New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-02
With Drug Store as Headquarters Sidewalk
Dealers in dope Belt" Of Tenderloin
Reap Rich Harvest from. Victims.
GUNMEN GANGS PROTECT THEM
Investigator Finds No Trouble in Buying Deadly Stuff in
Three Stores and from Six Outside Sellers-Pays
for Drug Under Glare Of Light
with Police Looking On.

Through an investigation Of condi-
tions in the Tenderloin, covering the
last two days of last week, The
Tribune gives herewith a statement
disclosing tina: opium and cocaine may
be and are being purchased with the
utmost freedom from police interfer-
ence throughout the section bounded
by 26th street on the south and 4lst
street on the north and running from
Seventh to Eighth avenues.
Purchases Of these drugs. the selling
or possession of which without pre-
scription from a physician is against
the law, and, In the case Of cocaine,
felony. can be made at any number OF
different points in the section bounded
above. In six Of the nine instances
cited by an investigator for Ihe
Tribune the sales Of cocaine were
made on the open street. several OF
them practically under the eyes OF
policemen on post or detectives"
Three cocaine sales were made IN
shops which were ostensibly engaseo
in legitimate business, and one sale OF
heroin was made in a drug store
which is spoken of among the habitues
of the district as the Tenderloin head
quarters for dope
Section 1746 of the Penal Law, en-
titled sale Of cocaine or cucalne'
prohibits the sale Of cocaine except
under registered PHYSICIANS pre-
scription, declares t. at the dealer must
label II, even when sold under pre-
scription, and provides that record
Of purchasers names and addresses
must be kept.
Law Makes Il Felony.
That section reads. in part, as fol-
lows:
II shall he unlawful for any person 10
sell, furnish or dispose OF aihdloa ,o on.
caine or their salts, or any aoiniA,uie ,be
% caine or cucaine, except upon lnS
written prescription of duiy reglsuue &c
physician. which prescription snal
retained by the person VINO olspei91s 1ra,oid
same except that such amazon
,onain. or tts salts may lawfully be soid
~ wholesale upon the written order OF
licensed pharmacist or licensed druggist
duly registered practising h!,i.,
Veterinarian or licensed uentis,i Il
provided that the whoiesaie oesIei ett1a
aftix or cause to be affixed to the oottie,
hoy vessel or package containing tne
article sold. and upon the outside wrap
nor Of the package as originally put up,
a label distinctly displaying me Nd .s,
and quantity OF cocaine or rS ,I,. ,he
and the word poison" with the
,,,. and Mace of business of the seller,
all printed in red INK. ,ho
ANY person who violates any OF tne
n~ovisions of this section shall De gullty
~ ~ a felony punishable by Imprisonment
OF not more than one year OF hio VI
not more than $1,000. or potn-
Ordinary observation in the section
os the Tenderloin I'm the neighborhood
-, eA,h In 41st streets, between Seventh
and Eighth avenues, disclosed total
~ NOT less than two hundred and nifty
violations of that section Of the law On
each of the two last nights OF last
week.
The street sales OF cocaine were MADE
NOT only TO shabbily dressed and evi-
IDENTIFY confirmed dope fiends," but also
to numbers Of well dressed men and
women. who plainly came to that neigh
borhood for the sole purpose of buying
tn. drug in a section where the police
TO be shutting one eye" to the
trade carried on right
under their noses.
Drug Store a Headquarters.
So far as the Tenderloin is concerned
,h. cocaine trade seems to radiate from
n drug store In the heart OF the dope
over the counter in that
DING store many Of the street mer-
chants of the drug get their supply
When they sell out because OF rush
of trade early In the evening they re-
n,enish their stock at the same place,
mr. as in one instance noted on Friday
n,rht. act as go-between for the would
he purchaser and the drug store source
Of supply.
In two tours Of the district An in
vestigator had the following expert
snces on Friday and Saturday nights Of
last week.
He started from 42d street and
E,vbtb avenue, and after a walk Of one
block approached young fellow whose
friends called him Skip"
skip" was standing on the sidewalk
in 41st street, south side, about twenty
Yards east of the corner of Eighth ave-
nue.. The purchaser said he wanted
.deck." and skip" said, where's your
money"
When a quarter was proffered Skip"
nassed over deck" which contained
a hout as much cocaine in crystal form
as would half fill an ordinary thimble.
The sale was made on the sidewalk.
and "Skip" produced the deck" from
coat pocket.
Continuing south on Eighth avenue,
int a