The Washington times., 1910-03-20
Ihirty-eight Pittsburg Off,
cials Said to Have Made
Confessions.
SEARCH is MADE
FOR BIGGER GAME
Privileges for Gambling and Dis
orderly Resorts Said to
Have Been Sold.

PITTSBURG. March 2o-JTp TO this af-
ternoon, thirty-eight councilmen or for
mer councilmcn nave followed the ex-
ample set by Capt. John Klein. and have
confessed 70 having accepted bribes for
their influence" in the passage OF all
sorts Of city ordinances. from minor
street vacations 10 city depository ord
nances.
According to these confessions. in some
cases as little as 800 daIlars was re-
ceived, 10 be divided among several
councilmen while in the city depository
ordinance case they aIlege slO2. 600 vas
divided and contributed by six banks for
the privilege OF handling Pittsbu hg
moneys
II was not until an hour before mid
night that many Of the councilmen yeri-
fed the statement that Klein had con
fessed- Prior 10 that many Of them had
decided 70 bluff the matter along. but
when District Attorney BlakeIey an
nounced that Klein had told everything.
there was a wild scramble to get TO the
room in the Fort Pitt Hotel. where De-
tective Robert Wilson. OF Scranton;
President A Leo We'll. Of the Voters
League; Assistant District Attorney
y
raphsrs were keeping open house await
ing councilmanic callers.
Appear By Scores.
Sixty-one councllmen or former coun-
cilmen crossed the Threshold between
IL O'Clock last night and noon today
and the probes still are awaiting the ap-
pearance Of more. Thirty-eight Of these
men have confessed. Detective Wilson
announced this afternoon.
They have told everything" said Mr
Wilson, and tomorrow they will go be-
fore the grand Jury and will be re-
quested 10 repeat their confessions
While we have been unable TO promise
them immunity from punishment, we
are reasonably sure the courts will deal
lenlently with them. Il never has been
our intention TO irnprisoning these men.
Our desire is 20 clean Pittsburg %
grsfters and If we have our way InsSe
men will be allowed to tell their stories,
resign from Council and go 20 their
political deaths one lesson Of this
kind. We think, will be enough"
According to Wilson the immense
scope OF the councilmanlc graft cases
cannot be judged until ali the evidence
has been made public
Investigation Continues.
That the Investigations are far from
being at an end are vOuched for in the
statement by the investigators. who say:
We are looking for higher game than
councilmen. These men may not have
taken money for their votes. but we fail
10 discriminate between money and pO-
litical power. We know the manner in
which certain high city officials have
sold privileges for the opening OF gam
bling houses and disorderly resorts in
return for political support
In other words. We know how a GER
tain city official has openly broken the
law, and we mean TO get him out Of Of
fee. II such a thing is possible II that
man wanted something from q council
man he would say: Now. IL you do this
for me. I will allow one Of your con-
stituents 20 open another gambling
house Then. you know, you can take
care OF yourself. and get the rake-oh' -
There have been more than 200 gam
bling houses and resorts opened in Pitts
burg in the last six months. and the
investigators declare that every one OF
them has been opened by this method