The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-28
WHITMAN, CHIEF FIGURE IN
 GAMBLING PROBE, A TODAY

District attorney of New York coun- ty doesn't sound like an imposing job, and yet there are times when it is productive of more publicity than the Presidency of the United States. Will liam Travers Jerome gained interna- tional fame; while district attorney, through his prosecution of Harry Ken dall ThaW. Charles Seymour Whit man, the young Republican who suc- ceeded Jerome will celebrate his for ty-fourth birthday today very much in the limelight, owing to his activity in connection with the Rosenthal murder, the gambling probe and the police de- partment investigation. By his able handling of the caseNhe has succeeded in inducing a number of gamblers and underworld toughs to violate the first commandment of their religion, Thou shalt not Squeal."
 Norwich, Conn.,, boasts of being the birthplace of Charles Seymour Whit man, and Aug. 28, 1866, was the date of his arrival in the world. He grad uated from Amherst College and New York University, where he was known as a conscientious student but not as any marvel of precocity. His father, Rev. John Seymour Whitman, was a Presbyterian clergyman, and it. was expected that young Whitman would follow in his footsteps. Instead, he chose the law, and paid his way through law school by teaching in Adelphi College, Brooklyn
 Whitman's first important job came in 1901, when he was appointed assist ant corporation counsel for the city of New York In that capacity he was sent to Albany to watch the State lawmakers and see that they didn't t'put anything over' that would be inimical to the interests of the metrop- olis. The young attorney discovered and started hue and cry against what appeared to be an innocent measure, but which in it's true inward ness would have turned the streets of New York over as a gift to the trac- ton magnates. The bill was defeat ed, thanks to Whitman, and he made lot of enemies among the Solons who would have profited from the passage of the bill. Hes just a rube from the backwoods of Connec- lieut." remarked those astute gentle men, '-and while he's got away with it once we'll soon show him who's who around these parts" And they did-not!
 Along in 1904 MT. Whitman was made member of the board of city sive justice to the poor folks who cant afford to carry their troubles to the more exclusive and costly tribunals and eventually he became president o1 1 that body. His interest in police af- fairs dates from that time, as a New York city magistrate necessarily learns a lot about the bulls and theil methods. His first undertaking task was directed against the alliance be- tween the police and the professiona bondsmen. It was the pleasant cus-
 tom, fh those days, for the members
 of ''the finest" to arrest those womer who follow 'tthe oldest profession iI l the wor1d' and drag them into court
 every so often, in order that the l bondsmen might wrest their toll from misery and shame. The police got z
 rake-off from the ignobIe trade. Whit.
 man found a remedy in the establish
 ment of night courts, which gave ar l immediate hearing to the unfortunate women of the street. and put the | bondsmen out of business.
 1 In 1909 he was given the Republican nomination for district attorney, anC was elected. He has shown himsel1 a worthy successor to Jerome, and his 1 friends predict that he will disprovt the rule that a man chosen for dis. trict attorney never gets any higher. Farmer Want Ads. Cent Word.