The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-05-07
PASSAIC CRAFT
ON WORKERS is
RELATED BY COP
Corruption Rampant in
Textile Town
BY HOLLACE RANSDELL.
Federated Press.

Federated Press.
PASsAIC, N. j., May 6.-(FP)-
Workers in the textile district are
learning much from the political CAM
paign for the election of city Off
Gals May 10th.
| Coming so soon after the settle
ment Of the strike when the struggle
is still fresh in the minds of all, the
campaign offers a choice opportun-
| ity-in the scandals thrown up by
the political opponents the work
ers to get the Glow down" on the
trickery, the sneak thief methods
used by the little crook politicians to
cheat and rob them and to discrim-
mate against them when they were
on strike. In their zeal to run down
opponents, candidates have let a
number Of unpleasant looking cats
out of the bag.
One Of the exposures which has
been getting headlines recently in
the Passaic press has to do with
certain "overlord of the cells" as he
was called by the Daily News. Dur
ing the course of the campaign mud
Singing, story was uncovered which
came near to exposing this CRATER
who preys upon the poor of the city.
But the expose stopped short when
it came to giving his name.
Chief Detective Switches.
Benjamin Turner. Captain of the
Detective Force of Passaic, told part
of the story, which was reported by
the News. Captain Turner is run
ming for city commissioner along with
eleven others.
A young italian woman whose hus-
band was arrested last November
went to Albion Deane, now campaign
manager for Thomas L. Sake, also
running for city commissioner, TO
ask for help in getting her husband
out of Jail. In the words of Captain
Turner, she told Deane that "when
she was in the police court trying
to see if she could get her husband
out, a gray-haired policeman came to
her and said to her: What do you
want?' She said she told him she
wanted to get her husband out of jail.
"This gray-haired policeman then
took her to -- who told her
it would cost her 5000 to get her hus-
band out Of Jail, as he would have
to see Judge Davidson, and whatever
he said to the Judge he would have
to do for him. The woman then told
-- that she did not have any
money and --- told her he
could not do anything for her"
Rob Poor People.
"That's just the way they do things
here" Captain Turner was quoted
later as saying. "They get from $751;
600 to $4,000 a year out of the poor
PEOPLE Of this city in that way"
Another part of the same story
told by Captain Turner touches on
the strike and shows the habit of the
police to blame everything on the
strikers. The italian husband in
question, tile-setter, went to Cliff
ton just before his arrest to collect
some money due him on a job. AS
Captain Turner relates it, he took a
few drinks of wine there which went
to his head.
HE got on a bus to come to Pas
sale, and got into an argument with
someone and the jitney bus stopped
in front of the Botany mill gate, and
an officer came out and arrested him.
The officer thought he was mixed
up with the strike. He was taken
into the Botany gate office and held
there for several hours"
POormaster Involved.
James Donnelly, Poormaster Of
Passaic, was also brought into the af-
fair according to the account of Deane
who zealously started out on a plot
to expose the "overlord of the cells"
who extorted $4,000 to $4,000 a
year out of the poor, but abandoned
his plan after a talk with Donnelly's
campaigning at the present time for
John Mcclure, mayor of Passaic.
At a political meeting several days
ago, Deane told of comforting with
Donnelly about the arrested Italian.
Jim said he knew the case and then
began to realize why the man was
in jail. Jim explained that this young
man had been arrested in front of
the Botany Mills and was one of
those wise guys" (strikers).