The Washington times., 1929-02-25
PROTECTS
PATRONS,
!. POLICE
SAY

and Potomac Telephone Com
pany protects gamblers and
bootleggers from police inves-
'tigation were made before the
Gibson subcommittee of the
House District Committee to-
day.
Clinton N. Howard, chairman of
khe national united committee for
Maw enforcement, made the declara-
Eion that criminal exchange
lists in the District.
Major e. B. Hesse, Superintend-
ent of Police. agreed with him.
Chairman f. w. Gibson, of Yer
anont branded it a conspiracy"
Subscribers Guarded
Seventy per cent of all gamblers,
ebootlcggers and criminals in Wash
ington have unlisted telephone
numbers Howard charged, "and
not even the Chief of Police, If he
has possession of the numbers, can
get the name or location from the
Telephone company. This informa-
tfon is guarded as jealously as the
President of the United States"
Major Hesse and Inspector Henry
i. Pratt told the subcommittee that
the Telephone Company had been
asked on numerous occasions by the
police to give them access to the
names and addresses Of persons haV.
4 ing unlisted numbers. Officials OF
the company refused, Hesse said, on
the ground that the telephone service
was furnished on a private contract.
The company had court decisions up
Npoldfng it's stand, the police chief
said.
= Big Private Exchanges
Inspector Pratt told of finding Il
to IA telephones in single estsb-
Mshnnent after raid. He said the
numbers were taken to the telephone
company and officials were requested
TO give the names, of the phone sub
scribers.
"The company said they had no
such numbers" Pratt said. "but /
called some and got q response. The
excuse OF the telephone company
on other occasions has been that
s.thev cannot discriminate between
~ person taking an unlisted phone
for legitimate use, and persons we
believe are using the phones for
allegal purposes. The contract Is
anade like any other business trans
action, and no attempt is made to
discover whether the phones are 10
be used in gambling or bootleg
ling business"
Representative Ralph Gilbert of
KentllcLy declared that chanSe
vas needed in the situation be-
eause the telephone company was
apparently putting private conVen-
= fence above public safety'
1900 Bootleggers
Howard told the committee his
Investigation had disclosed there
ere between $50 and 400 places
where liuuor Is sold in washington.
He said he told an investigator to
make a thorough study of the
situation and stop when he reached
1000 places. He stat, he did not
think this was an ambitious estl-
mate. as he believed at least 2,OOO
bootleggers were operating here.
Howard, Hesse, and the subcom-
niteee all agreed that the police
: handling Of the prohibition sltua-
tfon in the District is ineffective at
this time, and that separate en-
forcement act is needed to dry up
the Capital Chairman Gibson re-
hvealed that a bill providing for a
tAO
such an enforcement act in view,
nrobably will be introduced during
fhe next few days in the House
bv Representative Sproul of Kan
xas. who has been looking inuo
enforcement conditions here.
Gibson told Hesse that police in.
former had told him that in one po-
lice precinct here hootlegging was
carried on over an area of several
blocks Hesse said he wished the
informer would come out in the
topen and tell the police about it,
Blame Is Scattered
Y Gibson stated he did not think the
blame for lax prohibition enforce
nnent here rested with the Police De-
partment, but spread through the
District Attorneys Office, the Cor
poration Counsel's Office, and pos
sibly higher"
Hesse and Pratt explained that at
present the police must turn over
evidence in bootleg cases to the
prohibition authorities for l.rosecu-
ton. He said that this phase of
the problem, as well as the com
lpficated business of getting search
warrants, initiated against rigid
reinforcement
= Howard gave the subcommittee a
lengthy account of his committees
wor.. and outlined his plan of in
Vegtigating liquor conditions in the
District. At one point in his testi.
naony he e. ibited a bottle of bav
rum which he said was used for
beverage purposes by the poorer
classes