The Washington herald., 1912-07-19
A Camorra of Our Own.

District Attorney Whitman. of New
York, fatty accuses the police of tina
city, of having permitted the murder o
I the informer Rosenthal and of having
connived at the escape of the murder
ers This the District Attorney does aftel
an exhaustive investigation. In supper
of it he cites circumstances and sug.
gests motives that have led him to tn,
conclusion which agrees with the judg
ment OF large number of citizens Of
New York
There were FIVE policemen within 3oc
feet of the shooting, two within 100 feet
and one within fifty feet. Yet not on.
of the five got near enough to threaten
the assassIns, who, he alleges, were giver
time to escape without hindrance. Not
one of the policemen got the right num-
Der of the car as it moved away through
the well-ighted tenderloin with the
murderers aboard. The civilian who did
notice the number was hustled into a
cell. from which he was not released
until the District Attorney ordered his
discharge
Now as for the motive: 1t was well
known that within few hours of the
murdef the informer would place more
police regulations in jeopardy by evil
dence he meant to give to the grand
jury. While conservative citizens will
suspend judgment until all the stories
have been heard and compared, it is
still true that the police department
is on trial, and that the honor of
the city of New York is at stake
That Commissioner Waldo recognizes
this is shown by his letter to the District
Attorney, taking notice of the charge
that members of the police force have
been in partnership with gamblers and
of Mr.. Whitman's suggestion that men,
bers of the department were guilty of
passive participation in the murder of
a gambler, if not guilty of instigating
the crime
The Commissioner seems, however, to
put a wrong construction upon the
words of the District Attorney. Nobody
has accused the whole body of the New
York police. Neither has Mr.. Whitman
made sweeping charge against the
department. All that has been said is
that Some members of the department"
conspired in the assassination, or con-
doned it. And as for the charge that
there has been police partnership with
gamblers, many citizens believed that
it existed before the murder of Rosen-
thai spread this conviction all over the
city so impressively that now no one
thinks the District Attorney is exag-
gerating.
That MI. Waldo has been handicap
ped in his prosecutions by the leniency
shown to gamblers apprehended by the
police is unquestionably true But so
long as there are grafters in his de-
partment who can furnish protection to
gamblers for pay, one effect of severe
penalties for those convicted would be
to increase the revenue of the grafters
from those who received protection.
This is no argument against punish
nlent of professional gamblers, but it
is one of many reasons for driving
crooks out of the department One
crooked police officer is worse menace
to the community than dozen gam
!. bling houses. The Commissioner should
give all the assistance in his power to
the District Attorney in getting at the
whole truth of this infamy. Above all
official pride, there should be the desire
TO learn the facts, even if the result
should be TO show that the police sys-
TEN of New York is greater evil even
than has been charged.