Semi-weekly herald., 1912-08-12
STRAY TOPICS FROM
LITTLE OLD NEW YORK

tional disclosures in connection with
the Rosenthal murder do not reflect
particular credit upon the police de.
partment of New York City, and it is
not surprising that the citizens, or al
least the better classes, are thoroughly
aroused by the scandal. II anything
was needed completely to undermine
public confidence in the police organ
ization of the city, the Rosenthal mur-
der case has more than supplied what
was lacking. 1t had been stated re-
peatedly by men of high standing in
the community that the police organ
ization of the city is in league with
the criminal elements, giving them
protection in return for blackmail con-
tributions; but the optimists, which
always constitute majority of the
citizens were inclined to believe that
these grave accusations were ground
less or at least largely exaggerated
The statements of some of the impli-
Gated witnesses in the Rosenthal case.
however, not only confirm the accu-
sations against the police, but dis
close condition of almost unbe'iev-
able corruption permeating the entire
police organization. Of course, that
does not mean that every member ot
the police force is corrupt and q graft
er, but it may easily be under y BOD
that the corruption which unites the
superior officers with the crimina! Gle
ment must necessarily tie the hands
of the honest and conscientious police
men who are irving to do their iuty.
1t appears from the disclosures Of
certain witnesses in the Rosenthal
murder case that the gamblers and
keepers of disreputable resorts of this
city have annually paid from s2,50o.-
600 to S3,000,000 to the police and
certain high officials in league with
the corrupt police officials. If that is
true-and there is other corrobo-ative
evidence to support these statements
the business of the gambling houses
and other illegal resorts in New York
City must be fourishing and extreme
ly profitable. The enormous sum paid
in blackmail for protection" it is
reasonable to assume constitutes only
a small percentage of the ill-gotten
gains of the keepers of these resorts.
These gains, which probably equal, in
the aggregate, sum ten times as
great, are derived from the countless
victims who are fleeced every year in
the gambling houses and other low re-
sorts of the city. Considering the
dishonest cthods employed by the
gambling and other hells of New York
City, Monte Carlo would seem, in COM
parison, an institution of high moral
character.
How desperate the criminal ele-
ment in this city is in this present
crisis, is demonstrated by the fact
that within a few days aft er James
Verella, the proprietor of an Italian
cafe, had disclosed the hiding place
of "Dago Frank" Cirocisi, one of the
men implicated in the Rosenthal muir
der, he was shot and killed by several
Italians out of revenge. The fate of
Verella is likely to have deterring
influence upon the willingness Of i'm
portant witnesses in the case.
For several Sundays the police all
over the city have made wholesale ar
rests of men and boys who were found
playing baseball on the Sabbath. The
magistrates, however, decided in every
case that the mere playing of ball on
Sunday constituted no violation of
the Sunday law so long as no admis-
sion was charged to spectators. In
several cases where programmes were
sold on the grounds, the men selling
the programmes were adjudged guilty
of violating the Sunday laws and fined.
The amateur baseball players through
out the city are highly elated over the
attitude of the magistrates, but it is
expected that some of the straight
laced church people will rebel against
these decisions and will try to bring
the matter before some higher court.
Five years ago Chiel Meyer Gro
WITT, Russian Jew, now an American
citizen by naturalization, was married
in New York to Rosie Goldberg,
Jewish girl of the same nationality.
A short time ago he applied to the
Supreme Court for annulment OF his
marriage, basing his request upon a
singular claim, unprecedented in the
annals of American courts. He
claimed that Rosie had married him
under false pretenses and that at the
time of his marriage he had not
known that Rosie was deaf and dumb.
This claim seems utterly absurd, yet
there is reason to believe that the man
really was not aware of the physical
defects of Rosie at the time he mar
ried her. The marriage was ar
ranged, according to his statement,
while he was still in Russia. He mar
ried the girl Immediately after his
arrival in New York and, as he had
been informed that the girl could not
speak Russian and he could not speak
English, he did not become aware of
the fact that the girl was deaf and