Evening star., 1928-11-22
|HESSE OPENS WAR
ON SOCIAL CLUBS
HoId-Ups in Gambling Houses
Must Stop, Police
Head Warns.

Hold-ups in so-called social clubs in
Washington must stop, Maj. Edwin b.
| Hesse, superintendent Of police. de-
| clared today in a general order to
police captains instructing them to have
their men give special attention to the
clubs in the future.
The campaign against bandits spec
ializing in gambling houses was brought
on, Maj. Hesse said, by reports and
complaints reaching him of persons
losing money and becoming involved in
personal encounters in such hold-ups
Offers Four Proposals.
| To supplement this special atten-
tion," Mai. Hesse makes four tentative
| proposals.
| First, he says, "The iron doors pro-
tecting such establishments must come
down." Heavy iron doors with tiny peep
holes are used in most gambling houses
to keep out callers until they have been
identified. These doors, Maj. Hesse sald
add to the difficulty of police sent out
to secure evidence upon which to predi-
cate warrants for gambling establish
ments.
1t is also probable that some of the
known gambling houses will be pick
eted by police tonight. Such method
was employed in South Washington by
| vi.
| success, Maj. Hesse said.
! The third possible step in the drive
| against gambling places will be vigor-
Gus checking of the names of patrons
with view to having them called be-
fore the grand jury to give testimony.
| Finally, Maj Hesse intends to make a
careful investigation of every known
| gambling club to determine it's exact
| nature and the character Of the per-
| sons operating it.
Members of the gambling fraternity
| are to be given no quarter" Maj. Hesse
declared. "They need not think they
are going to violate the law and get
away with It,"
Maj. Hesse said the Incorporating of
such clubs under existing laws is a
he has made frequent appeals during
the past several years to have these
laws amended so as to give police the
right to make inspections of all clubs
| whether they be incorporated or not.
Freedom of Entry Vital"
"I can conceive of nothing more i'm
portant to the law enforcement
agency of any municipality than that
1t should have control of, and freedom
Of entry into, all clubs, whether in
COI pU1dtSO Vi AlOU, MdJ. 11CSSC oGdtGO
in his last annual report.
II am going to Congress this Winter
in an effort to have such legal pro-
vision enacted he stated.
The police chief believes enactment
of such law would go long way
toward eradicating many of the evils
complained of in connection with
gambling in Washington.
He also stressed the humanitarian
side of such campaign. pointing out
that the breaking up of clubs known
as one-man affairs and organized solely
for gambling purposes will benefit fam
lilies of many men who have been los
ing money at such places.
1t also is believed the wiping out of
gambling establishments will prove
highly beneficial to business houses.
From time to time police have arrested
persons employed in mercantile estab-
lishmentsI who admitted losing large
sums of money in gambling houses.
Versions of eyewitnesses differ, 1t is
said, with reference to a reported hap
pening in an incorporated club on
Fourteenth street Monday night or early
Tuesday morning.
The latest version heard by police is
that three men entered the place and
scooped in about $1,000. but another
man well known to the sporting frater-
nifty made them return it,