Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-04

,hey not7 A. No, sir Not the reports :
ma They were typewrltten. 49,.
% Ana signed by the detectives2 A. They
we're signed by the detectives, yes SIT
al Did the District Attorney seno To-
YOU? A. Yes sir; he did. ,..
o Did he ask you TO get those reports
A whv he asked me TO go down to MT
e.,,h and ask him to give me those re-
q Did YOU do It? A. l went down and
.o,d MN the District Attorney asked me to
ret those reports.
o. What did he say? a. He SAID that
.hev were I'm the hands of the Mayor.
20 Did YOU get them? A. No; | didn't
q. Did you talk to the Mayor about
% what is your recollection as to what
detectives made the reports? a why,
Lestrange made all the Lestranse anu
walsh made all the reports to me,
o. They were the only two MADE them
A Yes, to my recollection.
a You think there were about SIX! a.
TN to the 18th, as near as can remember.
q. Did you take them personally TO the
Mavors secretary. A. Yes
o. Have you seen these reports since you
handed them to Mr. Smith? A. NO, Sir
don't know anything about them.
O When you went up to see the Mayors
secretary TO get these reports at the re-
ouest of the District Attorney, did you
demand them? A. Why, no, sir.
~ Did YOU ask him to give them to
you? A. told him Mr. Rot2n wanted them
O And he said they were in the hands
Of the Mayor? A. Yes, sir. -
Q. Did you ask the Mayor for themT A.
No. sir ,. 4,
,orney Rotan what the Mayors secretary
,ssid TO YOU? A. l don't remember whether
I did or not. -.
aid or not I told him ] told Mr.. Smith
that he wanted the reports
n Now Mr.. Souder, / want to be frank
Nth YOU A. | want to be frank with you
n I have no reason to doubt IL. Did you
aay to Mr.. Rotan two days afterward when
bc oar,o to- vow a~ain and asked you why
you had not brought him the reports
didn't sou say hat you had not asked Tor
them? A. l did not ask Mr.. Smith.
Judge Gordon questioned Detective Souder
sharply to bring out an admission that
witness had not asked the Mayor per-
sonally for vice squad reports made In the
Fifth Ward by Detectives lie Strange and
walsh, as he is alleged to have promised
District Attorney Rotan today. Souder
testified that he had told the Mayors secre-
tary Joseph Smith. the District Attorney
= wanted these reports covering conditions in
the ward prior to the primaries, but had
not asked the Mayor for them as requested,
Although he admitted having seen the
Mayor nearly every day. Judge Gordon
then asked: 49,
YOU talk to the Mayor about the conditions
in the Fifth Ward as reported by those
reports? A. Not. on the question of the
report The Mayor talked to be about the
Fifth Ward and asked me what the condi-
tions were down there, and from the time
that I had the men down there and from
A.. rbaI fror q time
10 time there had been nothing down there
except where they told me that there was
n very heated political scrap between tn,
two factions. and l made that report to
the Mayor, and there was actually very
hard contest down there that those people
down there were having very, very eX-
.citable. political contest between the fac
.tions.
~ O. Is that all you meat to say that those
reports reported to you? 4. Only some of
those reports were statements-as a matter
of fact. most of them were statements
from people that had claimed to he abused
by
O. Reports of citizens who claimed to
have been abused by the police oflicers? a
Yes
o. Beaten with baclljacks is that so?
A. / think one of them.
O Weren't there more than one? A. The
[. reports mostly were statements from peo-
pie
q. OF abuse by the police? A Yes.
IS O. Did you express your opinion of con-
ditions down there to the Mayor7 A. Nc,
sir
S @. Did you form any Official opinion IN
your mind as to the conditions down there?
A. Yes
O. What was 1t? A. My opinion was
that the factions there that had always been
friends had separated, on account of the
condition existing of having two factions