Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1918-07-25
\. Y. GUNMAN BARES
PH|LA. ELECTION MURDER
Revelation of Political Corruption
in Philadelphia Amazes West
Chester Courts.

West Chester. Pa, July 25-West
Chester Judges and Chester county jurors
were daaed Yesterday when the chief OF
the gunner who were brought from the
slums of New York TO run the Fifth Ward,
Philadelphia election last year unbared
the methods of a faction OF the Republican
party To control the city.
Nick Rittone of the lS gunner i'm
ported from New York IN an effort TO
defeat James A. Carey for select Council
made the revelation from the witness
stand
Rtt, who is also known as Little
Nick. " told his story for the first time on
n witness stand and he deeply implicated
Ike DctItsch. Lieutenant David Bennett
and John Wirtschafter. three Of the seven
defendants now on trial. The witness
also told IA story, making jimmy Clark
a principal 10 the murder OF Detective
George @ Epplcy, at Sixth and Delaney
streets on the morning OF the primaries
Nick s story on the stand follows.
About 10 o'clock on the night of
September II last | was walking along
Third avenue in the Bronx, New York,
when met Mike Sullivan and Domlnick
Compute had known them both for
several years They told me they
wanted IL men to work in Philadelphia
on election dav, but | SAID the time Was
too short to get that number
I'VE went To a saloon ut One Hundred
and fifty-hfth street and there were about
20 men in the place. Mike and Dominick
asked them If they wanted to go To Phila-
dclphia and they said they did We
then wrote down the names of Is Of the
mon and told them to meet lis at he saloon
4 l.. Tho Vt
all went down TO the Pennsylvania Ter
minal nj Thirty-third street and boarded
a tram for Philadelphia.
when we got 10 BROAD street station
Mike Sullivan took six Of the men TO the
keystone Hotel and the rest OF us went 10
Bcnnys nj Ninth and Race /streets
Dominick then asked me 20 take n walk
and after we had gone q mile We saw three
men standing on a corner. They talked
for about Is minutes and when one of
them left, Domnick crossed over and
spoke to them. One Of them was Dentsch
and the other was Lieutenant Bennett
THE WHITE RrRRoN FIGURED
'cNc then went back 10 Fifteenth md
Market streets and met the crowd
Sullivan was there and also lark and \
little man ! don't know We were gwen
white ribbons and We put them IN the
huttonholcs Of our vests We went to
some park, and it was there Domnick
introduced me 10 Clark, although bad
seen him before.
"Thcrc was some conversation which
I did not hear and then Domnick and
the man | did not know called me and
we went for walk We stopped IN front
Of store and the two men went inside
and later came out with n box They
gave It 10 me and | went To the square
| The box contained about Il or II black
| Jacks and | distributed them among the
| gang. Clark then SAID 10 follow him and
| he took us 10 the Deutsch Club
| we sat on the first floor awhile and
| then went to the top floor. About five
minutes later Clark called for four or five
men and four Of us went down. lie
| told us not to be afraid Of anyone; that
| the cops were with us and that we should
| 60 the limit The little fellow and Clark
| led us around several blocks, but nothing
happened and We went back 10 the club
Later Dominick called for the same
| four who had been out before and We went
downstairs Clark and the other man
walked ahead and soon We saw two men
on the street in front oil US Clark
said shake them up, especially the fellow
on the inside. he DlackIakcS began
to flv and one Of the men went down
That second | was grabbed by the collar.
HIS ARREST A BLuFP.
at was Wirtschafter who had me
| said What's the NATTER Ii Is all
right lie said o. YOU are one OF he
New York fellows told HIM was. and
he SAID he would have to go through with
the arrest | told him | had black jack
and he told me to slip 1t to him. | did
this and was then taken 10 the station
house
"When we got there gave the name of
Joseph Dawson and Philaelph Ii address
which had been gwen me. They began
searching me aud Nirtschafter told me
that was "a blnf | was put III cell.
but few minutes later an old man opened
the door and took me out. \ man with
a mustache was standing at the desk and
he said It's all right, Nick, go ahead.
"Wirtschafter asked me il | knew the
, way back to the Deutsch Club and |
SAID | did / went back and soon Clark
came up and told all of US to 90 down
STAIRS We walked about four blocks and
stood on "a corner There was a machine
standing in front Of house and ne were
told we were to raid that place Clark