under nominal con-
ditions; but the clergy declare this ebb
and flow of population is threatening
their welfare even more than Sunday
golf or country clubs.
Breakdown in the Bowery.
With the impending loss of millions
of dollars worth of city patronage, the
Sullivan clan is today driven almost to
the verge of complete dissolution, ac-
cording to the best Bowery sages. In
the passing of this most famous OF
all their political powers New Workers
are witnessing a spectacle that they
could never before believe would come
to pass. While big Tim" Sullivan
is recovering from serious physical col
lapse at, a Western health resort and
Little Tim, is known to be in little
better plight dopn south, a hungry
horde of the rank and file of the
Sullivan cohorts is preparing to forsakt
its leaders and follow after bosses more
productive of fat joys. For years thi:
compact political band has held the
balance of power in Tammany Hall
where it's leaders were able largely
to dictate and shape the policy of city
and state administrations Today the
once powerful Bowery brigade is rap
idly breaking up and for once in it
history upper Gotham hopes to nave
a say in running it's government.
Loss of Laffan.
No one can calculate the loss that
all the world of journalism here has
sustained today through the sudder
ending of the influence of William n
Laffan. Following the funeral of the
quaint little man who moved thing:
nightly from his den in the depths OF
his newspaper plant, something of spice
and spirit seems to have gone from one
end of Park Row to the other. Never
has New York been swayed more surely
by the words of any one man than il
was by the mysterious presence of LAT
fan behind the bulwark of his news
paper machine. TO every cub and every
veteran on the staff of his paper thu
personality of it's publisher was equal
ly unknown and yet all powerful. Few
of the men he worked through ever saw
Laffan and fewer still ever began t.
be taken into his confidence. Today
the newspaper that represented tn,
brain of this mighty little man i
staggering on without him, while va
cancy is felt Indirectly in every edi
torial room in town.
Was Hideous Heap.
In few loads of broken lath anc
plaster the street cleaning department
is today removing from the public gaz
the sculptured monstrosity that wa
reared on Longacre square few
months ago to represent for campaign
purposes the city assaulted. Of all tn
gigantic farces that Gotham has beef
compelled to witness in recent years
this gross heaping of stucco is gen
orally considered to be the most trying
Why as grotesque a figure should b
made to represent New York or VIII
was supposed to be casting mud OF
her soiled plaster dress no one eve
has been able to discover except per
haps her political promoters. At an
rate the destruction of thic bidaou