The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1920-04-23
YIN FRIENDS, DOESA
CHICKEN CROSS THE ROADl

II WI n moment or W your attention Is invited 10 these matters
i of passing interest;
: who ha. seen ,Gs wonders s% Of Tia Fl s IaSna %. Ja"rs. % and ' old Il,
bnqRerguei while engaged in sowing a crop of oats.
RIO one Albert Garcia, alleged proprietor of a place
mold Albuquerque, known as ne Gold STAR
n, 21To the lack Of official jurisdiction Of the Albuquer,
fe relation rifS VV Of the e'T mis%sm :, %r of If o ovao n = ~ , ANA
qnerque to the crime of gambling in Old Albuquerque;
ITO the physical presence Of a kitty as essential to
y establishing a violation of the gambling law
- $40 the midnight rest of the sheriff of BernaTlO
county, and, ar
h $40 the passing of the buck.
Yesterday a curious case came up in the Albuquerque police
y Two young men admitted that they were among Others sitting
IN a gambling game in an Old Albuquerque resort. The resort. they
is alleged 10 be the proprietor. TIM game. they said. was craps
l d@sy b S ! told fbd ,1 n5 igds e. that nomt i's g.9 beat the ga, game me- They alleged
they had when they began to play, the proprietor Of the place
tipped off the Albuquerque police that they had been gambling
in Old Albuquerque.
This Of course is the unsupported statement Of young men who
The police record shows that these two young men ven arrested
and jailed on charges of vagrancy. There was no charge of gambling
The sheriff, who is the official custodian Of the peace in Old Albu
Known The a" Aib"a n"rpr % noM GS % hnye n Jaw y"1i,;om so so i o1 as Is
,fuquerque The Albuquerque police did not seek to exercise any
arrested one had $22i in his clothes, and the other $50. This is
ample means whcrcwith to eat and travel for a time ever at today
prices.
We saw and talked with oue of these lads. He was well dressed
lie spoke with the language and bore the manner of an educated
person Given that he had means to pay his way and paid it, we
would find i very difficult to make the legal definition Of "vagrnnt'
No doubt these lads meHted arrest Perhaps they mcrited he
ing spanked. They were fined $50 each for 'vagrancy" On that
count alone the fine is somewhat steep They paid the fines. The
hoy to whom we talked told ms, with the boastfulness of maynard
youth, that he knew his way around - and that he was too wise
for III" Old Town gamblers, whose game he said he beat. He at
tributed his arrest to the fact that he quit winner
We feel sure that this lad would have been helped by a spank
ing. We know that he was not helped by being "vagged' and fined
But these two boys are gone. The fact that remains and the
fact of interest is the existence of conditions on the edge of Albu.
querque out of which such events have arisen in the past and will
authority.
We are struck by the allegation that the proprietor Of an Old
lion of a crime over which the AIbuouconr porc have no o iiSriSiirtitcp
outside the one mile limit Why, if the charge was gambling, were
should have been held re- for the sheriff Of Bcrn lilo county "SfS or or the Il, j j%y
ice of the peace in the precinct wherein the alleged law violation
Why were the police tipped off and why was nothing said to
Sheriff Garcia by the tipster' Is the 'heriff's office off duty after
The unusual features apparently present in this case may not
he important; but they are of sufficient public interest, II. relation
with Other matters, to cali for a personal investigation by Chief
of Police Galusha, and a report by him to the city commission.
are in the habit of tipping off winners to The Nibaaacraae police,
with the result only of arrest and fines for such winners, whic the
games an the proprietors of places where the games are run are per
mhted to go scot free, it is time that something is done about it. We
do not want 70 put funds into the Albuquerque city treasury or amy.
where else, which are obtained from foolish boys who stray INTO or
deliberately seek entertainment IN games OF chance IN old Albu'
lanments before worse thing happen than the changing OF a little
money.
public gambling games and to close places where swh games are run
the law sought to do was TO Sion the gSnes and Thus nrotesctt tme weak
and foolish seekers after excitement or easy money. These two lads
however Maynard aud reprehensible, were entitled first to protection
from open games or places where games could be found and the
prOprietOrs of such gaming places should be rounded up and punished
before their victims, real or intended, are punished.
We are informed that BernaGllo county peace officers hold to
the Interpretation that the antigamblnP law is violated only when
The "house" or place or person running the game, gets a rake off,
or a percentage, or operates that busy little revenue producer known
popularity as the kitty
There are 81 varieties of ways by which a gambling game may
Be run with a rake off for the house or proprietor or protector Of the
same without the percentage appearing in print above the wheel,
table or crap bin as the ease may he.
Officers lit to hold their jobs, who really want to lind the rake
off, and how il is taken down. can readily do 81 when they try.
They know how to go about it. Having acquired this information
there is plenty Of law for conviction.
In Albuquerque the detection of such matters is up 10 the city