The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-10-10
TUESDAY, OCTOBER, 10, 1872.
Making a City Safe and Defeat.

~ eve0AAse0 $500
q Whether or mot any tangible results are &C
,mplished, the fact that the attorney general
Z Illinois has assigned . special prosecutor to
ssist the Rock Island county. grand Jury in
bunding up the slayers Of William Gabel, In
lcates the Importance. from community
Welfare viewpoint, with which that mysterious
eime Is regarded beyond the borders Of Rock
lland county.
Il 1t is not that Cabers death has been
4ourned so much as it is that the people feel
Vat there should be disclosure Of the alleged
Conditions that created situation that made
h expedent that the saloonkeeper be despatched
= order to prevent revealment Of q system
through which lawlessness was protected in
The city for a financial consideration imposed
= regular intervals, and in the returns Of
Which underworld lords and oficia&s are de-
dared to have shared on partnership basis.
II Gabel himself was one of the immune law
1gss kings Of Rock Island. But when he re-
Yelled at the protection demands that were
6ade upon him, and carried his resistance to
lie point of furnishing information bearing on
rs contributions to the immunity ring to fed
6ral agents he was marked for despatch to pre-
$ent his appearance in court to corfoborate afti-
6avits discriminating others which he is alleged
y have given to the government officers.
-x There is an impression in the public mind
d Rock Island that officials have conspired in
the promotion OF lawlessness; that they have
ahared in the spoils of the underworld, and
hey have been unable to act against law vio-
htors when called upon to do so by the decent
DO
&r their inactivity when vice continues to be
4lerated two months after city and county
Hicials had Joined in a statement pledging
themselves to complete cleanup.
Il Rock Island citizens have been aroused
over the indifference with which police author
fies regarded the Gabel murder. That there
night be any public interest in the apprehen-
Ion of his murderers was officially scoffed,
Whereas, when John Looney. Ur, died in an
Engagement with the same strata Of society
Nat is supposed to have destroyed Gabel police
authorities displayed a zeal in searching for the
Nayers that affords contrast anything but
supplementary to the efficiency Of the Rock
bland police department
A The men who are alleged to haye killed
Looney are under arrest The men who killed
HRbel are believed to be still in Rock Island
6nQuestioned or unmolested by the police
authorities. At any rate that is the impression
! ID the public mind. The night Of the Gabel
Murder there is alleged to have been a manipu-
Ation Of the police department assignments 80
Hat the beat on which Cabel resided was not
policed throughout the whole night
/. Bill Gabel is believed to have been killed to
terve two purposes-the first to prevent his
appearance in court against members Of an al
\ kged vice ring to whom he had been making
protection payments and secondly as a warning
70 all others enjoying underworld concessions
Mat death is the penalty for squealer. That's
0e law of the underworld That's the Law that
lRs been demanding and receiving respect in the
City Of Rock Island, and officials have not dared
= run counter to it until forced to do so by the
PRESSURE of public opinion.
e The special prosecutor from the Office of the
4ttorney general has perplexing task before
@m. but if he can unravel the tangl9 and place
responsibility for the Gabel murder and the
trail OF ofhcial corruption leading up to it he
will have done service to the city and county
AZ Rock Island that cannot fail but, to have a
4alutary effect on governmental functioning OF
tie future. Rock Island has been at a low moral
teb. In the depths of community despond, due
II the dominance Of an influence that has
ether persuaded or compelled oficialdom to
Wink at brazen lawlessness. 1t is confidently
elieved that solution Of the Gabel murder will
. long ways toward breaking the hold on
d1icialdom Of that dangerous influence, dan
1srous chiefly because Of ITS promotion of the
Aought that the only law that is to be enforced
Mcaly IL the law dictated by the lords of the
underworld. It is a crisis In the history Of the
@ky. 1t must be met and it must be solved.