Evening star., 1912-11-09
LONDON COULD NOT HAVE
BECKER CASE, He SAYS
Inspector Declares Police Are
Above CoIIusion With Gam
bling Classes. !,
By ]. SWEENEY, INSPECTOR.

0x .. SWEENEx, 1NSFECTOAs
Special Csbesrsm to The Star.
LONDON, November 9-For over
thirty years now 1 have had q lot to
do with all sorts Of criminals in Lon
don, anarchists. Fenians burglars and
gamblers. After my long experience
am satisfied that no such case as the
conspiracy organized by Becker and his
neutenants. AZ we read 1t in the papers
here. could be enacted in England.
No police o6icer would lend himself
or his position to such men as run
these gambling saloons. In the first
place. the majority Of these clubs are
run by foreigners, and the British offi-
Ger would never associate himself with
that class OF person. most OF whom
have left their country for the coun-
try's good.
The West End Of London, particularly
the Soho district. 10 infested with a
number Of these clubs. very few OF
which are conducted by Englishmen.
But the few English managed clubs
that exist are OF a high class. and be-
fore a man can become a member he
has to be proposed and seconded by
men Of standing and repute.
Little Gambling Hells.
In the East End Of London there are
countless little gambling hells. Very
often knives and revolvers are BRAN
dished.- and sometimes used. in these
places and there are many such Incl
dents which are never brought to the
notice Of the police. These East End
gambling resorts are all run by for
eiSaers. .ao. - ,o,.o, oo,,o
guarantee any permanent protection to
q gambling club, as he would soon be
howled out by his cotemporaries. He
would be looked upon as a disgrace to
the force, ana his conduct would i'm
mediately be brought to the notice OF
the commissioner Of police and the
home secretary.
Several gambling houses in the West
End have been raided from time to time
bers complaining to the police of bad
treatment. Armed thus with timely in
formation the police are able to raid the
club. although sometimes the officers ex-
perience great dinculty in obtaining ad-
mission. The general practice at these
clubs Is to have one or two porters sta
toned at the entrance In order to chal-
lenge any man who is not a known
member.
At the present time there are very few
night clubs In London, a fact which is
due to the activity of the police, and
tolerabiy well. Some of them. for ex-
ample. do not admit women after mid
night.
Clubs Are Closed.
When club is raided the managers. up
on conviction. get Imprisonment or are
fined heavily. and the club Is usually
closed-at any rate for a considerable
time, after which It is sometimes re-
opened under another name, although
with the old members.
All clubs Of which there might be the
slightest suspicion are always closely
watched by the police, hence the almost
complete rarity OF any shooting or brawls
at night which result In police court pro-
ceedings. But II the manager Of any
saloon Is arrested he Is tried and SEN
fenced within a month at the outside.
Taken all round. can safely assert
that there could never occur In London a
case parallel to the Rosenthal and Becker
case, as there has never been the slight
est evidence OF any association whatever
between police officers Of any rank and
the proprietors or managers OF dubious
London Establishments.