Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-08-05
lewiston's "Crime Wave.

another Democratic crime wave" No
longer ago than I9I1-12 the city un-
derwent a season of hold-ups. purse
Snatching, criminal assaults. house
breaking, ali around thuggey and
murder. Sheriff Ferd Stevens cleaned
UP the city and county. and its repu-
tation. Drunkards and dissolute wo-
men were driven out or suppressed:
houses Of i'll fame were swept off the
civic map, and the gamblers and SLOT
machines routed.
Lewiston, in 1914 became a re-
epectable city, one in which q decent
and self respecting family would be
willing 10 bring up children. But
Lewiston and Androscoggin county
cou,: 10. stand prosperity and de-
cency; its children were too safe; its
homes were not risky enough; its
business houses were too prosperous;
its streets too quiet and attractive to
decent and law-abding people. So
they changed the political control and
gave the city over to exploiters Of the
public, to apparent official collision
with cussedness.
Today Lewiston is back to its politi.
cal wallowing in the mire, to it's thug
gerry. profigacy and crime and, we
presume, is enjoying its rest from two
years of respectability.
Some people Of Lewiston and the
county are to be pitied. They deplore
conditions and are deeply anxious for
those dear to them. They know the
cause but are helpless. The agencies
of the devil are brazenly defiant For
the time these evil forces are en-
trenched and supplied with ammuni-
ton direct from the forts Of hell.
They are guaranteed protection by the
commander in chief and board OF
.trategy. Innocence and honor are the
targets of saloon snipers, rum trust
sneakers, and white slave jackais.
The Lewiston Journal reports in
facetious strain the word" that goes
out from time to time, from official
sources, to openly and shamelessly
violate the law which the officers have
sworn to uphold. The Lewiston Sun
points the finger of scorn at the
Democratic party, the county sheriff,
the mayor and city and county Of
ficers.
The devilish regime goes on-every-
body knows of it; there is no secret
about it; those who ought to weep.
grin and shrug: those who ought to
hang their heads in shame, sheer and
naunt their viciousness and defiance.
So much for the combination of
politics and rum. for the collision Of
officials. pickpockets, bootleggers and
gunner. What Becker and his un-
scrupulous and criminal associates
were to New York city a lesser group
just as reprehensible and criminal
operates in certain Maine cities under
the protection OF few Democratic
Who is getting the rake-off? Do you
have your suspicious, or do you know
Of certain cases?
Let us read what the Civic League
Record says of Lewiston and the
mayors offer of rewards for the ap-
prehension of the perpetrators of re-
cent robberies:
The frequency of holdups and 9TH
er crimes in Lewiston, and the failure
Of the police to prevent these crimes
have stirred up Mayor Brann to offer
a reward. The interest Of the mayor
seems to center in Thomas Mcnamara
who was recently robbed of a large
sum Of money, for he offers a reward
Of $500 for information leading to the
conviction OF those connected with the
Mcnamara robbery, and only 800 for
similar information in the case Of the
hoidup Of two others. Mr.. Michaud and
Mr.. Robbins.
There is a Thomas Mcnamara who
pays a wholesale liquor tax and sells
liquor at 40 Main street, Lewiston. Is
this the man who was robbed and is
the business of Mcnamara the cause
Of Mayor Brann's 5000 interest in his
robbery. while he indicates only
hundred dollar interest in the harness
and coal business of the other two?
rs Mayor Brann really anxious 70
stop the epidemic of crime in Lewis
ton? Then let him promptly deal with
Thos. Mcnamara who is openly vio-
lating law at 49 Maine street, and
with the more than fifty other liquor
sellers doing an open and apparently
protected criminal business in that
city.
IF Mayor Brann permits saloon
robbers to rob the homes Of needed
necessities. to rob corporations Of ef-
flcient workmen. to rob the commune
ity Of its peace and quiet and to rob
men and women of their character.
why should he feel special concern
because some one robs saloon rob.
Der Of some of his money?
The citizens Of Lewiston should
take notice that the return of the
open protected saloon of Lewiston is
followed by a return Of tho era Of
crime which troubled that city before
the appointment of Sheriff Stevens"
Tha nrOn0Sed q