Evening star., 1934-12-30
Man Who Ended '92 Racket
Offers Remedy for Numbers
sect the Big. Shots, -
AdUises NJ. J. Joyce,
Recalling Drive.
He Broke Up ''PoIicy''
Came ~ Years Ago
Single Handed.

T LEAST one man in Wash
n ington knows the numbers
"A racket can be stopped-be-
1 \ cause he actually stopped 1t.
It was not precisely q one
man job because he had the backing
Of the district attorney. Together
they killed 1t. Better still. It remained
dead for q whole decade.
That was A years ago. In the Fan
Of 1892. to be exact, and the game
was known then as policy" But it
was just another variety Of the same
old racket. The successful coup CHI
NAKED q newspaper campaign against
the game. conducted chiefly by The
Washington Star. but supported by
other papers Of the time.
Maurice j. Joyce. of 134S Irving.
street. now "a years old, is of the
opinion, after 80 years as a deputy
United States marshal and Is years
in the Department of Justice. that
the numbers game Of today can be
controlled just as easily as the old
policy game he knew as an officer.
"Get the Heads" He Says.
"But, pshaw." says Mr.. Joyce. "the
police (and don't mean to criti-
cize police make big-to-do about
raids and arrests. But who do they
get? Runners.
That's no way to fight numbers.
The thing to do is get the heads OF
the ring. Nobody now seems to know
,r,t.A ~ 1.Aa de
much about the numbers ring. They
can be found. Get the big ones and
the little ones will quit.
1T Just gets me, though, to read
about the arrests of the Insignificant
little runners"
It has been a good many years
since Deputy Marshal Joyce conducted
bis one-man war on the vice and
some Of the details have escaped him.
He recalls with great deal OF pride,
however, that he was selected for the
task by Charles C. Cole. then district
attorney and later a distinguished
jurist Mr. Joyce describes him as
a determined man who didn't care
one bit about criticism"
Recalls Racket WdNes
Policy, according to Mr.. Joyce, had
spread to all parts of the city. Hun
dreds, perhaps thousands, played 1t
daily until the sale of tickets became
wantonly open. The newspapers put
up a tremendous howl. But the
United States marshals Office paid
no attention to it. It was problem
for the police.
Georgetown, where spent much
of my time" the former officer said,
was alive with policy runners, and
I knew lot of them. But didn't
know then who was running the
game.
Judge Cole finally decided there
must be graft some place or policy
couldn't thrive so easily. So he asked
the marshal to assign me to his Office.
The only orders he gave me were to
find out who was running the game
and get evidence enough to stop 1t.
That was all"
With that Mr.. Joyce set about get
ting acquainted. 1t took months TO
learn all the runners. for the organ
ization was rather intricate and trail
ing them led to different destinatio
In due time, however, he learned that
the head runner" colored man
named Holmes, met his agents in a
third-rate saloon at Thirteenth street
and New York avenue, site OF the
present Masonic Temple.
Watched Maj. Horback.
Trailing Holmes was simple task.
He was followed to the old Evans
Building, two blocks away. at Fiji
teenth street and New York avenue,
and to the Office of three men, Maj.
James P. Horback. William Baldwin
and Edward King. the latter chief
clerk for the supposed partners.