Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-02

neX realized that with only policemen to
testify FOR the prosecution the chances OF
convicting a policeman werefvery silm
The same plan was tried in the trial oil
Policeman Arthur J. Malfon for the muir
der of Robert Brennan. Mallon claimed
that the murder was in iFelf-defense. IL
back. Several policemen called as wit
nesses on various phases. of the case
proved to be- most unwilling to TESTIFY,
and were warned by Recorder Golf
y big fund was collected for Mallon' $
defense. 1t was said at the time that
every policeman in the department was
assessed 81.
This time the system failed to work.
William O'Bricn. ain eX-canvict. had wit
messed the Whole affair, and wasn't afraid
to testify that the policeman had deliber-
a;ely shot Brennan ilr the back while the
latter was fleeing pom the strength of
this mans testimony and in the face of
the testimony of the Defendants brother
officers the jury found Mallon guilty OF
iuanslaughter' He was sentenced to
twenty years in Sing Sing.
The defense fund collected in his behalf
enabled him to appeal TO the hlgher
court. The conviction was sustained. n
further appeal was prosecuted to the
highest court in the state. and the con-
victien was again confirmed. Mallon had
To serve his term.
Eight months later William o Brien was
found dying in. the Bowery. shot by a
person unknown. Another squealer had
paid the penalty Of his rashness.
y remarkable 'case-typical, however. OF
the way the system works-was that
of Policeman Leander Terhune Terhune
and another policeman named Edward a.
kearney testified in the trial of Charles
Smith for burglary that while walking
together along Terhune's post they had
observed Smith tampering with the till of
candy store. Upon this testimony
Smith was convicted While awaiting
sentence he complained to the district
attorney that his arrest had been a
''frame-up arranged by Terhune, who
had grudge against him.
An investigation followed and then Po
liceman Kearney. upon a promise of inn
munty. admitted that he had perjured
himself to help out Terhune. Upon whose
post the burglary had been committed
At the time however, Terhune was off
post, and to save him from trouble kear-
ney had agreed to swear that Terhune
with him when the ''burglary was
discovered.
This was an unusual state Of affairs.
The system was aroused at kearney s
nerve. and the men of his precinct pro-
a member of the force 1t would no
doubt have gone hard with the police
man had not Commissioner Bingham
taken him in charge
Terhilne was discharged from the force
for perjury, but kearney was transferred
to police headquarters. where he would
be comparatively safe from the treatment
which bingham fully expected the ''sys-
tenn to accord him.
hi
rare. A policeman who perjures himself
for his brother officer usually "goes
through with it Kearney is. the one
bright exception
The power of the police system to
Protect its friends as We'll to pound
its enemies was never better iliustra ted
than in the case of Kid Regain. Regain
committed murder, but because of the
facts that he was the brother of a po-
liceman. Lieut.. Martin Regain. he re-
manned at large for over five years and.
when finally brought to trial instead of
being sent To the chair, he got off with a
short term in prison:
ReSan's crime took place I'm the spring
OF I:s", in Resort known as THE Bar
rel located in the basement of a build
ing AT broadway at 31st street The place
was frequented by members of the under
world.
4 free-for-all fight started. The proprie-
TOR locked the doors to keep the police
out of it. Regain. nineteen years old. was
Il typical sanSster and was in the very
thick of the fight
Roy joyce. ii bartender. tried to stop
the scrap and Regan stabbed him half a
dozen times with knife. Bernard DOYLE
one of the owners OF the joint, tried to
hold Regain and he got cut for his pains
Eddie Weston; a singer, didn't get out of
the@way quick enough. and he was badly
s,ashed, TOO. joyce died, the two others
recovered
At least dozen Witnesses who had
seen the whole affray and were ready to
testify that Regain had committed the
murder and the assaults. were taken into
custody, but as soon as it became known
that the murderer was a brother of Mar
tin Regain. a police lieutenant, one by one
the witnesses were released
Regain Travelled around the country for
a while, visiting the city occasionally, but
although lie. was known to hundreds OF
policemen, he was never arrested
Down in New orleans the police. not
being in sympathy with the system
here. arrested Re2an, and the New York
police Were notified that the man they
wanted for manslaughter, for which crime
Regain had been indicted, could be had
for the sending. Again the system got
III It's me WORK anu SO lONS
that by the time they got a man down
south to bring the murderer back the
New Orleans authorities had had to re-
lease him.
In the meantime Frank Peabody, a CEN
tra office detective who had been
signed by Commissioner McAdoo to get
Regain and who had been accused of
falling down on the case because of the
SYSTEMS friendly interest in the muir
derer was discha rged from the force for
some other matter
Sore on the SYSTEM and believing
that he might be reinstated if he Sue
ceeded in getting Regain. Peabody devoted
all his time and spent lot of his money
in an effort to get the murderer After
months of work Peabody obtained infor-
nation from one of his former stool
pigeons that Regain was in Los Angeles.
The Information was conveyed to police
headquarters in such a way that the
..system'' could not afford to ignore it,
detective who knew Regain was sent to
California, and the fugitive murderer was
brought to New York five years after his
crime had been committed.
The direct result of this long delay in
the making of the arrest was to- weaken
the case against Regain to such an extent
that the district attorney realized he
would never be able to secure a convic-
ton of murder upon the meager evidence
he had i'm hand Witnesses whose testi-
mony would have sent Regain to the chair