The Washington herald., 1912-11-24

any attempt at concealment One man
Il was proved. voted fifteen times and
received $50. Liquor sales on Sunday
had inevitably led to political exposures
in Atlantic City. came here in the sum-
mer Of 1910. The Morning Review had
been purchased and the property stood
In my name. The owners said might
have all the profits after paying them a
I reasonable interest on their investment.
So far there have been no profits. The
paper, on the contrary, Is losing money.
i Our forty-five columns of advertising a
day dwindled to twenty columns. The
| circulation, however, has grown from
1850 copies to 1900 While the merchants
4 do not approve our policy. rejoice in
I the fact that the people are reading the
Review.
A Boss and n AIiIlionaire.
Word has come to me from Ruehnle
himself that / cannot succeed on my
present editorial lines, and he is q
powerful man in this town, being presi-
dent OF one bank, a director in four
other banks, and a shareholder in most
Of our important corporations. He
grew up in the saloon and hotel of his
father, down near the station of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, tending bar and
waiting on the table in the restaurant.
The saloon fell to him by inheritance
at the death Of his father, and the boss
ship of Atlantic City, at the death of
/ the man under whom he had served
| his apprenticeship in politics. He is
said to be a millionaire. He has hurt
my business; that I admit, and has
sometimes prevented me from getting
loans at the banks, but many of his
ward workers and city oficials have
been indicted by our grand juries,
number of them have been found guilty
and sentenced to States prison, and he
has been tried and convicted for his
connection with a $3.50, 900 contract that
was awarded to a fictitious bidder.
THE inquiry sent to me by q SUBJ
scriber. as 1 said. unmasked my bat
teries prematureIy, and the battle was
on. I found that there were 800 fraud
ulent votes in one precinct at the cleo
ton of 1910 out of a total of 331 votes
cast We worked up the case and
showed the clumsy entries made in the
registration books. Naturally. the mat
ter was sent to the grand jury, where
upon charged that a member Of that
noble body had voted more than once
himself and, therefore, was not qualified
to act on the case. He promptly sued
me for $4,000 and had me arrested for
criminal libel. When hotel men repre-
senting $50, O00, 900 worth of property went
new editor had plenty of backing
am bound to confess however, that
things looked rather blue to me at that
juncture.
Editor Thomas Turns Detective.
Presently heard that an important
contracting firm needed a stenographer.
I got a man in New York to apply for
the situation. He became the conhden-
"a, NJ ha NJ
company and each night would bring
me copies Of the incriminating letters
which passed between the contractors and
the grafters. Then the stenographer, at
my suggestion, quarreled' with his en-
pIoyer and left Atlantic City, 6h0Etis-i
after that 1 began printing the letters.
The contracting company went into
bankruptcy and the president is now out
of the country. He is in Egypt so
have heard.
Events. you see, were moving. Spades
were spades with me and I used the
toughest words I could find in the die
tionary. But we couldn't get the right
kind Of grand jury. VIM. NJ. Clevenger.
a young lawyer, remembered that he had
read about elisors in the commentaries
of Blackstone. An elisor is a sheriff s
substitute in performing the duty OF re-
turning a jury. provided in some turis-
dictions when the sheriff is interested in
suit So far as we knew elisors had
never acted in this country. Neverthe-
less, We put the case before Gov. Wood
row Wilson and he appointed two elisors
for this county. Mr.. Clevenger was one
of them.
Fine men were chosen as grand Jurors
and in June, 1911, they returned 1S in
dictments for frauds at elections, twenty
three indictments for graft, and eighty
two indictments for violations Of the
excise law. Some of the accused pleaded
guilty, some confessed and some were
tried, convicted and sentenced to pay
fines or serve in Jail. Edmund wilson,
attorney general of New Jersey, brave
and honest man, prosecuted the cases.
Samuel Kalisch. a new judge of the SUI
preme Court, heard them.
Roadway was being made but we
hadn't found the goods on any of the
really big grafters. At a meeting one
night in hotel on the Boardwalk I said |
that we ought to employ a detective.
1--WE have tried detectives a man |
said. but without any results except !
heavy bills for their services |
Hire William J. Burns I replied, |
and I'll guarantee startling develop |
ments.'
How Burns Began His Work.
'I wae authorized to make the neces- |
five of his men to atlantic City. They |
Swallowed the grafters, but didn't learn |
anything of much value. Some informa- /
ton was obtained, but plainly saw |
that Burns himself was the only man |
for the job. He came secretly to my |
house one night in July, 1911, and talked |
the situation over with Attorney Gen.
eral Wilson and myself, saying that he |
would personally direct the investigation |
thereafter. Several plans were suggest
ed by which to trap the grafters, but
they were rejected as being impractica-
BILE. All at once Burns exclaimed: I |
have tia walk of concrete instead Of
boards, such walk as can be seen at |
all the best watering places in Europe
The Boardwalk is nine miles long
and sixty feet wide, and has cost, 90
rots and must be taken up. Expense of |
consequently, is continu-
GUS Moreover, a cement esplanade will
some day be- laid in Atlantic City. Burns
idea was logical and caught Mr.. Wilson
and myself, and We told him to get down
to business at once. He telegraphed |
next day to James K. Harris. who was
in San Francisco. Harris Is his profess
sionaI contractor. He reached Atlantic |
City within a week and took expensive T
apartments at the Marlborough-Blen-
helm Hotel spending money carelessIy, |
and being Of friendly disposition, max
ng several valuable acquaintance. Aft
err attending two meetings OF the City
Council he seemed to know the charac-
ters and propensities Of the members
At all events. he picked the man through
whom he was to operate, and the wis