Evening star., 1934-10-24
KILLING STARTS
GAMBLING DRIVE.
Hazen Orders Cleanup as
Police Seek Suspects
in Wilson Death.
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Continued From First Page)
a ditch. The gunmen ran into the
highway behind the stalled car and
shot Wilson through the head. The
bullet knocked out a rear window Of
the sedan.
The wound from which Wilson died
at Washington Sanitarium several
hours after the shooting was probed
for the bullet at an autopsy yesterday
afternoon.
Montgomery County police said 1t
would be turned over to ballistics ex-
perts for examination. 1t was fired
from a .32-caliber pistol, evidently an
automatic.
Following his conference with Maj.
Brown today, Commissioner Hazen
announced he Is planning to ask Con-
gress to amend the District statutes
TO make possible the padlocking of
any establishment where police find
such evidence Of gambling as racing
slips or numbers" game parapher-
MALTA. Such materials would be taken
as prima facie evidence of violation
of gaming laws.
Law Changes Sought.
The Commissioners also are con-
sidering recommendations by Mai.
Brown that Congress be urged to en-
act law giving police power to hold
persons in possession of numbers
games bets or other evidence Po-
lice now cannot take effective action,
they say. unless they make a raid
upon an established gambling place,
and much of the numbers game
operations is conducted by runners
not having places OF business"
Hazen also seeks to hold the owners
of properties responsible for viola
tions of building and fire regulations
in connection with conduct of gam
bling operations by their tenants.
Maj. Brown said he believed yes
terday'S shooting grew out of trouble
among gamblers He said it did
not necessarily mean there was
gang war; in progress. On the other
hand, some police have been informed
outsiders are attempting to muscle
in" on profitable gambling operations
here.
Hazen also plans to give serious
study to Maj. Browns recommendation
for change in the law enabling po-
lice to prosecute runners in the num-
berS game when they are found with
betting slips or when caught in the
act of taking bets. even when this is
done on public highway.
Capt Hugh P. Dram, director of in
spection, was called into conference
this morning to decide what could be
done to penalize owners of properties
for actions of tenants in making struc-
tural changes obviously designed for
the protection of gambling operations
Many questions of law are involved
here, Hazen was told, but he directed
Maj. Brown to make a report to Capt
Dram of instances of barred doors
and windows or blockaded fire escapes
in buildings raided by police seeking
gamblers.
Would Accuse Owners.
He said an effort would be made to
fine the owners in such cases for viola
ton of building or fire regulations, or
violation of occupancy permit regula-
tionS. The action must lie against
the owner instead of the tenant in
such cases, Hazen was informed.
While aroused by the killing of
Wilson and the complaint from
spokesmen for the Federation of
Churches, both Hazen and Maj. Brown
said they did not believe there was
anv crime wave" in progress here.
They had before them the annual
report of Maj. Brown, submitted few
days ago, showing that during the
past fiscal year there was less serious
crime reported than during the pre-
of Clearance of cases. There were
9431 serious crimes reported in 1888
as compared with 1875 in the fiscal
year ending last June 80 OF the 1893
cases 64.8 per cent were cleared, while
last fiscal year the percentage was
increased to 729.
Maj. Brown stated that the number
of arrests for intoxication has been
steadily increasing since September of
last year. He attributed this to the
fact that repeal was something new
and said that he believed this condi-
ton later would level off In Septem-
Der of last year, he said, there were
some 1000 arrests for intoxication and
this figure has been increasing monthly
since the advent of first legal beer and
then legal liquor.
Larceny Arrests Gain.
Arrests for grand larceny last fiscal
year numbered 1903, an increase of
II over the total for the preceding