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diff --git a/42830-8.txt b/42830-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index dd1186b..0000000 --- a/42830-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4602 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chicago, Satan's Sanctum, by L. O. Curon - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Chicago, Satan's Sanctum - -Author: L. O. Curon - -Release Date: May 28, 2013 [EBook #42830] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHICAGO, SATAN'S SANCTUM *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - - - CHICAGO, SATAN'S SANCTUM. - - - "I am to speak of stories you will not believe; - of beings you cannot love; of foibles for which - you have no compassion; of feelings in which you - have no share."--W. MC. PRAED - - - By L. O. CURON. - - - C. D. PHILLIPS & CO., - CHICAGO. - - - - - COPYRIGHTED 1899 BY - L. O. CURON - - - - -PREFACE. - - -The present Mayor of the City of Chicago was recently re-elected. A large -number of independent voters, deeming one issue a dominant one, which, in -fact, was no issue at all, assisted in again bestowing on him the most -important office in the municipal government. - -The legislature had repealed a law under which evil, through the -threatened action of corruptionists in the Council, might have been -visited upon the city. That they were powerless to inflict it had been -demonstrated prior to the repeal of that law and prior to the election. -His competitors entertained, upon the question of the extension of street -car privileges, the same views as his own. Both were men of as great -ability as he, and each had, and still has, a reputation for personal -integrity not surpassed by his. Both were men more mature in years, and -possessed wider business experiences than he. Hence, either of them could -have been safely entrusted with the powers of the executive. Neither of -them, however, could invent, for campaign purposes, so catching, so -powerful, and yet so sophistical, a political phrase as "The streets may -be dirty, but they still belong to the people." To the inventor of that -cry the Mayor owes no small political debt. - -It might be inferred from the large vote he received that, as a public -servant, he had been tested and not found wanting. With respect to his -persistent opposition to the extension of street car privileges, without -adequate compensation to the city, and for a period not in excess of -twenty years, it should be said he bravely and manfully did his duty, -following, however, not leading public opinion on that question. All -danger from that source had disappeared when the polls opened in April -last. His competitors stood, on that morning, as honorably pledged to -throttle it, if it again appeared, should either of them be elected, as he -did. - -It cannot, however, be said that during his first administration he did -his whole duty. It is a peculiarity of the American people that they -always praise, with exaggeration, an official who partly does his duty, if -the part performed is regarded by them as especially serviceable to the -public. He had the benefit of so much exaggerated praise from a press -that, for nearly two years then last past, had been condemning him, that -some people were charmed into a sort of hysterical admiration for him. He -had the happy faculty of concealing the shortcomings of his first -administration, under cover of a supposedly overshadowing danger. Thereby -he caused his previous record to appear as if free from blemish, and that -he had performed every duty--and performed it well. The very adroit use of -this faculty is the only reason why he received a plurality of votes so -much larger than that of any other candidate nominated on the same ticket -with him for a minor office. - -His best friends did not contend that he did his full duty. They now only -hope he will do so. A public official is not entitled to praise, or -thanks, for doing his whole duty. He is elected for the purpose of its -performance. But full performance is so rare that the people seem to be -content if a public servant will do his duty only fairly well. - -The vices which prevail in the city, and which grew to their enormous, -threatening, and hideous proportions during the Mayor's first -administration, were known to the people to exist, but were forgotten by -them at the polls, were known to the police, and are still known to them, -and upon no conceivable basis of belief can it be supposed their existence -may not have been known to him, and that he does not know of their -continued existence. - -It is for him to utter the command "Stop," and they will cease, in so far -as they can be kept within bounds by his authority. Their absolute -suppression, under existing legislation is, perhaps, impossible, but their -regulation thereunder is not wholly impracticable. Ordinances demanding, -for instance, the imposition of a fine of $200 per day for keeping a house -of ill fame, have, he may say, never been enforced, and have fallen into a -condition of "innocuous desuetude." - -The field of observation on matters such as these is too wide to be -entered upon here. - -During the Mayor's first term, one of his best friends, in the columns of -his widely circulated newspaper, severely criticised his administration, -but supported him for re-election, and explained in its columns, in -response to an inquiry made by a correspondent just prior to the election, -his reasons for doing so as follows, viz.: - -"If Mayor Harrison shall receive the support of the independent voters -because of the good points of his administration, that will show that his -strength consists in doing right, not in doing wrong. It stands to reason -that he would rather have the approval of honest and respectable men than -of the vicious elements of the community. The R---- believes that Mayor -Harrison's present administration from first to last has improved and not -deteriorated. The mayor himself ought to know what are the weak points in -it, and if he has acquired wisdom by experience he should choose his heads -of departments for his second term with a view to curing the evils and -failures of his first term. The relations of the police department with -gambling resorts, all-night saloons and other forms of vice have been -indecent, and probably corrupt. The R---- has frequently urged the -dismissal of Superintendent K---- and the appointment of some better man. -It believes that Mayor Harrison is much to blame in permitting the evil -conditions to continue." - -The support he received for re-election came from a very large and -respectable element of the community, but nobody can doubt that he owes -that re-election to the solidarity of the votes of "the vicious elements -of the community!" - -The respectable element did not vote with such allies in order that he -should continue to conserve the interests of vice and criminality. The -supporters of the all-night saloons, gambling halls, poker joints, and of -all other nests of iniquity rallied to his assistance to a man. Without -the massed vote of the saloon and its hangers on, he would not have been -again chosen Mayor. - -The leading financial paper of this city, non-partisan in its political -views, said on the eve of the election: "An emergency exists. The -government of the City of Chicago is held in contempt not only in Chicago -but wherever Chicago is known. We are losing good citizens, property, -capital, prestige. The very streets, with their filth and dust, repel the -visitor; the servants of the city, whether in administrative or -legislative positions, are objects of suspicion; the scheme of a well -ordered civil service is breaking down; vice receives encouragement as the -price of votes. What wonder that many believe the heart is rotten? But -there is virtue and power enough to change all this. The moral sentiment -and enlightened self interest of the city once aroused and properly guided -would overwhelm all opposition." - -Few, if any, evidences have been given out from the City Hall since the -Mayor's re-inauguration tending to show that he proposes voluntarily to -destroy this "contempt." His new comptroller is a worthy successor to the -departed Waller, while the selection for his corporation counsel is all -that could be desired by the most captious citizen. But the vices and -crimes which principally brought, through their unchecked prevalence, that -contempt, find the man, under whom for two years the police force, which -in his friend's language has been "indecent and probably corrupt," again -in its command. Doubtless the army of the vicious rejoices. Certain it is -the community wonders. He will be observed as time passes. May the results -of observation redound to his everlasting credit and success, and to the -benefit of the great city of which he is the executive head! - -In the following pages references to the causes of that contempt will be -made. The prurient will find nothing in them to their taste. These -references ought to be of some assistance to the Mayor in finding out -through a properly organized and well officered police force that these -evil causes do exist. Having discovered them, their haunts, and their -aids, if he does not already know of them, will he tolerate them any -longer in this community? Will his continuous Superintendent of Police be -further allowed to throw his kindly protection over them? - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -CHAPTER I. - -CHICAGO--Its Development--Power of Criminal Classes in Its -Government--Pretenses of Reform--Official Satisfaction--Public -Condemnation--Truths as to Power of Criminal Classes. - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE POLICE FORCE--Its Strength--Composition--Power Dominating--Duties of -Defined--Population of Chicago--Nativity of--Police Enemies of Civil -Service--Demoralizing Effect--Tariff on Crime--Rates on Gambling Houses, -Etc.--Penalty for Refusal to Pay--Instances of Police Rates--Method of -Collection--Habits of Policemen--Some Are "Hold Up" Men--Blackmail -Levied--Law Department--Arrests in 1897--Police Fix Boundaries for -Crime--Chief's Testimony--Analysis of Arrests in 1897 in Second Police -Precinct--In City at Large--Division of Fees and Fines With -Magistrates--Police Courts, Corrupt--Cost of Police Force. - - -CHAPTER III. - -ALL NIGHT SALOONS--Character of--Thieves, Thugs and Prostitutes -in--Visitors--Country Buyers, Transients, Delegates, Youth and Old -Age--Women in--Character of--Basement Saloons--Scenes in--Private -Rooms--Scenes in All Night Saloons--Dancing--Music--Morning -Hours--Robberies, Etc., Planned--Girls Entrapped--Young Men -Ruined--Quarrels--Raids--Drinking--Surroundings of--Houses of Ill -Fame--Assignation Houses--Slumming Parties--Fads--Salvation and Volunteer -Army--Houses of Ill Fame--Inmates of--How Managed--Practices -in--Superstitions--Luck Powders--Sources of Supply--Patrons of--Wholesale -House Entertainer--Police Protection--Diseases--Attempts at Reform--People -Indifferent. - - -CHAPTER IV. - -RE-ELECTION OF MAYOR--False Issue Upon Which Re-elected--Vices in -Chicago--"Blind Pigs"--Protected by Police--Where Situated--How -Conducted--Classes--Drug Stores, Bakeries, Barns--Revenue to -Police--Located Near Universities--Lieutenant of Police Convicted for -Protecting--Cock Fighting--Bucket Shops--Women Dealers--Pool Rooms--Police -Play--Pulling of, Farcical--Views of Chief of Police--Players -in--Landlords--Book Making--Alliance Between, and Police and -Landlords--New York and Chicago--Chicago's Police Force Worst--Hold Up -Men--Methods--Victims--Police Sleep--Mayor's Felicitations, April 11, -1899--Account of Hold Ups, Same Day--Classes of Hold Up Men--Strong Armed -Women--Street Car Conductors Robbed--Ice Chests and Ovens for -Prisons--Hair Clippers--Protection to Criminals--"Safe Blowers' -Union"--Fakes--Panel Houses--Badger Games--Nude Photographs--Obscene -Literature--Confidence Men--Diploma Mills--Gambling--Women's Down Town -Clubs--Sexual Perverts--Opium Joints. - - -CHAPTER V. - -COMMON COUNCIL--Boodlers--Bribers--Council of 1899--Powers of--Misuse -of--Price of Votes--Passage of Boodle Ordinances--Public Works Department -and Bureaus--Illegal Contracts--Street Repairing, Etc.--Civil Service -Commission--History of--Present Board Tools of Mayor--Examination -by--Examples of--Attacks Upon Law--Special Assessments--Asphalt Ring--Fire -Department--County Government--Insane Asylum--Sale of "Cadavers"-- -Contracts--Sheriff's Office--Jury Bribers--Judges--Revenue Law--Tax -Dodgers--Town Boards--Coroner's Office--Press Trust--Civic Societies-- -Berry Committee Report--Baxter Committee--Opening Testimony--Conclusion. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - CHICAGO--ITS DEVELOPMENT--POWER OF CRIMINAL CLASSES IN ITS - GOVERNMENT--PRETENSES OF REFORM--OFFICIAL SATISFACTION--PUBLIC - CONDEMNATION--TRUTHS AS TO POWER OF CRIMINAL CLASSES. - - -Chicago, with its world-wide fame as the most marvelous product of -American enterprise among municipal creations in the nineteenth century, -with its wonderful growth, from an Indian trading post in 1837 to a modern -city of the second size in point of population in the year 1898, with the -record of its stupendous strides in reaching its present commercial and -financial position among the commanding trade centers in the world, with -its strong civic pride, its numerous and admirable religious, educational -and charitable institutions both public and private, its cultured -development in literature, music, the arts and sciences, with its -memorable disaster in the great fire of 1871, its speedy recoupment from -that disaster, and its brilliant achievement in the organization and -management of the magnificent "White City," the wide range of the -classified exhibits of which covered the entire and progressive -contributions of mankind to all that goes to make up the civilization of -the age from the earliest period of the commencement of that civilization, -this Chicago, grand, philanthropic and patriotic, suffers, as for years it -has suffered, from the most extensive and persistent advances in political -power, along the lines of their respective crimes, of the criminal -classes, until, from the wealthy bribe-giver to the lowest sneak thief and -sexual pervert, these classes carry elections, corrupt the corruptible in -the Common Council, sway justice in the forum of the lower courts, and -govern the police force until it has become a municipal aid to the -perpetration of crime. - -From one administration to the other, the growing power of these lowest -classes of society manifests a stronger hold upon civic administration. -Pretenses of reform are all that, so far, have followed each bi-ennial -election of a Mayor. Here and there, and now and then, gambling houses -are closed, threats against police officers, who follow the well grounded -practice of levying protection rates upon brothels, street walkers, -gambling games of all descriptions, saloons, concert halls, and that -varied combination of evils forming the working machinery of vice, are -given publicity, and while the growth of these monstrous evils cannot but -be known to public officials, both from observation, official reports, -events as chronicled in the daily press, grand jury reports, civic and -State investigations, and verdicts in the courts, a nerveless cowardice -seems to seize each succeeding incumbent of the Executive's office, under -whatever political party's banner he may be called to the chair, and -prevents him from grappling with, and throttling, the ever increasing -power of the combined votaries of all forms of vice and crime. - -The Mayor recently congratulated the Common Council in these words, viz: -"The report of the General Superintendent of Police contains assurance for -all classes of citizens that the efficiency, vigilance and zeal that have -characterized this department will permit them to pursue their avocations -without fear of being robbed and assaulted by long and short men. One need -not be exceedingly observant to note that with the approach of winter -comes an annual outbreak of crime. We all noticed evidences of such a -visitation at the advent of the winter just ended, but it should not be -allowed to pass without comment that criminality rarely showed itself -during last fall when it was crushed out with a suddenness and success -that ought to be regarded with pride and satisfaction by every Chicagoan. -There has been no evidence of crime through the recent year as in former -years; the criminals came in the fall, but they were severely taught that -Chicago was an unhealthy clime for them, with the result that they were -wise enough not to linger here long." - -This statement, so self-satisfying to the official who made it, so totally -false in fact, so dangerous to the welfare of the people, and so -flippantly interwoven into a public document by one who either knew the -contrary to be the truth, or who knowingly used his official position for -the suppression of truth, if not of crime, is contradicted by the -disclosures made by every organization devoted to the purification of the -public morals, the betterment of civil administration, and the eradication -of the bestial vices so freely and openly flaunted in the faces of a busy -and apparently indifferent people. - -Contrast the announcement of the Law Enforcement League with this official -declaration. Said this League, composed of the pastors of churches and -law-abiding people, "Chicago's influence ought to be on the side of purity -and good order, but the fact is that vice and crime are prevalent, -lawlessness is defiant, recreancy to sworn duty is all but universal. The -disorderly saloon is the nesting place of the terrible debaucheries which -disgrace our city. Ordinances and laws which have for their object the -suppression of venality and crime are trampled ruthlessly beneath the feet -of a disloyal and un-American horde. * * * The public mind is profoundly -agitated over the reign of lawlessness and moral disorder. * * * The -co-operation of all decent and respectable people is absolutely imperative -if municipal government is to be transferred from the baser to the better -element. * * * We have a right to demand that lawlessness shall cease; -that gang rule shall be broken; that partisan politics shall be made -subsidiary to municipal righteousness; that the all but omnipotent power -of the disorderly shall be broken; that the carnival of crime which curses -Chicago shall end; that the law breakers, crime makers and bribe-takers -shall be adequately punished and that the fair name of this imperial city -shall be redeemed from the reproach of blackmail, wanton immorality and -widespread disorder." - -A noted divine said recently, "I believe that this city is to be the -greatest city of this continent and of the world. I believe that Chicago -is the devil's headquarters, and I think it is not far from the City Hall. -If our own eyes could be fully opened we would see there infinite -indecencies, bum politicians, ward workers, heel tappers, men who are the -devil's own and delivered body and soul to do his bidding." - -Another said, "Saloons and all other haunts of vice are wide open, as they -have never been before in the city's history." - -A distinguished lawyer, speaking before the Christian Convention recently -held in this city, said, "Scourge off and out of your temples the -political hyenas that prey on the municipal body politic, that fatten on -the scarlet woman's wages of sin, that share the gambler's plunder and the -blind pig's profits." - -Another eminent divine declared at this meeting, "He knew that men have -been kept from coming to, and investing in, Chicago because our morality -is so low." - -Still another divine declared at the same meeting, "But when in one night -five homes in the block in which I live--and I moved there because it was -the safest place in the city--are robbed, and, within the same week, three -men are held up within two blocks, the conditions are serious." Serious, -indeed, they are, despite assurances of protection by the police force -emanating from the highest official authority! - -A few plain truths as to the utter prostitution of the civil authorities -to the power of the criminal classes in Chicago, and as to the filthiness -of those classes, are attempted to be given in the following pages. They -may assist in arousing the people to a keen sense of their duty as -citizens to demand from a new administration a rigid enforcement of the -law by public officers, and that these officers shall become the servants -of the people rather than remain the slaves, as well as the persecutors -for private gain, of the riffraff of the community. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - THE POLICE FORCE--ITS STRENGTH--COMPOSITION--POWER DOMINATING--DUTIES - OF DEFINED--POPULATION OF CHICAGO--NATIVITY OF--POLICE ENEMIES OF - CIVIL SERVICE--DEMORALIZING EFFECT--TARIFF ON CRIME--RATES ON - GAMBLING HOUSES, ETC.--PENALTY FOR REFUSAL TO PAY--INSTANCES OF - POLICE RATES--METHOD OF COLLECTION--HABITS OF POLICEMEN--SOME ARE - "HOLD UP" MEN--BLACKMAIL LEVIED--LAW DEPARTMENT--ARRESTS IN 1897-- - POLICE FIX BOUNDARIES FOR CRIME--CHIEF'S TESTIMONY--ANALYSIS OF - ARRESTS IN 1897 IN SECOND POLICE PRECINCT--IN CITY AT LARGE--DIVISION - OF FEES AND FINES WITH MAGISTRATES--POLICE COURTS, CORRUPT--COST OF - POLICE FORCE. - - -The Police Force of the City of Chicago consisted on December 31st, 1897, -of 3,594 men, of which number 2,298 were first-class patrolmen, the -remainder being officers, sergeants, clerks, drivers and patrol-wagon men. -The number of square miles of territory embraced within the city limits -was, and is, 186.4. - -The force is composed largely of men of one nationality or of their -descendants. A large majority affiliates with the same church. Prior to -the passage of the civil service law in 1895, each bi-ennial -administration made the force its own valuable mine in which veins of rich -rewards for its friends and political workers were found. To this force -the aldermanic supporters of the administration attached their henchmen -and ward heelers, and these, in turn, as public officers, looked after the -political welfare of their backers and of the administration these backers -supported. Thus, the political complexion of the force was liable to -change every two years. Notwithstanding the presence of a civil service -law on the statute books under which the force is now supposed to have -been re-organized and re-appointed, its political complexion remains the -same. The organization is dominated by the political party which alone -uses the distinctive title of "Tammany." The civil service law has been -attacked, in behalf of this public force, by officials who were sworn to -sustain it, until through their repeated assaults upon it, its -administration is looked upon as farcical, and its administrators as its -most cunning and relentless foes. - -The duties of the police force are clearly defined in the city charter. -Generally, that instrument provides, "The police shall devote their time -and attention to the discharge of the duties of their stations according -to the laws and ordinances of the city and the rules and regulations of -the department of police, and it shall be their duty, to the best of their -ability, to preserve order, peace and quiet, and enforce the laws and -ordinances throughout the city." - -According to the school census of 1898, the population of Chicago was then -1,851,588. This population is one of the most polyglot of any city in the -world. Each modern language is spoken by some one class of its people. - -The population born of American born parents exceeds that of any other -nativity, being in round numbers 486,000, while the Germans, born of -German born parents, and Germans born in Germany, number in round figures -468,000. Of the Irish 131,000 are American born of Irish parents; born in -Ireland, 104,000, making a total of 235,000. These are the largest -classes, by nativity, of its people, and with the proverbial ability of -the latter nationality to govern and "get there" it supplies the police -force with the largest quota of men, year after year. - -During the years 1897 and 1898 this force, and every man seeking to become -a member of it, was taught by city officials, and by none more -energetically than by the chief law officer of the city administration, -that the civil service law was an especial enemy of theirs, inasmuch as it -abridged their privileges and immunities as citizens of the United States, -and was, therefore, a menace to their rights, wholly unwarranted by the -Constitution of the United States. - -It was accordingly attacked upon that ground by the officers sworn to -enforce it, and, since the establishment of its validity by the highest -courts in the land, its provisions are constantly sought, by them, to be -avoided and defeated. - -The efforts of the commissioners to enforce it were commented on in an -official message by the city's Executive, as if such efforts were in fact -being made, and were part and parcel of an administrative policy; while, -in practice, no possible legal device or illegal invention was allowed to -fail of application by municipal officials to destroy its commands, even -by its commissioners, who announced themselves as its greatest devotees. -No more demoralizing example could have been set before the police force -than the acts of the higher authorities. Such acts have produced the -inevitable result, that, as such higher authorities saw fit to openly -throttle a law they were sworn to enforce, the rank and file of the police -force itself inferred that they, too, could seek to evade, and refuse to -execute, all laws and ordinances which in their judgment affected the -suppression of crime. - -Consequently, that force has become demoralized and corrupt, openly -levying a tariff for revenue and official protection upon all classes of -wrong-doers, below those who commit felonious crimes of the highest grade, -and when the rates are not promptly paid by the protected classes, they -are coerced by arrest into the payment of fines and fees for division -between the justices and the officers. It is a well known fact that a -schedule of prices prevails for police protection, which prices must be -paid for that protection. Gambling houses pay from $50.00 per month -upwards; panel and badger games, $35.00 to $50.00; music halls with saloon -and private room attachments, $100.00; houses of ill fame, from $50.00 -upwards, according to the number of inmates at so much per capita; cigar -store and barber shop gambling games, $10.00; "blind pigs," the unlicensed -vendors of liquors, $10.00 to $30.00, and with permission to gamble, -$30.00 to $50.00; crap games, $10.00 to $25.00; opium and Chinese joints, -$10.00 to $25.00; drug store "blind pigs," $10.00 to $30.00, and prize -fights and cocking mains, a percentage of the gate receipts--usually -one-fifth. - -Whenever a gambling house refuses to pay it is immediately pulled. These -rates of police blackmail and of protective tariff have been sworn to -before public investigations, and inquiry trials, as imposed and -collected. The press has repeatedly commented upon these frightfully cruel -persecutions, reeking with the infamy of the participation by public -servants in a division of the fetid proceeds of the procuress, of the -landlady, of her unfortunate slave, the harlot; of the skin gambler, the -clock swindlers and tape gamesters, and of the operators of massage -parlors, both male and female. - -In one case, tried before the Criminal Court of Cook County, a lieutenant -of the police force was convicted of the crime of exacting money from the -owner of a "blind pig" paid to him by the owner for protection in his -unlawful occupation. Going back a few years, during the World's Fair -period, as high as $2,000, it is said in public print, was paid for -similar protection in a single instance. - -The officer in charge of a given precinct makes the collections, retains -his percentage, passes the remainder on to his next superior, who -withholds his rake-off, and so on until the net profit reaches the highest -police official. A leading city newspaper, in a caustic editorial, -declared that "in Chicago protection means the privilege to commit crime -upon the payment of a sum of money to the police. It has ceased to mean -that the citizen will be guarded against the acts of criminals." So -thoroughly recreant to duty have some of the ranking officers of this -force become, that one of the oldest captains when asked why he did not -close, in his district, certain notorious saloons where depraved women -robbed strangers in wine rooms, replied that "some people would steal in -the churches, and you might as well close churches as close the saloons -for that reason." - -Patrolmen in uniform are found in dives playing cards; and in others -sleeping during the hours of their supposed presence on their beats. They -know the women of the town, the street walkers in the territory they -patrol, the keepers of every vile joint, where the most depraved practices -are indulged in, the houses of ill fame, high-priced and low-priced, the -"Nigger," Japanese, Chinese and mixed bagnios, the policy shops, fences -and schools for thieves. - -All these vice mills and their operators contribute to the policemen's -demand, and thus obtain permission to carry on, in daylight, and at -night-time, their nefarious, lecherous and disgusting crimes and orgies. - -One officer gambled in a saloon with a citizen, lost his money, -overpowered the citizen, recovered his lost money and then robbed his -victim. - -In broad daylight an officer held up a citizen and robbed him of his money -and valuables. When the Chief of Police had this case called to his -attention before a legislative investigating committee, he answered, "I -tried that man yesterday. He got on the police department ten years ago, -and he always had a reputation of being a good officer, and the other -morning he had been drinking some, and, like everything else, became a -little indiscreet and started out to hold up a man and got hold of a few -dollars in that way, and under the impression, very likely, that he would -never be discovered, and, like everybody else, with his good record in the -past, he was discharged and reinstated, because many people vouched for -him, and all said he was an excellent officer, but he stepped by the -wayside and fell, and we had him arrested and discharged." - -Whether the many people who so generously interceded with the Chief of -Police for the retention of a thief as a member of his force were that -thief's fellow pals and hold-up men, was not disclosed; but it may be said -without hazard, that they were not reputable men--if they had any -existence at all other than in the imagination, and as part of the -bewildering policy of an incapable Chief. - -Methods of levying blackmail upon other than the disreputable classes, but -reaching through them, upwards and beyond them, are not only countenanced, -but advised by superior officials and approved by the city's highest -executive. - -On the 5th of November, 1897, a practical stranger in the city was given -the following letter, signed by the Chief of Police, viz.: - - "TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: - - The police department is about to issue a history for the benefit of - their relief fund. Kindly make all checks payable to W. V. M., East - Chicago Avenue Station, and any favors shown the bearer will be - appreciated by, - - Yours truly," - -This stranger had been denounced through the press as a fraud and a -schemer, who had been arrested in other cities for obtaining money under -false pretenses, which facts were known to the Chief of Police when his -letter of recommendation was written. The stranger was to receive a -commission of twenty-five per cent on all subscriptions obtained by him, -and the treasurer of the fund, who was selected with the approval of the -Chief, the Mayor, and his principal political satellite, ten per cent. -Some $8,000 were collected under this scheme, one large railroad -corporation subscribing $1,000 and a noted Board of Trade operator $500. -Whence the remainder came rests in conjecture, with a well defined belief -that noted gamblers, and keepers of houses of ill fame, were contributors -to it. - -A legislative committee's inquiries prevented the consummation of the -scheme, but, owing to the speedy departure from the city of the treasurer, -the source of the remaining subscriptions could not be inquired into. - -As a cover to the purposes of this scheme, it was proposed to place these -collections to the credit of the Policemen's Benevolent Association Fund -of Chicago, which, by reason of the failure of a bank, whose officials are -now under indictment for the misappropriation of public funds other than -those of this association, had become badly impaired. This proposal -followed the appointment of the legislative committee of investigation, by -way of preparation to conceal the real purpose of the swindle. That -association repudiated the plan. - -The Chief of Police was asked by the committee of investigation whether he -thought it was the proper thing for him, as Chief of Police of Chicago, -"to give to a man to go out among business men, corporations and -manufacturing establishments of the city a letter telling them that -everything this man did and said you would be responsible for, if you knew -he had been indicted and arrested in different cities of the United States -for defrauding the people out of money on this same identical scheme?" He -answered, "I don't believe it." Immediately he was asked, "Have you heard -A. was arrested a number of times?" and in reply said, "I read in the -newspapers that he was arrested and had trouble in Detroit." Again he was -asked whether A. had given him any information as to the number of times -he had been arrested for getting money on false pretenses, and his answer -was, "I can give you some information on that subject." - -These extracts from the sworn testimony of this official, speak in no -commendatory manner of his sense of official responsibility. They point to -a mind deadened to all sense of the duties of his position; they elevate -him before his force as a conspicuous example for them to follow, in his -disregard of the principles of official decency. In themselves they urge -upon that force, by their silent influence, an emulation of such a -blackmailing course, even though in its accomplishment the assistance of a -swindler is required, and deliberately accepted. - -A brother of the Chief, a member of the detective force, was frequently -found in poolrooms, assisting in their management, and yet the Chief seems -to have been unable to acquire the knowledge that poolrooms were running -wide open throughout the city. He probably knew it as an individual. In -response to a question as to his information on this subject he answered, -that no particular complaints were made--"the newspaper boys often came -around and said there was pool selling going on at different places," and -he presumed "if a desperate effort had been made to look that kind of -thing up, we might have possibly been successful." More open admissions of -official incompetency it would, perhaps, be difficult to make, and no more -flagrant instances could be cited of official degeneracy than are these -extracts from the sworn testimony of a defiant and dangerous public -servant. - -In the attack on the Police Pension Fund, which was established under an -act of the legislature for the benefit of an officer who shall have -reached the age of fifty years, and who shall have served at reaching that -age for twenty years on the force, then be retired with a yearly pension -equal to one-half of the salary attached to the rank which he may have -held for one year next preceding the expiration of his term of twenty -years, or who shall have become physically disabled in the performance of -his duty, there was manifested a degree of moral irresponsibility, if not -of criminality, and a blind adherence to partisanship in defiance of the -laws, seldom found in the history of any municipal corporation, and -unmatched even by the developments of the Lexow committee of New York -City, in matters of a kindred character, inquired into by that committee. - -For the sake of creating vacancies in the ranks of the police force, to be -filled by appointments to be made by the Chief in defiance of the civil -service law, and while that law was running the gauntlet of every -conceivable attack, both open and covert, which could be made upon it by -every department of the city's administration, and by none more virulently -than by the Law Department, a plan was devised and put into execution -whereby officers of all ranks, after years of police service and -experience and in strong physical condition willing and anxious to remain -in their positions, were retired from the force against their protest, -merely to make way for the substitution of new appointees--the political -friends of the Chief and his superior. Men with good records and -physically able to perform their duties were thus forced upon the rolls as -pensioners, to deplete a fund, sacred as a trust, not only for the benefit -of the living and necessitous pensioners, but also for the widows of the -men who had lost their lives in the service and the wives and children of -those who had died after ten years of police duty. One effect, as to the -standing of this fund, was to reduce the balance on hand January 1, 1897, -from $16,837 to $4,543 December 31st, 1897. Thus over $10,000 was raided, -seized and forced upon unwilling pensioners, "still able bodied and -anxious to retain their positions at their full salaries." A more -contemptible exercise of political power and administrative robbery could -not well be imagined. - -The omissions of the police force in the enforcement of the laws, their -acts of commission in evading, attacking and disregarding others, -especially those relating to all night saloons, the source of most of the -arrests for disorderly conduct, where wantonness is displayed, -assignations are arranged, drunkenness aided and brawls engendered, are -blamable, not so much upon the patrolmen, as upon their superior officers. -The patrolmen do as they are told. They report infractions of the law, or -not, according to their instructions. Their eyes are opened or closed, as -the "wink is tipped" to them from above. The men are brave in moments of -danger, fearless in rescuing the inmates of burning buildings, risking -their lives in stopping runaway horses, tender in caring for lost -children, or destitute persons, both men and women, and faithful in the -performance of their duties as members of the ambulance corps. - -During the year 1897 one hundred and eighty were injured while on duty, -and of this number forty-seven were on service in the first precinct, -embracing the business district, the thoroughfares of which are the most -crowded and in which the heaviest fires happen, while only seven were -injured in the second precinct along the "levee"--the tough precinct. -Given proper management, strict discipline and law abiding example, it -could be made, and ought to be made, one of the "finest" forces in the -world. Thugs and thieves, within the past two years, through the -manipulation of the civil service law, have been admitted to its ranks, to -its everlasting disgrace and that of the usurped appointing power. - -The number of arrests in 1897 for those offences from the perpetrators of -which the police are charged with receiving protection money, was less -than in any of the previous years since 1895, notwithstanding the increase -in population, according to the school census, from 1,616,635 in 1896, to -1,851,588 in 1898, an increase in round numbers of 234,000. - -The following is the number of arrests for the years 1894, 1895, 1896 and -1897 for offences as named, viz.: - - 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. - - Cock fighting ..... 156 69 ..... - - Decoy to gambling houses ..... ..... ..... ..... - - Disorderly 49,072 44,450 50,641 45,844 - - Inmates of assignation houses 53 53 92 14 - - Inmates of disorderly houses 21 105 205 181 - - Inmates of gambling houses 879 1,802 2,535 725 - - Inmates of houses of ill fame 2,516 2,894 5,547 1,531 - - Inmates of opium dens 943 1,112 528 253 - - Keeping assignation houses 17 5 15 19 - - Keeping disorderly houses 39 28 30 139 - - Keeping gaming houses 238 300 310 155 - - Keeping houses of ill fame 174 210 241 648 - - Robbery 1,072 1,099 1,083 1,200 - - Violation saloon ordinance 717 1,283 1,359 559 - -In 1897, as compared with 1896, there was a decrease of 78 in the number -of arrests of inmates of assignation houses, 24 of the inmates of -disorderly houses, 1,810 of the inmates of gambling houses, 4,016 of the -inmates of houses of ill fame, 275 of the inmates of opium dens, 155 of -the keepers of gaming houses, and 800 for violation of saloon ordinances. -That these offenses had not decreased in point of perpetration is a fact, -patent to observation and well known to the people. On the other hand, the -arrests for keeping disorderly houses increased 109, and for keeping -houses of ill fame 407. In the year 1896, when some effort was made to -keep the police out of politics, the total arrests were 13,167 more than -in 1897, when the police force had passed into the hands of a political -machine, which sought to erase the application of the civil law to its -government. In 1896 the inmates suffered arrest, but in 1897 the policy of -arresting fewer inmates and more keepers, except of gaming houses, seems -to have been inaugurated. "The keepers" are more able to pay than the -inmates. For every dollar collected from inmates, the keepers are able to -pay ten, or fifty dollars if necessary. From these figures it is clear -that the practice of assessments for police protection was maintained -principally against keepers in 1897, and that few inmates, comparatively, -refused to pay in that year, while a large number of keepers of immoral -and gambling houses were tardy in their payments, consequently, the former -were not arrested, while the latter were. - -What the figures for the year 1898 will reveal is as yet unknown. - -Not only is crime thus tolerated by the police, but its chief officials -assume, also, to define the boundaries of the districts in which it may be -freely and safely perpetrated. - -The Chief of Police, testifying before a legislative investigating -committee, said: "Now, any fellow who wants to bet on the races or -anything of that sort cannot be allowed to do so this side of Jackson -street, because we don't want this section of the town polluted with this -class of things. We want the boys who have an inclination to bet on horse -races to go south." - -Q. What have you got against the people south of Jackson street? - -A. I like them. - -Q. Is that the reason you wanted that stuff to go down there? - -A. Things are very lively in the lower part of the town, everything has a -thrifty appearance, and everything---- - -Q. You mean south of Jackson street? - -A. North of Jackson--and things up south of Jackson are virtually -dead--there is nothing going on at all, and the stores are all empty. -There is nothing doing, and the property, is depreciating in value, and -the object was to liven things up a little bit. - -That part of the city south of Jackson boulevard to Sixteenth street, and -from State street on the east to the river on the west, embraces the tough -part of the second precinct of the second police district. In the year -1897 of the total number of arrests of women and girls in the city, 17,624 -in number, 8,957, or over 50 per cent, were, as the police term it, "run -in" from this police district. How often the same women were arrested and -re-arrested it is impossible to say, or whether they were "pinched" -oftener than once in the same night. Of this latter number 7,364 were -discharged by the magistrates, but the larger number contributed one -dollar each to the justice for signing a bail bond for their appearance -for trial. In addition, 300 women, known as "women lodgers," were also -"run in" in this district in 1897. Of these unfortunates 1,746 were fined; -140 held to the criminal court; 193 released on peace bonds; 209 sent to -the house of correction; 10 held as witnesses; 10 were insane; 7 -destitute, and 23 were sick and sent to the hospital. Of this total number -of arrests of women and women lodgers, 9,257 in number, in this police -district in 1897, only 2,288, or about 39 per cent were convicted of -offenses by police magistrates, while 61 per cent of them were discharged. - -Of the total number of persons arrested throughout the city in 1897, -83,680 in number, 55,020 were discharged by the police courts, 18,017 were -fined, 4,138 held on criminal charges, and 2,947 bound over to keep the -peace. The remainder were sent to various homes, refuges, asylums and -humane societies. Over 50 per cent of those arrested were discharged. The -percentage of those who furnished bail for their appearance, it is -difficult to ascertain. That the practice exists is too well known to be -proven, that a division of these bail bond fees is made between the -magistrate and the police; the police furnishing the victims, the straw -bailor his signature to, and the justice his approval of, the bond. The -latter collects his fee and divides with the officers, while the straw -bailor exacts his compensation in proportion to the ability of the victim -to pay, then hands over a share to the arresting officers. - -That such persecution should exist in a civilized community is a disgrace -to its civilization, that public officers should, for one moment, be -permitted to engage in such hideous traffic in the liberties of their -fellows, is a scandal upon the administration of justice, and that -executive officers of the law, sworn to its enforcement, should be -ignorant of the infamy of such arrests, or knowingly permit them to be -made, is malfeasance in office, and subversion of civil rights. - -The portion of the fines (not by statute appropriated for other purposes) -assessed upon, and collected from, this class of unfortunates by the -justices, is required by the ordinances to be paid to the city at the -close of each and every month, and is to be apportioned by the city -authorities as the statutes and ordinances require. The salaries of the -police magistrates are fixed by agreement with the city. These magistrates -are chosen bi-ennially after the election of a Mayor, by that officer, -from the appointed justices of the peace, and are generally of the same -political faith as is the appointing authority. The system is a blot upon -the impartial administration of justice. It has become a byword among the -people as a malodorous cesspool. - -From the evidence heard before a legislative committee, that committee -reported "that the present system of justice, or police courts, as run, is -a disgrace to the present civilization. It shows that justice courts will -open in the night time, policemen will go out and drag in men and women, -100 and 200, and even more at a time; that they are refused a trial at -night, required to give a bond for which the justice charges them one -dollar; that professional bondsmen are in attendance who will collect -another dollar, and oftentimes much more, from the poor unfortunate to go -on his or her bond until morning, thus making several hundred dollars -ofttimes in a night to the police justices and other officers connected -with the court, and this is done, as your committee believe, from the -evidence, for the purpose of making money for the police justice, the -professional bondsman, and the police officer in charge of the arrest." - -These magistrates are required to report at the "close of each day's -business," but their night arrests are construed by them as not following -within the definition of "a day's business." The fees arising from them -are not, therefore, reported. - -Civic bodies have denounced in the bitterest terms the evils of this -system, and in a recent mayoralty message to the Common Council, in itself -the hotbed of boodleism, it is said, "The justice shop system with all its -necessarily attendant scandals is about to be wiped out." - -That desirable result awaits legislative action. The general assembly, if -it has any respect for human rights, for commendable municipal government, -for the performance of its sworn duty, will lay aside the struggle in -legislative halls for political ascendancy, and hasten the day when this -festering sore shall have applied to it an instrument of eradication which -it alone can wield. It is proper to add that since the foregoing lines -were written the night fees are better accounted for, under an agreement -between the magistrates and the city by which the magistrates' salaries -are raised, as an inducement to them to be honest. - -The appropriations for the year 1897, for the maintenance of the police -force, amounted to $3,356,910. Other sources of income amounted to -$17,635.03. - -The salary warrants drawn against this fund amounted to $3,290,296.26; for -other expenses, $167,369.63, making a total of warrants drawn of -$3,457,665.89, leaving a deficit of $83,392.84. - -The total income of the city for the year 1897 from saloon licenses was -about $3,000,000. The saloons are, therefore, the policemen's great -financial friends in more ways than one, and largely defray the expenses -of the department. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - ALL NIGHT SALOONS--CHARACTER OF--THIEVES, THUGS AND PROSTITUTES - IN--VISITORS--COUNTRY BUYERS, TRANSIENTS, DELEGATES, YOUTH AND OLD - AGE--WOMEN IN--CHARACTER OF--BASEMENT SALOONS--SCENES IN--PRIVATE - ROOMS--SCENES IN ALL NIGHT SALOONS--DANCING--MUSIC--MORNING - HOURS--ROBBERIES, ETC., PLANNED--GIRLS ENTRAPPED--YOUNG MEN - RUINED--QUARRELS--RAIDS--DRINKING--SURROUNDINGS OF--HOUSES OF ILL - FAME--ASSIGNATION HOUSES--SLUMMING PARTIES--FADS--SALVATION AND - VOLUNTEER ARMY--INMATES OF--HOW MANAGED--PRACTICES IN-- - SUPERSTITIONS--LUCK POWDERS--SOURCES OF SUPPLY--PATRONS OF-- - WHOLESALE HOUSE ENTERTAINERS--POLICE PROTECTION--DISEASES-- - ATTEMPTS AT REFORM--PEOPLE INDIFFERENT. - - -The breeding ground of disorder and crime is to be found in the all night -saloons. - -Despite the stringent ordinances prohibiting the "open door" after -midnight, in the most dissolute districts throughout the city, along the -streets and avenues of the north, west and south divisions, under ground -and on its surface, these dens invite the depraved of both sexes to enter, -remain, dissipate and carouse through the night. Murders, robberies and -assaults are the necessary outcome of the unlimited drinking, the ribald -language, the senseless jealousies, and the heated passions of the motley -crowds which are at all times the fascinated patrons of these joints. A -more rigid rule has recently been applied to the larger of the down town, -or business district, basement saloons. Music is prohibited, and the -closing midnight hour respected. These are but the depots for the all -night saloons. When they close, the gathered crowds of dissolute women -dissolve and betake themselves to the after midnight haunts, there to -continue their calling--the solicitation of male visitors for drinks, -meals and the ultimate purpose of their solicitation--prostitution. The -male frequenters of these resorts belong to all classes of society. The -"steady" visitors are thieves, thugs, pickpockets, gamblers, variety -actors, "rounders," that large and constantly growing class in great -cities which is ceaselessly observing the shady side of life, "seeing the -elephant," and not infrequently becoming intimately acquainted with the -beast, and pimps, who fatten upon the sinful earnings of abandoned women, -whose fondness for their masters increases in proportion to the violence -the masters visit upon their slaves. The transient custom is comprised of -not only the old rounder, but also of those of younger experience, -bursting, or not far advanced, into manhood; those who with a wide -knowledge of the ways and wickedness of the world, more than their years -warrant, are out for a "good time;" the observer of those ways; the -"chiels" who are among them taking notes; clerks, cabmen and their -"hauls;" the country buyer under the guidance of the entertainer of the -wholesale house with whom the buyer is dealing; the delegates to -conventions, out to view the town; the passer through the burg who has -heard of the lights and shadows of Chicago; the swallow-tailed youth, and -the middle-aged gentleman fresh from escorting to her home the virtuous -female companion of the evening's entertainment, the melodrama, the opera, -or the social function. The women range from the one who has just -"started out" to the most despicable and depraved member of the sex. The -former is the observed of all observers, the object of conspicuous -attention, and a veritable prize to be won by the most dashing attack and -the most liberal offer. She is under the tuition of her female guide, who -instructs her "what she has to do that she may not be raw in her -entertainment." - -The basement saloons in the down town district with their brilliant -electric lighting equipment, their reflecting mirrors and hardwood -finishings, combine, in most instances, the facilities of the rum shop and -the restaurant. - -Here, from noon hour of the day until midnight, come and go the "sporty" -women, who have not yet reached the lower degree of a brothel, the -"roomers," "the cruisers" of the street, the so-called keepers of manicure -parlors, baths and dressmaking establishments, all bent upon a "mash" in -its broadest sense, or a "pick up" of any male greenhorn, or sport, who -can be ensnared by their wiles. Maintaining a semblance of decorum, they -pass the earlier hours of the evening in drinking with the "guests" and -in flitting about from table to table, with which each place is abundantly -supplied. The conversation is loud, and at times boisterous. Its subject -matter is beyond repetition in polite circles. Lecherous glances, -libidinous gestures, open invitations, characterize the behavior of the -audience. Sometimes personal liberties are attempted, but invariably -suppressed by the management. From the private rooms come sounds of -hilarity, and the intermixture of words of protest, inducement and -vulgarity. The withdrawals of couples are marked, and their early return -and ruffled appearance suggest patronage of not distant "hotels," where no -questions are asked. Generally, as the midnight hour approaches, the crowd -decreases, signs of intoxication increase, and the exodus to the all night -resorts is about completed as that hour is struck. - -When the downtown basement resorts close, the profitable work of the all -night joints commences. The attendants in them are joined by squads from -the more pretentious and less favored half-night competitors. These -resorts, as a rule, are all equipped with private rooms, and many of -them, in summer, have a so-called garden attached. Some have vaudeville -performances to attract crowds, which end after the midnight hour. Many -have a "Ladies' Entrance," but most visitors pass through the bar to the -sitting room beyond. The so-called music of the cracked piano and strident -male voices now commences, and the hat is passed around by the artists and -performers, for contributions for payment for their services, the "house" -paying nothing for such services, but permitting the artists to "work" the -crowd. Boys of sixteen, and under, join in the gaieties as buck, wing and -jig dancers, and also pass the hat. As the hours lengthen, as the liquor -begins its effect, freedom of action enlarges, and restraint is removed. -Those attitudes at table indicative of respectability are abandoned for -others hinting at the widest license, or actually, which is not -infrequently the case, illustrating that license, so far as familiarities -of the person are concerned. The dance begins, with all its contortions of -the body derived from the couche-couchee exhibitions of the World's Fair -times, enlarged upon by the grossness of the two-step waltz of the slums. -Strolling bands of negro musicians, scraping the violin and strumming the -guitar and mandolin, or the home orchestra, composed of these dusky -minstrels, add their alleged harmonies to the occasion, and, with nasal -expression, roll of coon songs in the popular rag time, with their -intimations of free love, warmth of passion and disregard of moral -teachings. At times, with assumed pathos and mock dignity they warble a -sentimental song with some allusion to "Mother," "Home," or "Just Tell -Them That You Saw Me." The spree goes on, with fresh additions from the -bagnios. Women with the most repulsive signs of prolonged dissipation, of -advanced disease, with the upper parts of the body exposed, not perhaps -more than is customary at a fashionable charity ball, join in with -salacious abandon. These women, in the phrase of the Bard of Avon, belong -to the class of the "custom shrunk," of one of whom a Roman satirist -wrote: - - "* * * but now, - That life is flagging at the goal, and like - An unstrung lute, her limbs are out of tune, - She is become so lavish of her presence, - That being daily swallowed by men's eyes - They surfeit at the sight. - She's grown companion to the common streets-- - Want her who will, a stater, a three obolo piece, - Or a mere draught of wine, brings her to hand! - Nay! place a silver stiver in your palm, - And, shocking tameness! She will stoop forthwith - To pick it out." - -As the morning hours draw nigh blear-eyed men and women in all stages of -intoxication, creep to their holes to sleep away the day for a renewal of -their orgies when darkness again falls. - -In these all night saloons robberies and burglaries are planned, and -hold-ups arranged for. To them young girls are enticed when homeward bound -from summer gardens and midwinter balls. Plans are laid for their ruin -through drink, and the excitement of an experience new to them, which hide -from their view all danger signals. Women are beaten and stabbed in them. -Here young men begin their careers of dissipation, of lechery, and, -perhaps, of crime, amid surroundings so contrary to the examples of home -life, that before they are aware of it, they have become hopelessly -enamored of what is termed a sporting life. - -The flippantly spoken word provokes a heated reply, a jealous woman, -surcharged with drink, precipitates a squabble that swells into a free -fight, a free fight brings an indiscriminate firing of revolvers, and the -consequent death--the murder--of some of the rioters follows. Then, and -not until then, do the police raid the place. For a few weeks it is kept -under the ban, but gradually the law's grip is relaxed, signs of the old -life revive, and soon the same scenes made more joyous and boisterous at -the "new opening" are again enacted, to run the same course until another -felony is committed, and another temporary closing of the doors enforced. - -That the all night saloon where such depravity is permitted to hold sway -is a menace to the peace, the sobriety, and the safety of the community, -is a self evident proposition. - -A minister in one of his sermons said, "The police wink when you call -their attention to the fact that hundreds of saloons are running wide open -all night. It is after midnight that the majority of the crimes are -committed, and yet these places are allowed to run after hours, and have -the protection of the police." - -The beardless boy and the habitual drunkard are, alike, supplied with -drink without question. The former is flattered by being called "a dead -game sport," and the latter tickled with the oft-bestowed title of "old -sport." - -Many of these notorious dens are located in the midst of a forest of -houses of ill fame. The depraved inmates of these houses, partly clad, are -the most indecent visitors to the all night saloons. Perched upon the bar, -or peering out from the private wine rooms, they shout their infamous -language at the visitors, with invitations to indulgence in the most -bestial of practices. - -Slumming parties, composed of respectable men and women whose morbid -curiosity has been aroused by tales of the inconceivable vices forming the -night-life of the demi-monde, are not infrequently found "going down the -line" dropping into the houses of prostitution, viewing the bar, the -private rooms, the dance hall, the crap games and the vicious -surroundings of the all night pest holes. To slum has, in a measure, -become a fashionable fad. Its purpose is, not to carry into these haunts -the example of a better life, but to cater to a dangerous spirit of -inquiry, upon the principle that excitement, even though it be found in -the midst of the garbage boxes of vice, is relished now and then by the -best of mankind. The only indication of a world outside, in which -Christian principles prevail, is occasionally to be found, when some of -the women garbed in the simple uniform of either the Salvation or -Volunteer Army, engaged in rescue work, or in scattering a hopeful word, -through the medium of their publications, pass among the crowd, receiving -in most instances respectful attention, and, at times, but rarely, a jeer -from some drunken sot or wrecked woman. - -The houses of ill fame, whose stained glass windows with suggestive female -figures in the nude advertise the abode of the scarlet woman, are as -luxuriously furnished as is the home of the wealthy and respectable -citizen. These "creatures of sale," as Shakespeare puts it, are as -clearly distinguished in public as members of the demi-monde, as if the -Julian laws were in operation in Chicago. In early Rome, under these laws, -the courtesan was compelled to dye her hair blue or yellow. Like the -Grecian courtesan whose distinctive mark of her calling was blonde hair, -the strumpet of today generally favors a fashion coming down from the past -ages. The passer-by of these abodes of sensuality is invited by open -solicitation or unmistakable gesture to enter them, especially by the more -degraded of the women. A studied decorum is maintained in some of the -parlors of the older establishments, presided over by a proprietress -advanced in years, plentiful in wealth, and dictatorial in management. -Harsh rules are prescribed for the maintenance of the condition of slavery -into which the girls have fallen. Debts to the house tie them to it by -bands too strong to be easily broken, in what are termed the aristocratic -branches of this nefarious trade. These women are none the less free from -indulgence in unnatural practices than are those of houses of reputed -lower degrees of depravity. White and colored alike revel in the same -scenes of carnality which, fragments of history state, prevailed in the -declining days of Rome and of Greece. The inmates of the lowest of these -houses, both in dress, or in the absence of it, and in deportment, follow -the habits of the Dicteriades, or low down prostitutes, of Piræus in the -time of Pericles. Their appearance in the reception parlors in a state of -nudity, and their filthiness in practice is a renewal of the habits of the -Lesbian lovers of the fifth century; or of the flute players of the -Athenian banquets, accounts of whose indecent dancing and depraved ways -are found in the most erotic chapters in ancient literature. From them -come the terms applying to the devotees in these days of sodomitic -indulgence, forming part of the slang of the neighborhood where they live -a debauched and beastly existence. - -The superstitions of the Grecian and Roman courtesan are carried into the -beliefs of those of modern days. What the philters or love charms were to -the former, luck powders are to the latter. They are known along the levee -as "Sally White's Brand" and "Sally White's Mixed Luck." The former is -regarded as particularly lucky. It is a compound of "Sally's" own -prescription, and is secretly sprinkled on the floor, at stated periods, -as luck is sought after, or is burned in a room and the fumes inhaled. The -latter is a mixture of perfumed oils and is used in the bath. The women -are the frequent buyers of Sally's prescriptions, avoiding purchasing on a -Friday. - -The sources from which come the supply to the ranks of courtesans, whether -inmates of the aristocratic, the middle, or the lowest grades of their -temples of vice, are many, various and damnable. Aside from the mere -desire to gratify passion, which medical writers maintain constitutes but -a small percentage of those who join the army of prostitutes, attributable -to an innate sense of virtue in the modern woman, cabmen, in spite of the -municipal ordinances, have been known to drive women entering the city to -these brothels on the pretext they were hotels. The procuress is at work -all the while. - - "Thou hold'st a place for which the paind'st fiend - Of hell would not in reputation change. - Thou art the damned doorkeeper to every - Coistril that comes inquiring for his Tib; - To the choleric fisting of every rogue - Thy ear is liable; thy food is such - As hath been belched on by infected lungs." - -The department stores, in which starvation wages are paid to girls and -women, who are subjected to the attentions of designing men, invited to -lunch, induced to drink; whose love for dress and whose vanity are worked -upon; those whose want of education in the relations of the sexes brings -about their speedy fall; the servant turned out from her employment ruined -by her employer or his son; the seamstress; the victims of unhappy -marriages and cruel homes; those compelled by poverty or necessity, and -who support dependent relatives; the "chippies" of modern days; the -massage parlor graduates; all contribute their distressed quotas to this -ever increasing tribe of prostitutes. - -It gathers in recruits from the overflow of the assignation houses, which -are scattered over this city in astonishing profusion. They are found in -boulevard castles and in back alley huts. They do not differ in character -from those of all cities. Through them come the cast-off women, who, -having satisfied the temporary infatuation of their seducers, find -themselves victims of false promises, and the graduates from homes wrecked -by the discovery of their daylight intrigues. So relentless a warfare is -waged upon these private, and in some instances most exclusive, resorts, -by the lynx-eyed police, that in the year 1897, nineteen keepers of such -places were arrested! Some improvement is noticeable in their suppression -from the fact that in 1894 seventeen, in 1895 five, and in 1896 fifteen -keepers were arrested! Interference with this style of accommodation is, -therefore, possible in Chicago, at or about the time of the arrival of the -millennium! - -Singular to say there are moralists who assign the prostitute a position -of usefulness in modern civilization. One of the most distinguished of -English writers, in tracing the effects of Christianity upon mankind and -its beneficent influences in social life, says: "Under these circumstances -there has arisen in society a figure which is certainly the most -mournful, and, in some respects, the most awful upon which the eye of the -moralist can dwell. That unhappy being whose very name is a shame to -speak, who counterfeits, with a cold heart, the transports of affection, -and submits herself as a passive instrument of lust, who is scorned and -insulted as the vilest of her sex, and doomed for the most part to disease -and abject wretchedness, and an early death, appears in every age as the -perpetual symbol of the degradation and the sinfulness of man. Herself the -supreme type of vice, she is ultimately the most efficient guardian of -virtue. But for her the unchallenged purity of countless happy homes would -be polluted, and not a few, who in the pride of their untempted chastity -think of her with an indignant shudder, would have known the agony of -remorse and of despair. On that one degraded and ignoble form are -concentrated the passions that might have filled the world with shame. - -She remains, while creeds and civilizations rise and fade, the external -priestess of humanity, blasted for the sins of the people." - -The entertainer of the wholesale house who conducts his country customer -to see the sights of the town, whenever and wherever such sights are to be -seen, "where everything goes," pays the expenses of the round of -debauchery from the fund provided by his firm; while from the floating, -passing, male visitors, no less than from the resident male dwellers, -young and old, rich and poor, come the thousands of dollars which go to -the support of the lewd woman of the town, from the street walker, up -through the mistresses and the shady wives, to the best dressed and most -brazen wanton in the palaces--the "swell" houses so styled. The -unrevealable indecencies which attend these infamous resorts are within -the knowledge of the police, under any and every municipal administration. -At times their pressure upon these unfortunates is heavier than at others. -The necessity of raising campaign funds, the personal wants of the -blackmailers of the police force, the revenges to be gratified for some -jealousy aroused, or favor refused, all contribute to increase the weight -of oppression. Meanwhile, in the absence of municipal regulations, which -seem abhorrent to the average American mind as a recognition of the -legalization of vice, diseases are wide spread, until, in the language of -a distinguished physician, the most destructive of them have reached the -blood of "the best and noblest families of the land." Lecky, in his -History of European Morals, speaking of the horrible effects incident to -the non-regulation of houses of this character, says: "In the eyes of -every physician, and, indeed, in the eyes of most continental writers who -have adverted to the subject, no other feature of English life appears so -infamous as the fact that an epidemic, which is one of the most dreadful -now existing among mankind, which communicates itself from the guilty -husband to the innocent wife, and even transmits its taint to her -offspring, and which the experience of other nations conclusively proves -may be vastly eliminated, should be suffered to rage unchecked, because -the legislature refuses to take official cognizance of its existence, or -proper sanitary measures for its repression." - -The protests of Christian organizations and of societies for the -suppression of vice seem to be in vain. The city ordinances prohibiting, -for instance, the employment of females in massage parlors patronized by -men, and others, intended to keep the conduct of all manufactories of vice -within limits, if not to accomplish their suppression, are not attempted -to be enforced. - -Some mitigation of the evils of police aggression has been brought about, -as has been observed, by placing police magistrates under a salary -sufficiently large to induce them to partly abolish the practice of -wholesale midnight arrests, with their consequent fees and bailors' -exactions. These fees are now accounted for more rigidly and paid over to -the city, whether they are the result of daylight or midnight arrests. -These evils are not, however, wholly eradicated, nor will they be, until -an aroused public sentiment shall give as much attention, public service, -and personal endeavor, to the attainment of that most desirable end, as is -given to the building of an armory, the establishment of lake front parks, -Greater Chicago, the passage of revenue bills, and the defeat of the -attempt to obtain public franchises without compensation to the granting -municipality. - -Whatever will tend to create wealth for the individual, to increase the -volume of trade, or add to the attractiveness of the city in the -improvement or adornment of its public parks, the energetic and pushing -citizen aids with his personal services, and abundant wealth. Its moral -attractions receive, in so far as the repression of villainy and of -disgusting vice is concerned, but little, if any, personal or pecuniary -assistance from the people. At a recent meeting of the Law Enforcement -League, a clergyman, who had freely given his time and services in behalf -of the objects of that association, begged for the paltry sum of $250 with -which to carry on the work. It was received by contribution from his -audience after repeated appeals. Had it been a meeting for stock -subscriptions to some corporation promising large returns, or for the -purpose of building a monument to some former day hero, or author, the -appeal would not have had to fall upon the ears of the people repeatedly. -The request would have been granted upon its first presentation. "This -work," said the preacher, "cannot be carried on by sympathy, or applause, -or resolutions, or expressions of good will. There is nothing but hard -cash that counts in the practical work of enforcing the law." - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - RE-ELECTION OF MAYOR--FALSE ISSUE UPON WHICH RE-ELECTED--VICES IN - CHICAGO--"BLIND PIGS"--PROTECTED BY POLICE--WHERE SITUATED--HOW - CONDUCTED--CLASSES--DRUG STORES, BAKERIES, BARNS--REVENUE TO - POLICE--LOCATED NEAR UNIVERSITIES--LIEUTENANT OF POLICE CONVICTED FOR - PROTECTING--COCK FIGHTING--BUCKET SHOPS--WOMEN DEALERS--POOL - ROOMS--POLICE PLAY--PULLING OF, FARCICAL--VIEWS OF CHIEF OF POLICE-- - PLAYERS--LANDLORDS--BOOK MAKING--ALLIANCE BETWEEN, AND POLICE AND - LANDLORDS--NEW YORK AND CHICAGO--CHICAGO POLICE FORCE WORST--HOLD UP - MEN--METHODS--VICTIMS--POLICE SLEEP--MAYOR'S FELICITATIONS, APRIL 11, - 1899--ACCOUNTS OF HOLD UPS, SAME DAY--CLASSES OF HOLD-UP MEN--STRONG - ARMED WOMEN--STREET CAR CONDUCTORS ROBBED--ICE CHEST AND OVENS FOR - PRISONS--HAIR CLIPPERS--PROTECTION TO CRIMINALS--"SAFE BLOWERS' - UNION"--FAKES--PANEL HOUSES--BADGER GAMES--NUDE PHOTOGRAPHS--OBSCENE - LITERATURE--CONFIDENCE MEN--DIPLOMA MILLS--GAMBLING--WOMEN'S DOWN TOWN - CLUBS--SEXUAL PERVERTS--OPIUM JOINTS. - - -That public opinion can be aroused on any question deemed of importance to -the municipal welfare finds abundant confirmation in the history of -Chicago, and that that opinion can make itself felt at the polls has but -recently been most remarkably demonstrated. Admittedly deficient, both by -friend and foe, in public assemblages called in behalf of its retention in -power; permitting the violation of the law, in all its departments; openly -consenting to the unrestrainted lechery of the debauched classes, the wide -open running of gambling houses, pool rooms and disorderly houses; aiding -by its refusal, or neglect, to stop the levying by the police of -protection rates upon poker rooms, crap games, pool rooms and dens of that -class, the pitfalls and snares set for the young men of the town; -assessing for political purposes the keepers of disreputable resorts of -all kinds, and the employes of the city under civil service rules in -defiance of a law sternly prohibiting that demoralizing practice; an -administration appealed to, and received, the support of nearly a majority -of the whole people, upon one fictitiously dominant issue, under which all -others were adroitly sheltered and wholly hidden from view. - -That issue which concerned the people as an incorporated body, rather more -than as individuals, was practically non-existing. The power to invade -the rights of the people had been destroyed by State legislation. In the -absence of new legislation, the extension of railroad franchises is now an -impossibility, except under the terms of the existing charter. No -legislation can be obtained in enlargement of such municipal power, until -the next general assembly shall have convened in January, 1901, unless a -special session should be called for that particular purpose, the -probability of which is too remote to be considered. Meanwhile the new -administration which will be carried on for the next two years by -practically the same men as for the past two years, can find no refuge -behind an issue of supposedly overwhelming importance to hide its neglect -of others, which affect, if not directly, yet indirectly, the financial -interests of the city. Those matters, to which the administration of the -city must now give its attention, concern the purity of municipal -legislation; the proper enforcement of the laws in all departments of the -city government; no interference in matters of education; no attempt at -the control of the civil service commission in the strict enforcement of -the law creating it; the proper letting of contracts, and the preservation -of pay-rolls from manipulation and fraudulent swelling. The purity of -municipal legislation is assured by the election of a number of aldermen -whose records as citizens warrant the prediction that they, joining with -an already trusty minority, for the ensuing year at least, will conserve -public rather than private interests, guided by the promptings of each -individual conscience. There will be no opportunity to filch from them for -party ends, or for personal advancement, due public acknowledgment of -their integrity and ability. But the enforcement of the laws governing -municipal administration in its several departments; the proper -disbursement of its appropriation funds for street improvements, scavenger -service, street and alley cleaning, public buildings and parks, etc.; the -management of the school-board by its own officials, free from political -suasion; of the civil service commission along the lines contemplated by -the law free from party dictation, and the elevation of the police force -to the plane of its non-political duties, for the prevention of the -spread of vice and indecency, the repression of crime, the protection of -life and property, are all matters, the non-attention to which can no -longer be excused upon the theory of the necessity of first destroying an -attempted private seizure of the public streets, a theory which has gone -to its destruction by the repeal of an obnoxious law, under which seizure -might have been accomplished. - -So far as the suppression of vice is concerned, the initial duty of -municipal administration is the education of the police in their duties as -imposed upon them by law. For years, under every administration, with -infrequent, feeble attempts at reform, that force has been rapidly -becoming a fleet of harveyized steel battleships, sailing under the -flaunting flag of vice, fully armed, and loyally serving the kings of the -gamblers, the queens of the demi-monde, and their conjoined forces of -thieves, confidence men, cappers, prostitutes, philanderers, etc., etc. It -is not in the least fearful of public opinion. If wealth can snap its -fingers and cry aloud "The public be d--d," so can the force laugh in its -sleeve, and, aping wealth, echo "To hell" with the public. - -It is not different in Chicago from what it is in New York. The temporary -disappearance from the "Tenderloin" of many of its flagrant vices, and the -supposed purification of the police force following the astounding -revelations of the Lexow committee, have given way under the ceaseless and -insidious assaults of criminal and vicious influences. A New York journal -recently said: "The reports to the Society for the Prevention of Crime -show that the city is in worse condition than ever before. No paper would -dare print all that is done openly in dens of vice that are tolerated by -the police. The reports seem almost incredible; they show that with few -exceptions the police force is corrupt from top to bottom. Gambling -houses, disorderly houses and dives of the worst description flourish -openly, a regular schedule of rates has been established which the police -force charge for protection. - -The flagrancy of crime which brought about a political revolution five -years ago exists today as it did then. In some ways there is even less -attempt at concealment than there was in the ante-Lexow days; in others -the vice and immorality is more hidden. But it is here, and instead of -there being one "Tenderloin" ulcer on the city there are now four, each -fully as extended as was that old hotbed of vice." - -What the police force of New York was before the investigation of the -Lexow committee, so the police force of Chicago then was; and what the New -York force is today, so is the Chicago force. A new investigation is about -to begin in New York city. Watch its revelations day after day. Change the -names, and for every police infamy revealed, every unspeakable vice -disclosed, every violation of law recorded, their counterparts can be -found in Chicago, intensified, not modified. - -The crimes which these "coppers" should, but do not, give their services -to repress, are numerous, if minor in character. In flagrant cases of -commission arrests may follow, and often do. It is the unused means of -prevention deadened by the purchased indifference of the officers, that is -the most glaring of police sins. - -The location of "blind pigs," or those places in which liquor is sold -without a license, both within prohibition districts as well as without -them, must either be known to officers traveling beats whereon they -flourish, or such officers are too ignorant to belong to the ranks. It is -not ignorance of the officers that prevents their suppression. Superiors -are paid a price for non-interference. The patrolman follows his orders, -permits the illicit traffic to be carried on by those who pay that price, -and reports only those who do not pay it, but who seek to conduct the -prohibited business without contribution to the permissive fund. - -In the most respectable settlements of the city, in the very heart of -prohibition districts, in which there would be spasms of protest and -whirlwinds of indignation if it were even suggested that the lines -separating the prohibitive from the non-prohibitive districts should be -abolished, are to be found the highest grade of the breed of "blind pigs." -They are the brilliantly lighted, well arranged, and aristocratic types of -the modern drugstore, where, as the evening shades descend, a band of -friendly Indians assembles to discuss the events of the day, conduct wars, -shape the destinies of nations, and draw their inspiration from spiritus -fermenti op., a drug commonly known, however, as whisky, when obtained -without a prescription at the bar of the ordinary licensed saloon. These -whisky jacks express amazement at the want of proper regulation of the -sale of liquor, while aiding in its unlawful traffic. They are typical -Archimagos; high priests of hypocrisy and deceit. They are the open -mouthed reformers who shout for a rigorous application of the law for the -regulation of saloons outside of their own prohibition districts, for the -maintenance of prohibition within those districts, and who wink at their -own infractions of the license laws, behind the prescription case--their -private bar. - -This form of attack upon the license law exists all over the city, more so -perhaps in prohibition districts than without them, but each drug store, -as a rule, has its patrons from whom a yearly revenue is derived by the -accommodating and equally guilty proprietor who vends his drinks without -compliance with the law. - -The other class of "blind pigs" owes its existence to a prearranged -bargain between a policeman and the members of that class, who, for the -entertainment of friends, and the turning of a penny, embark in the -business without fear of arrest. As the sale of liquor for use upon the -premises as a beverage is lawful when licensed, every combination to evade -a license is not only an evasion of the penalties of the license law, but -it is a conspiracy to rob the city of a portion of a large revenue, -sufficient almost to support the police force. The city is thus plundered -by its own servants who take its place in fixing the amount of the -license, and who appropriate it when collected to their own use. - -Some of these institutions are to be found in the rear of bakeries, in the -costly barns of the wealthy classes with coachmen as bartenders, and at -the gates of the silent cities of the dead. - -They are a fruitful source of revenue to the police, and, consequently, -difficult of discovery, since their patrons must be well known as -non-squealers, and the police are too loyal to turn informers. - -They exist in surrounding country towns and in classic neighborhoods, in -Evanston and Hyde Park particularly. Both of these localities are the -seats of institutions of learning; the Northwestern University at the one, -and the University of Chicago at the other. - -A Lieutenant of Police was arrested for extorting money for protection -from the keeper of a blind pig in Hyde Park. It developed, in the course -of his trial, that he was to pay part of the insurance premium to a -brewery company. To such an extent has this blackmailing scheme gone, that -its proceeds are distributed not alone among patrolmen and superior police -officials, but also to brewing companies united in a trust affecting the -price and the quality of the poor man's beverage. - -The national pastime of the Filipinos is of common occurrence in Chicago, -and escapes the watchful eyes of the police, although its uniformed -members pass the door of the saloon with which the principal pit is -connected. The entering crowds, and the crowing of "birds," never fail to -announce the on-coming of the main, except to sightless eyes and deafened -ears. No underground or out of hearing place is selected for these -exhibitions of cock fighting. They are held in the rear of saloons, or in -barns or stables connected therewith by covered ways of approach. One -geographical division of the city is generally pitted against the other. - -Usually the indignant police, even with early information of the time and -place where and when this inhuman amusement is to be held, arrive upon the -scene when the fight has ended, the lights extinguished, and the sports -scattered. Although the city council possesses the charter power to -prevent these disgraceful combats, that power remains unacted upon, and -the offense falls within the definition of disorderly conduct, the penalty -prescribed by ordinance, upon conviction for that offense, being a fine of -from one to one hundred dollars. - -Bucket shops have nearly disappeared from the public gaze. They are, -nevertheless, still carried on in secret, for the purpose of enabling men -and women to gratify their natural propensity for gambling. The active -efforts of one man, having the courage of his convictions and with the -support of a commercial organization, which is the only competitor of -these gambling concerns, have kept them in comparative subjection. Yet, -such is the resistance made by them, that this man, aiding also in the -discovery and punishment of gambling in general, ran the risk of the -destruction of his life, his home, and the loss of the lives of his -family, by the explosion of a bomb thrown at night into, or against, his -house, by some miscreant or miscreants, with the evident intent of -"removing" him as an impediment to the transactions of their murderous -employers. - -The police, after much effort to discover the perpetrators of the outrage, -finally dismissed it from further examination, upon the theory that this -man had himself "put up the job," to accomplish the destruction of his -wife and children, and of his own life. Through this heroic man's efforts, -together with those of a fearless and outspoken clergyman, as in New York, -and not by reason of police assistance, but in spite of police resistance, -the convictions in the criminal court, in the past year for gambling, are -wholly due. The latest accessible reports show that in the year 1897 the -number of places closed during the two preceding years was one hundred and -forty-six, and that at the end of 1897 there were twenty-nine still in -existence, including tape games and fraudulent brokers' haunts. These -institutions possess a peculiar fascination for women. Three of them, -patronized wholly by the female sex, were found under one roof. Of the -leading one, a writer in a city daily newspaper, in a vivid description of -its general surroundings, said: - -"The atmosphere of the rooms is stifling and poisonous. The odor is rank -with the effluvia of bodies, which, in many cases, present the appearance -that would justify the belief that they have been strangers to the bath -for weeks. To go into these rooms out of the fresh outdoor world is to -almost suffocate at first. * * * The effects are plainly visible in the -faces of the women. They had, with few exceptions, leathery, sallow skins, -drawn and tense features, hard lines about the mouth, and wrinkles between -the eyes, while the eyes themselves had acquired a restless, half cunning -expression, composed of cupidity and uncertainty. As for their nervous -systems they are wrecks. Take the hand of any woman in those rooms, -especially if she has just made an investment, and the nervous vibration -is plain--her hand quivers, her whole body is tense, her bulging eyes fix -themselves on the board." - -Alluding to the men who hang around, furnishing "pointers," and looking -for an invitation to a fifteen-cent lunch, one of the speculating women -said of them, "These men are the lowest creatures who come up here; most -of the women are respectable, but these men are lazy, dirty, ignorant and -infinitely low, and all they are after is to get money and a free meal out -of women." - -"The ages of the women range from twenty-five to seventy years. The older -women peered anxiously through their spectacles at the board and whispered -quietly to a companion; wisps of ragged gray hair escaped and waved below -the little black bonnet. Heavy, thick-soled shoes stuck out from the hem -of the modest black gowns; they grasped worn silk reticules in their -nervous fingers, and got out the small sum which, in most instances, they -did not have the nerve to invest." - -Describing the condition in life of these women, the reporter was told -that some had been wealthy, and were now poor through speculation; while -"more than two-thirds are the mothers of families and are eking out a -little income, in many instances supporting an idle, worthless man, who -should himself be out in the world earning a living." - -"If they make 75 cents a day it is a big day for them," said the -reporter's informant. "How little you realize the state to which many of -these women are brought! Many of them are almost penniless. Frequently -they come here in the morning and borrow money with which to begin the -day's operations." - -Pool rooms, as a general rule, run wide open; occasionally they are -"closed for repairs" caused by a police raid, forced by some flagrant -outrage against the law. They flourish in the most public places, with no -restriction upon admission to any visitor. The daily races all over the -country are posted on large black boards covering the walls, with a list -of the horses entered and a minute of the odds which will be given or -demanded by the house, from which the room's judgment of the "favorite" -can be ascertained. - -The money is handled openly, bet openly, and paid openly. City detectives -assist in their management, and "play the races." Raids contemplated by -the police are tipped off to the managers, and when the officers arrive -the game has closed. - -The incidents attending an actual pull are in the main more laughable than -impressive. The "hurry up" wagon takes its load away, and before many -moments have elapsed the same faces are seen again returning to the one -attractive spot in their daily lives. These rooms are munificent -contributors for protection. They pay from $600 to $1,000 per month. They -hold back telegraphic messages of the results of races until their -confederates have placed bets. They are patronized by women of, -apparently, all classes. In one raid eighteen women were captured, fifteen -of whom claimed to be married. All of them, of course, gave fictitious -names; three had babies in their arms; three claimed they were wives of -policemen; a few were well dressed, and all were undoubtedly devotees of -gambling, sporting women who fancied they had discovered the way to lead -an easy and money-making life. - -The following extract, taken from the examination of the head of the -police force of the city, will show the view entertained by that official -of the nature of his duties, in this regard. - -Before the senatorial committee appointed January 6th, 1898, to -investigate scandals in connection with the police force, its Chief was -interrogated and answered as follows, viz.: - -Q. How many pool rooms have you pulled, how many men have been arrested -and convicted for pool selling since you have been chief? - -A. I understand one fellow has been found guilty and fined $2,000. - -Q. But he was arrested by the Sheriff of Cook County, indicted by the -grand jury because the police would not do it? - -A. I don't know whether it was because the police would not do it, or -because they could not do it. - -Q. Well, it was because they did not do it. Do you mean to say that you, -as Chief of Police, with 3,500 sworn men---- - -A. Don't say 3,500 men. It is 2,500 men; don't make it quite so strong. - -Q. Do you say to this committee, that with 2,500 sworn men in this city -you are powerless to stop the public running of pool rooms in this city? - -A. I will say that I am powerless to stop a man from making hand books, or -selling pools confidentially to his friends. - -Q. Do you know of any pool rooms being conducted in this city during the -months of October, November and December? - -A. I don't know of my own knowledge; I never was in one. - -Q. Did any of the 2,500 men ever report anything of that kind to you? - -A. I never had any definite report on that subject. - -Q. They were giving the people a liberal government? - -A. Yes, things were running very easy. - - * * * * * - -Q. I will get you to state if it is not a fact that a large number of pool -rooms were running openly with telegraph operators in the place, pools -were being sold, money paid, and everything running at full blast? - -A. I never was present; I don't know anything about it. - -Q. Was there any complaint to you of that kind of thing being done? - -A. No particular complaint at all. The newspaper boys often came around -and said there was pool selling going on at different places. - -Q. Could not the police of the city of Chicago as readily have found these -people who have been fined for gambling as the Sheriff? - -A. Well, I don't know. I presume if a _desperate effort had been made to -look that kind of thing up we might, possibly, have been successful_. - -Through these resorts, which offer inducements for betting on distant -horse races, the confidential clerk, the outside collector for business -houses, the employes of banks, young men in all grades of employment -involving the handling of the funds of their employers, together with the -men of moderate salaries, working men, and the large number of sports who -live by their wits, are assisted in a downward career, until defalcations, -destitution in homes, and a still more acute phase of living on one's -wits, are reached, followed by flight, arrest, conviction, imprisonment, -the breaking up of homes, and the necessity for the resort of the broken -sport to the tactics of the hold-up man. - -Yet they are tolerated, until their shameless management becomes a public -scandal. Then follows a pull, a period of purification of very slight -duration, and again a slow start. Speedily again they are in as full -gallop as are the horses whose names they post, and as around the race -track the horses go, so around the vice track the pool rooms go. The -losing patrons pass under the wire at the end of their foolish struggle to -win, some to the penitentiary, some to despair, and some to suicide. - -The keeper and the landlord who knowingly permits his premises to be used -for the selling of pools, are, under the laws of the State of Illinois -enacted into an ordinance by the Municipal Code, guilty of a misdemeanor, -and are liable to punishment by imprisonment in the county jail for a -period not longer than one year, or by a fine not exceeding $2,000, or -both. - -The police make no complaints to justices for arrests, nor to their Chief, -according to his testimony. The keeper pays a high rent, while the -landlord, perhaps some sanctimonious deacon of a church, who thanks God -that he is not as other men are, accepts his monthly returns with unctuous -satisfaction, shouts his amens louder, confesses his sins more meekly, or -excuses his violation of the laws of the state with a more emphatic shrug -of his shoulders and a more fervid rubbing of his hands. - -Book making, "in which the betting is with the book maker," and pool -selling, in which the betting is among the purchasers of the pool, they -paying a commission to the seller, are both denounced by the statute, and -the court of last resort of the state. - -The unholy alliance between the police, the keeper of these law breaking -and despicable haunts, and the conscienceless landlord, could be summarily -dissolved. The police could be made the enemy of both. Their warm -friendship for, and silent participation in the profits of, the -partnership, can be destroyed by an executive order which needs but to be -issued, with no possibility of an early revocation, to be implicitly -obeyed by the sellers and "bookies." If not obeyed, then drastic measures -within the power of the police to employ should be applied. As these lines -are written, some evidence is visible of action by the police. A raid has -been made! The inspector, under whose order it was conducted, said, "The -sooner these men begin to learn that I mean what I say, the better it will -be for them. I want my officers to understand, also, that they will have -to be more vigilant." Threatening words, such as these, are common -utterances by police officials, but heretofore as their echo died away -their fierceness disappeared. No administration could lay claim to higher -praise in any city in the land than that its police force is the guardian -of the people's rights, the stern foe of crime, and the relentless -suppressor of vice and indecency through the enforcement of the laws -created for that suppression. - -If this is done in Chicago, a few of the devil's aids in the diffusion of -wickedness will disappear from sight so completely that Asmodeus would -vainly tear off the roofs of the houses in a search after proofs of his -demoniacal power. - -While the police force is so closely leagued with pool rooms, and -subjected to the power of the money their keepers are willing to pay for -permission to carry on their demoralizing business, it is a matter of -impossibility to destroy them. Vice works incessantly; the means for its -destruction are employed spasmodically. New York City furnishes an -astonishing instance of the political power exercised by a combination of -the law breakers. - -The Lexow committee demonstrated the almost total depravity of an officer, -charged with a command over its "Tenderloin." - -The city labored and Greater New York was born. It would seem that greater -crime and greater political power in the criminal classes were born at -the same birth. That officer became Chief of Police of the expanded -metropolis. He had been indicted under the scathing revelations against -him made by the Lexow committee, and yet despite the evidence of his -depravity, and the protests of the Society for the Prevention of Crime, he -was, through the power of politics and crime, foisted upon the new -municipality as the ranking officer of its police organization. The result -was inevitable. New York, the greater, is now declared to out-Satan New -York, the lesser. A new committee is probing into its police management. -At the outset of its proceedings it wrung from this officer replies so -self condemning as to stagger one's faith in the possibility of such a -quality as obedience to official oath in a police officer. - -The Chief was asked: Q. Perhaps you can tell how it is and why it is, that -even while this committee is sitting in session here, the pool rooms are -open all around us, and I have in my pocket money that my men won in the -pool rooms? - -A. Perhaps some of my men have it, too. They are looking after it just the -same as you are. - -Q. But the pool rooms are running? - -The Chief did not answer, but complained to his questioner that he had not -been informed of the facts "officially." - -The examination then proceeded as follows, viz.: - -Q. Do you mean to say, as Chief of Police, with the men and money at your -command, you can't close the pool rooms? - -"No," replied the Chief, "we do the best we can, as we did when you were a -Commissioner." - -"I closed the pool rooms," shouted his questioner. "You did not," retorted -the Chief; "they were alleged to be, on reports of commanding officers, -then as now." - -"Yes," said the questioner, "but there was some fatality about that -business, if you know what I mean." - -"Some forced fatalities," sneered the Chief. "Well, sir," said the -questioner, "here are three great evils of importance--gambling houses, -pool rooms and policy shops--and you cannot recall from your own -recollection--you who are in charge of the enforcement of the laws--a -single arrest in any one of these classes of crimes within a month. What -do you do for your salary as Chief?" - -A. "I look after the force as a whole; I look after all reports that come -in touching all matters of the kind you refer to and all kinds of crime." - -The questioner called the Chief's attention to a newspaper and some -advertisements it carried. In spite of the questioner's declaration that -the paper was a Tammany organ, and that all Tammany men were supposed to -buy it and read it, the Chief declared that he never had done so. The -questioner made the Chief a present of a copy of the paper, and asked him -to read over the massage advertisements. The Chief thanked him and said, -"I will attend to these places because I do not believe in such disguises -for disorderly houses. Such places are usually in tenement houses and -flats. I will attend to them and drive them out." - -"Will you make the same pledge about pool rooms," demanded the questioner -quickly? - -"That I cannot promise," replied the Chief. - -"Why can't you promise it?" asked the questioner. - -"Because they conduct that sort of business in places where we can't get -at them, and you know it, but I will try and stamp it out." - -Chicago and New York methods quite agree, with the advantage in favor of -New York. In the latter city, the Chief of Police "will try" to stamp pool -rooms out. In Chicago, the Chief, in his reply to similar questions, said: -"While a man may come to my office and give information that a certain -individual is violating the law somewhere and it is a trivial offense, I -do not pay so much attention to it as I do when a report reaches my office -that a man has committed a serious crime, such as murder, that a serious -crime has been committed on the outside. I should naturally abandon that -part of it, and take up the more serious offense, and I have been looking -up serious crimes, such as burglary, robbery and the hold-up people, and I -have made a desperate effort to suppress that." - -It was in this connection reference was made by the committee to the fact -that one of Chicago's policemen had shortly before been arrested for -holding up a citizen and robbing him in the daylight hours, which called -forth the reply already quoted in these pages to the effect that this -particular star had been tried, that he was a member of the police force -for ten years, was a good officer, but got drunk and became a "little -indiscreet." For this he was dismissed from the force, but reinstated -because "many people" vouched for him. It seems almost incredible that -that man is today a member of Chicago's police force; yet such is the -shameful fact. - -Without the aid of the telegraph, the daily newspaper and the race cards, -pool rooms and book making could not survive. They are the means of giving -vitality to this form of gambling. The telegraph furnishes the press with -"events" all over the country, upon which pools and books are made up. The -news of the result of a particular race is flashed by wire at once from -the race track to the pool rooms all over the land. There is scarcely a -daily newspaper in any city that does not devote a page of its issue to -sporting events. Many of them have their "forms" or "forecasts" of races, -which are the guesses of their sporting men as to the probable results of -each race to be run on a particular track. The race card is distributed -every evening throughout the city; to cigar stores, saloons and billiard -halls. It contains the "results" of the day, together with information as -to the entries for the following day's races. Through these sources the -sporting community keeps in touch with the world. - -A Chicago afternoon newspaper upon the occasion of the opening of a race -track in an adjoining state presented in its issue its "Form of Today's -Races." To those unacquainted with the lingo of the track its guesses are -delightfully humorous. - -Predicting the possible result of the first race, the form says: "B. L. -looks the best of the lot on paper. If the trip from the east did not take -the edge off H. S. he should win easily, as he showed considerable -sprinting ability in his last out. L. P. has a burst of speed which may -put her inside of the money and with a good boy up is worth a show bet. -The others are a poor lot and of uncertain quality, so that the finish -will probably be B. L., etc." Of the second it remarks: "Of these -youngsters which have started C. has been the most consistent and is -undoubtedly the best, but T. is rounding too rapidly and may run ahead of -the mark. F. A. is a sprinter, but if pinched does not like the gaff. M. -E. and M. are green ones, and this is the first time they have faced the -barrier, so there is no line on them. C. T. and F. A. should be the order -of the finish." It says of the third race: "M. is a soft spot, and, if -fit, she should win as she pleases. It looks as if the real race should be -for the place and the show money, and will likely be between M. and A. H. -and T. are also partial to the going, but as the latter has not started -recently, T. should be the better if any of the others named are -scratched. The result will likely be M. A., etc." Of another, a colt race, -its forecast is, "H. is such a good colt that he looks like a 2-to-5 shot -in this bunch, and that will be about what the books will lay against him. -Of course, he has dicky legs, but the soft undergoing will undoubtedly -suit his underpinning. The finish should be H. K., etc." The final race is -thus placed in the form: "At the best this is a bad lot, and hardly worthy -of doping, as so much depends on the jockeys and start that any one of the -probable starters has a chance to get the big end of the purse." - -To this necessity has journalism come at last! While it urges the -suppression, in thundering tones, of all manner of gambling, it is driven, -by the necessity of competition, to aid the most injurious of gambling's -many attractive methods. Another Chicago newspaper, the columns of which -every morning contain the world's news of sporting events, said a short -time ago, editorially: "Chief K----'s assurance that he will do his best -to suppress gambling will be accepted in good faith. He has made a start -in that direction, and the farther he goes the more plainly he will see -that for the police to suppress gambling is a mere matter of lifting their -hands. Gambling of the sort that the police department is expected to -suppress does not flourish save by the connivance of police officers. It -is quite true that to extirpate the vice of gaming is beyond the power of -the police. Nobody has expected them to do that. While the board of trade -and the stock exchanges remain open one form of the vice will be practiced -publicly beyond the reach of the police. And so long as cards and dice -boxes are to be procured, degenerate human nature will practice the vice -in secret. But the police can stamp out the open and flagrant practice of -gambling in forms inhibited by the law as easily as they can wink at it. -It is a matter of saying "Yes" or "No." A poolroom or a policy shop may -open now and then, but it will quickly shut again if the police are in -earnest." - -The assistance derived from the telegraph and newspaper by the gambling -fraternity is commented upon by a modern writer, his subject being "The -Ethics of Gambling." He remarks, "But it is time to emphasize the fact -that the real supports of the gambling habit in its present enormous -extent are the telegraph and the newspaper. Half the race courses in the -country would be abandoned almost immediately if newspapers were -forbidden to report on betting, and if telegraph offices declined to -transmit agreements to bet, or information which is intended to guide -would-be bettors. How this is to be done it is not for me to say. My -present object and duty are exhausted in pointing out the fact that the -national life is being deeply injured, the State seriously weakened by the -wide spread of the gambling habit, and further, that this habit in its -present extent and intensity, is nourished most by the daily press and the -telegraph. It must certainly be in the power of the State to deal with -this, the most potent instrument by which the gambling fiend fights his -way into home after home throughout the length and breadth of the -country." - -"Hold up" men find Chicago their least dangerous and, perhaps, their most -profitable field of operations. In all the various forms of this robbery -upon the street in day or at night time, or in raiding saloons and stores, -it is merciless in its methods. Robbery accomplished, brutality follows. -The criminals who resort to it at night, not satisfied with acquiring -their victim's property, usually knock him unconscious with the butt end -of a revolver, with a billy or sand bag, or blind him with cayenne pepper, -and in that hapless condition leave him to be found, no matter what may be -the state of the weather. This form of criminality is a winter's -occupation. It is occasionally, but rarely, followed in the summer months. - -Women are held up in the streets at midday, in the evening when returning -home from labor, on the street cars, and at the doors of their own homes, -and within them. No class is exempt from the attacks of these marauders. -The poor suffer with the rich. They are of such frequent occurrence that -it is believed not one-fourth of their number is reported to the police. -The inefficiency of the force to prevent them is proverbial, and that -inefficiency finds much of its origin in the utter disregard of the rules -of the department requiring patrolmen to travel their respective beats. -The discipline of the force in this respect is nothing; it is worn away by -abrasion. - -The colder the night and the warmer the nearest saloon or kitchen range, -there will the patrolman be found. In the former case he is merely -dreaming of his duty; and in the latter, he is engaged in a terrific -struggle between love and duty. Some back door of a house of ill fame is -open to him for shelter, for wine, and oftentimes for food. The -good-hearted landladies of these abodes know full well that one way to -reach the patrolmen stationed in their neighborhood is through their -stomachs, not because they are officers, but because they are men. In -localities away from the bagnios, some servant girl, friendly to the -"copper," protects him from the inclemency of the weather. To her he gives -his time and his devotions at the city's expense. If on some, or on any -winter's night, an observation flight could be taken through the air, and -over the city, by the Chief, that official would believe his occupation -was gone; for, except here and there as some of his subordinates were -wending their way at the appointed hour to a patrol box to report, he -would fancy he was a general deserted by his army. Closer inspection -would, however, reveal to him that never an army had such comfortable -winter quarters as has his. While the patrolman thus enjoys his siesta, -or indulges in his love making, the hold up man lies in wait on the -unguarded beat, to slug and rob the first belated wayfarer whom he may -confront. - -The number of hold ups in Chicago in the year 1898, it is believed, -exceeded in number those of any two large cities in the United States -combined. The press, in fact, claims that their number was greater than in -all of the cities of the United States. They were of almost daily -occurrence. They are just as numerous, and just as ingenious and murderous -in design, since the continued administration was inaugurated, as before. - -In the morning edition of the daily press of April 11th, 1899, the -re-elected Mayor's felicitations to the council in his annual message -delivered on the previous evening were published in these words: - -"The people of Chicago have reason to congratulate themselves on the -successful manner in which the police department has coped with crime. It -is acknowledged on all hands that Chicago is a singularly good place for -thugs and thieves to avoid, and this notwithstanding the fact that the -size of the police force is utterly inadequate." - -The evening papers of the same date report the following as examples of -how the thieves and thugs avoid Chicago: - -"L. was arrested early yesterday morning for alleged participation in a -daring hold up, which occurred near the corner of Van Buren and State -streets about an hour before. A cab containing Mr. and Mrs. L. B., who -live on Pine street, and Mrs. C. D., of North Clark street, approached the -curb. As the three occupants alighted four or five men rushed at them. One -drew a revolver and shouted: "Hands up." The other made a dash at Mrs. D., -who displayed some valuable jewelry, and snatched a watch worth $225 and a -diamond ring valued at $125. The highwaymen then disappeared around the -corner." - -"Attacked by Three Negroes.--Stanton Avenue police are looking for three -negroes who held up Albert T., of 37th street, at 33rd and Dearborn -streets last night and relieved him of $4.00 and a watch. T. was standing -under the shadow of a building at the corner when three negroes -approached him. One of them drew a revolver and threatened T., while the -other two searched him. Many people were passing at the time, but the -party escaped all notice in the deep shadows." - -"As Thomas L. and Joseph S. left Ald. K.'s saloon early today, S. says he -was robbed of $2.45--all the money he had." - -"Robbed in a Saloon.--August J., bound for Minneapolis from Finland, came -to Chicago last evening. He met a woman, and the two went to Samuel M.'s -saloon on State street, where J. claims the woman held him up at the point -of a revolver and took all his money--$25. J. reported the matter to the -Harrison street police, and Officers C. and S. arrested Albert B., the -bartender. He was arraigned before Justice F. today on a charge of being -accessory to robbery. The woman has not been arrested." - -Following this, two men boarded an outgoing railroad train at night, and -at one of its stopping stations captured a passenger who was standing on -the rear platform of a coach, dragged him away, robbed him of a small sum -of money, a lady's gold watch, took a plain gold ring from his finger, -then bound and gagged him and threw him into an empty freight car near by. - -Within three weeks after the publication of this effusive compliment to -the police, a citizen sent the following communication to an evening -paper, which, together with the comments of that paper upon it, is here -inserted, as the best criticism of the Mayor's optimistic view of the -efficiency of his police force: - -"April 26, 1899.--Editor the J.: Not fewer than 15 flats and residences in -the district bounded by West Adams street, Kedzie avenue, Homan avenue and -Washington boulevard have been plundered recently. The thieves reside at -----, a fact well known to the police, but all the efforts of the -suffering tax payers are unavailing in having them arrested. - -"The police authorities will not act. The rascals have been at their -present abode (----, first flat) since early last autumn. Their landlord -is (well, I won't mention his name) well known. - -"Our community has become so terrorized that no one dares remain out after -dark. Can't you assist us in our troubles? The police don't act. - - "RESIDENT OF THE DISTRICT." - -The comments of the paper read as follows, viz.: - -"The author of the above is a well-to-do West side manufacturer. He says -in a note which came with this communication: 'Do not under any -circumstances couple my name with it. We are all afraid of our lives, -believing that the thieves are so desperate that they would murder any one -disclosing their method and abode.' - -This is the district in which George B. Fern and Cora Henderson met their -deaths under such mysterious circumstances. - -Here is a partial list of the happenings of recent date in this one -neighborhood, the first four named cases being within one business block: - -GEORGE B. FERN, dry goods merchant, 1393 West Madison street; found in his -store with bullet hole in his head, mask and revolver with one chamber -empty at his side; police say he committed suicide; coroner's jury -returned a murder verdict; the grand jury also declares it was a case of -murder. - -CORA HENDERSON, blind woman, 1385 West Madison street; found dead in her -house, hole in her skull; murder theory worked upon by police; later -theory advanced that she might have met her death by a fall. - -F. W., tailor, West Madison street; robbers drove up to his store in broad -daylight while he was eating in a restaurant next door and intimidated -clerk with revolver, loaded in tailor's cloth, drove away. - -W. H. D., West Madison street, grocer; hole drilled in his safe; burglars -scared away when D. came to open store. - -MRS. FRANK W., Washington boulevard, house entered; $200 stolen. - -MRS. MARGARET D., Washington boulevard; house entered; $200 worth of -property taken. - -MRS. WARREN F. H., Warren avenue; house entered; $500 worth of property -taken. - -MRS. CHARLES C., Washington boulevard; hearing a noise at her front door, -went onto the porch; a burglar who had been trying to force an entrance -into the second story dropped at her side, revolver in hand; he escaped, -frightening off pursuers with his revolver. - -DR. F. F. S., West Monroe street and Homan avenue; two men attempted to -hold him up in his office; frightened away by the arrival of a patient. - -PROF. CHARLES E. W., Chicago Piano college; chased by mounted foot pad. - -MRS. ELIZABETH H. T., M. D., Warren avenue; swindled out of $60 by men who -had a 'sure thing' on the races. - -JOHN V., West Monroe street; swindled by same game. - -WILLIAM H. P., bookkeeper for C. S. & Co., West Monroe street; house -robbed. - -HERMAN W., West Monroe street; house robbed of diamonds, jewelry and -silverware; Mrs. W. coming home, encounters robbers as they were leaving; -they politely raised their hats and walked on. - -H. S. B., real estate, West Adams street; candidate for president of M. -club; house robbed. - -ARTHUR W. C., Illinois Credit Company, West Adams street; house robbed. - -JOHN G., grocer; attempt made to swindle him out of $100 by men with 'tip' -on races. - -The above list was obtained by a brief canvass of the neighborhood. - -The house given as the abode of the "thieves" is situated right in this -neighborhood, which is one of the best residence districts. It is a gray -stone structure and is said to be owned by a well known West side -politician. In this place lives at least one of the men who have swindled -numerous West side residents of this district by means of the 'tips' on -the races. These men, it is said, have operated successfully for a year, -few of their victims making complaint on account of the unenviable -publicity the affair would thus attain. This gang, too, has headquarters -in a West Madison street block within a few doors of the Fern store. - -This neighborhood is included in the Warren avenue police district. None -of the officers at this station, or any of the Central station detectives -familiar with the case, believes that the 'jockeys' have anything to do -with the 'holdups' and robberies of flats, and laugh at the idea advanced -by the author of the letter to The J--." - -The names and addresses of these victims are printed in full in the -newspaper referred to, but for obvious reasons they are not used in -reproducing the article. - -Immediately following the publication of this startling list of crimes, a -grand jury submitted to the court the following report. The reader can -harmonize, as best he may, this official statement, with that of a -lighthearted and self satisfied Mayor who controls, or does not control, -as one's thought may elect, the Chicago police force. - -"In closing our work the members of the jury desire to report to your -honor some slight comment on the various matters which have been brought -to our attention during our session, and to submit for recommendation to -the proper authorities suggestions that may check the amount of crime -which has been brought to our notice. - -"Our city seems to be the asylum of habitual criminals of all classes, who -have terrorized the people to an alarming degree. We would particularly -call attention to several instances within our knowledge where persons -have been found dead, investigation made by the proper authorities, -verdicts rendered according to the evidence with recommendations by the -coroner's jury that the guilty be brought to justice. These deeds wherein -the perpetrators in several instances have not been detected are largely -due to the fact that this city is made an asylum for habitual criminals, -and we strongly recommend that every measure be taken to close the gates -of the city to such people. - -"Were the statute of the state regarding the arrest of vagabonds more -strictly enforced by the proper authorities the number of habitual -criminals at large could be largely reduced and Chicago made a less -attractive place of residence for this class. The law itself is broad and -ample in its provisions. Places under the guise of saloons, duly licensed, -are merely rendezvous for thieves, murderers and prostitutes, and -notwithstanding the fact that such vile places are well known to the -authorities they are permitted to continue without molestation. The -defilement of our youths of both sexes should receive the severest penalty -of the law. It is our duty to protect and guard the manhood and womanhood -of the young. - -"The continued violation of the ordinance fixing the closing hours of -saloons is a great factor in the number of crimes committed in the city, -and we earnestly recommend a strict enforcement of the ordinance." - -Apparently, a few of these criminal gentry regard Chicago as a safe field -for their labors! - -Boys in their teens, men and women, both black and white, the latter of -the strong armed class, comprise this coterie of criminals. The strong -armed women, generally negresses, have the developed muscles of the -pugilist and the daring of the pirate. They entice the stranger into dark -passage ways, that innocent stranger, so unfamiliar, but so willing to be -made familiar with the wickedness of a great city, who seeks out its most -disreputable quarters and scours its darkest byways, to report to his -mates, on his return to his country home, the salacious things that he has -heard of, and a few of which he witnessed. In these dark and dangerous -ways the strong armed women garrote and rob their victims, or they entice -the innocent, but lustful, stranger to their rooms, and there, through the -panel game, or by sheer strength or drugged potations, appropriate the -innocent stranger's valuables. Mortified and humiliated, the stranger -usually has nothing to say to the police of the affair. Then the -emboldened strong armed women go upon the street in couples, and rob in -the most approved methods of the highwayman. Alone, one of these notorious -characters is said to have pilfered to the extent of $60,000. She was, and -is, a terror to the police force. Released from the penitentiary not long -ago, she is now undergoing trial for a fresh offense. Approaching a -commercial traveler from behind, she is charged with having nearly -strangled him, and then robbed him of his money and jewelry. - -"Only one man ever got the best of E. F.," said detective Sergeant C. R. -W., of Harrison street station, who had arrested E. F. frequently. - -"Once she held up a cowboy and took $150 from him. He came up to the -station hotfoot to report the robbery. We were busy and a little slow in -sending out after E., whereupon the cowboy allowed he'd start out after -her on his own hook. He met her down by the Polk street depot, and the -moment he spotted her he walked right up close to her and covered her with -two six-shooters. - -"You've got $150 of my money, now shell out nigger," he said. - -"Go and get a warrant and have me arrested then," replied the big colored -woman, who wanted time to plant the coin. - -"These are good enough warrants for me," returned the cowboy -significantly, as he poked the revolvers a trifle closer to her face. -"Now, I'm going to count twenty, and if I don't see my money coming back -before I reach twenty, I'll go with both guns." - -"When he reached eighteen, E. weakened. She drew out a wad and held it out -toward him. But the cowboy was wise and would not touch the roll till she -had walked to the nearest lamplight under the escort of his two guns and -counted out the $150. Then he let her go and came back to the station and -treated." - -Conductors of street cars are often the victims of the hold up men. Here -in Chicago they invented the plan of placing the saloonkeeper in the ice -chest, while the looting of the place went on. In another instance a baker -was imprisoned in a hot oven. Women in their homes are thrust into -closets, gagged and bound, while their houses are ransacked and their -property stolen. - -The want of an energetic police is the cause of the prevalence of such -abominable offenses as hair clipping, or the severing from the heads of -young girls upon the public streets their braids of hair. One of these -perverts was arrested and excused himself upon the ground that it was a -mania with him, and that the temptation to cut off the braids of hair from -every young girl he met, was almost irresistible. If detectives, instead -of lounging around their daily haunts for drinking purposes, loafing in -cigar stores, and playing the pool rooms, were mingling with the crowds -upon the streets, offenses of this character would be nearly impossible, -although this particular weakness seems to lead its impulsive perpetrators -to less crowded thoroughfares, and selects the hours of going to and -returning from school, as the most favorable parts of the day for its -gratification. It may be prompted by a morbid desire, but it is none the -less a serious offense, which, as yet, the criminal law has not defined, -and has therefore not provided a proper penalty for its punishment. No -evidence, so far as it is known, has yet been adduced to show that the -braids of hair are ever sold to dealers in that article, such as wig -manufacturers, etc. If such evidence should be forthcoming, the ingenuity -of the average criminal for the discovery of new methods of despoliation -will receive additional confirmation. - -One peculiar method of protection to the criminal classes is in vogue. A -new thief arrives in the city; his arrival is noticed by a detective and -the fact reported to headquarters. The thief is invited to visit the -Chief. Upon his appearance, permission is given him to remain, provided he -"does not work his game" within the city. He can plunder all the -neighboring towns he may select, but the price of his remaining in -security in Chicago is, that he shall be good and gentlemanly to its -people. The "Safe Blowers' Union" has its home in Chicago, from which it -radiates, as the spokes of a wheel, to the circumference of its limit of -operations. It is a trust; a protective association. It pays for the -privilege. It attacks the country bank, blows it, in the silence of the -night, to pieces with dynamite if necessary, and murders if interfered -with. It returns with its loot to the city, makes its dividends among its -membership, police included, and awaits the pressing necessity for a -renewal of its suburban raids. It is under the king's mighty shield, the -king of the criminals, over whom he reigns with leniency, and whose gifts -he accepts with condescension. - -The fakes of a great city are beyond enumeration. There are fake -information bureaus, fake advisory brokers, fake safe systems of -speculation, fake music teachers, fake medical colleges, fake law schools, -fake lawyers, fake "Old Charters for Sale," fake corporations, fake relief -and aid societies, fake preachers and fake detective agencies. The latter, -and the street fakers, are friendly with the police. So are the fruit -vendors, and the all night lunch counters on wheels. The latter stand -where the officers say they shall stand, and the location once found, the -officers at once become landlords. - -As to private detective agencies, without reference to agencies of an -established local and national reputation, they are principally -constituted of thieves, pickpockets, blackmailers, and porch climbers. - -In the trial of a case before the Criminal Court of Cook County, a few -months ago, a witness acquainted with their inside history, swore that -there were men connected with these fake organizations who would commit -murder for $50. They enter into conspiracies to ruin the private character -of men and women in divorce cases, and for blackmailing purposes. Three of -these hounds were lately convicted of conspiracy in less than one hour, by -a jury in the same court. These three worthies comprised the entire -agency. Their punishment was fixed at imprisonment in the penitentiary. -They were employed in getting revenge on a man, who was supposed, by their -employer, to have been the cause of his discharge from his commercial -position. In getting this revenge they fell upon their shadow, pummelled -him with great severity, and badly injured him. So grievous was the -offense, that the State's Attorney demand no less a punishment than the -jury awarded. - -They manufacture testimony in divorce proceedings, at the suggestion and -upon the request of the parties willing and desirous of cutting the -matrimonial tie; or, upon the instigation of one of the parties, they will -endeavor to entrap and compromise the other. They revel in the destruction -of the character of a good woman, as the vulture revels in the foulness of -a carrion. The man of wealth must be on his guard against their attacks, -for they would as lief magnify his peccadillos into felonious crimes and -attempt his plunder by blackmail, as they would accept the earnings of the -Mistresses Overdone, the exhausted bawds, whose pimps they are. - -Theirs is only another but a more vicious form of depravity than that -practiced by the panel house keepers, who send their single workers upon -the streets to entice men to their abodes, where they are met by the -expert workers of the game. While thus entrapped, and indulging in the -sensuality which aids so readily in his allurement, the adroit "creeper" -enters the room through a movable panel, or by some other prearranged -method of ingress, and takes the watch, the coin, or "any other old thing" -of value, found about the removed and scattered clothing of the greenhorn. -The police are as well acquainted with these "single workers" as they are -with the street walkers. They know their haunts, and their fields of -labor. The hotels, and places where crowds are gathered in the early -evening, attract the "single workers" as the most promising ground for a -successful capture. - -"Badger games" are not infrequently played in Chicago. Such as are -successful are generally kept from the police records, through the -preference of the blackmailed subjects to say nothing about them, in dread -of their personal exposure. A man, generally one of means and standing, is -marked for conquest. The first class hotel is the scene of operations of -the female in the case. Fashionably dressed, handsome, with jewels for -adornment, she strikes up a flirtation with the selected person. Fool -like, as most men are in the case of handsome and well gowned women, he -responds to the invitation, an acquaintance is formed and an assignation -made. The place is of the woman's selection and known of course to her -paramour, styled her husband. The room is entered, compromising situations -reached, when, suddenly, the indignant husband appears, the woman screams -in terror, and a storm rages. It is calmed by the payment of the price -demanded for concealment, and the "sucker" escapes with a load removed -from both his pocketbook and his mind. - -A noted instance of this kind happened to a wealthy and prominent -merchant, whose indiscretions in the acceptance of inducements for sexual -enjoyment held out to him by a stylish and beautiful woman, and his -blindness in not observing his surroundings, enabled the fake husband to -photograph him in _flagrante delicto_. Under threats to distribute the -pictures it is reported he paid $10,000 for them and the negative. This is -a fact easily susceptible of proof. One at least of these proofs did not -accompany the package he received, which was supposed to contain all of -the pictures. - -Photographing from the nude is not the fad of the harlot alone. Women -infatuated with their shapes begin with the exposure of a beautiful foot, -arm or well rounded bust, then a leg, etc., etc., until they stand before -the camera almost in _puris naturalibus_. These pictures are taken for -pure self admiration, the love of self study and comparison with the forms -of celebrated actresses, or the paintings of the masters, famous in art -for their conceptions of the perfect woman. They differ from those obscene -pictures designed for sale, for which purpose the depraved couple are -photographed in situations, attitudes and conditions, natural and -unnatural, which appeal to the grossest instincts in man, and shock, also, -the moral sense of every one not in himself a sexual pervert. - -The latter are eagerly sought after, are quite salable, and are carried -about the persons of fast young men about town, with intent, upon -opportunity, to influence the passions of women. They are the solace of -the aged sport, who, having lost all recollection of the ordinary affairs -of his youth, still fondly retains the memory of the amours of his younger -days, and of the orgies of his middle age. Then recalling with sadness the -first appearance of the lamentable indications of his decline, he -contentedly yields the passing of his power--"sans teeth, sans eyes, sans -taste, sans everything." - -These are the men, who, if they had lived in the early days of the Roman -Empire at or about the date of the Floralian games, would have been the -principal patrons, or, if at the time of the prevalence of the -Bacchanalian mysteries, the prominent members, of societies organized for -the purpose of gratifying unnatural desires; or if they had been Romans in -the declining days of that empire would have figured as the most frantic -and most lustful of the worshippers of Priapus. - -The methods of the vendors of obscene literature are innumerable, and all -are formed along the lines of extreme caution and cunning. They are keen -judges of human nature, quick to detect the inquisitive stranger, or the -sporting gent of the town, and adroit in introducing their filthy stock. -The purchaser is more than liable to be swindled in the deal, as the fakir -requires immediate concealment of the purchase, which, when examined by -the vendee in the quiet of his own room often turns out to be a harmless -work resembling only in the binding the supposed purchase. - -The confidence men, who invite the incoming visitor to view the scene of -the great explosion on the lake front, and suggest trips to other places -where startling events have not occurred, discover, by skillful -questioning, the weaknesses of their dupe. They arouse his innate, but -dormant, wish to take a chance at some game that seems to him certain of a -rich return. He is easily induced to play and allowed to win a small -stake, merely to excite greater interest and establish the conviction that -he can "beat the game." Naturally he plunges ahead, until the moment -comes, set by his trappers, when he is cheated, robbed and goes "flat -broke." The dupe may, or may not, report his loss to the police. If he -does, and it happens to be one of consequence, detectives may be detailed -to search for the swindlers; but if the loss is small in amount, however -important to the loser, the dupe is more likely to be laughed at than -aided by the officers of the law. - -To this class belong cabmen who rob drunken men, and "divvy" with the -police; commission houses, which secure consignments of goods for sale by -false representations; grocery grafters, who solicit throughout the -country orders for groceries, claiming to represent wholesale houses, ship -an inferior grade and collect C. O. D. at the prices charged for the -superior grade; Board of Trade sharks, who "welch" their clients' money by -charging up fictitious losses, when the figures will not appear to lie; -the false claimants for personal injuries alleged to have been caused -through the negligence of wealthy corporations, such as street car lines, -manufacturing companies and rolling mills, or by the city, from defective -sidewalks, unguarded street excavations, etc., etc.; bakers who sell -unlabeled and underweight bread; the gold brick and gold filings sharper; -the electric and mining stock swindler, and the advertiser seeking a -governess to accompany himself and family abroad. These men have -"irresistible tendencies" to work their several games. They cannot help -it, they say. Like kleptomaniacs, or "Jack the Hair Clipper," they are -impelled by nature to the commission of their crimes. In their own -judgment they ought not to be punished, because they are the victims of -defective brains. But they are just as cunning as the hair clipper, just -as conscious that they are law breakers as he was when he mailed to the -Chief of Police in his own words the following note, enclosing some of the -braids of hair he had clipped from the head of a young girl, viz: - - "A clue for J. K.'s cheap skates. Will send more when I get cheap - stuff like this. - - Jack." - -Of this same class are men who conduct "diploma mills" and make doctors, -especially in one day. They sell their parchments as freely as a -saloonkeeper does his beer, and then claim that because a college confers -distinctive degrees upon men of prominence, without a course of study and -examination, they are justified in launching doctors by the score upon -unsuspecting communities, "without study and examination," to discredit -the medical profession, and send men, women and children to premature -graves. Like McTeague, who acquired his knowledge of dentistry from the -seven volumes of "Allen's Practical Dentist," they obtain their knowledge -of diseases from quack publications, newspapers and magazine articles. -They use nothing but "the purest of the earth's productions in their -treatment, and no minerals or poisonous materials of any kind are ever -permitted to enter your system." Their prices range from "one dollar up." -"A positive guarantee is given in every case treated, so you have nothing -to risk in any way. Your money back on demand if not satisfied." They can -wash kidneys so clean, that if you are a woman and have not extended your -arms in years, after taking the first box of kidney pills you "can raise -them, and twist your hair," and after the second, "dress yourself, perform -your household duties," and "life will again take on a bright hue" for -you. Bald heads respond to the "remarkable effects" of their discoveries, -with joyful alacrity. Gray hair goes into hiding, and "thick and lustrous -eyebrows and eye lashes" blossom forth on one application, as lilac bushes -do in the spring time at the first touch of the warmth of the sun's rays. -Their remedies are "no longer experiments, they are medical certainties." -They "create solid flesh, muscles and strength, clear the brain, and make -the blood pure and rich." For humanity's sake, distinguished Mayors, -ex-Mayors, city treasurers, scholars, soldiers, ex-state senators and -senators, representatives, lawyers and judges, lend their beaming -countenances, when fully restored to health, for the uses of these quacks, -until the daily press has become a portrait gallery of rebuilt and -revitalized men, who, if disease had the clutch upon them they so -felicitously describe--in the stereotyped words of the quack--ought to -have been dead, buried and mourned long ago. These distinguished men in -American life, are merely selling their faces for promotion purposes, much -as the titled Englishman sells his title. - -Of all the sources of police graft, in addition to pool rooms and policy -shops, gambling is the most prolific. There are in Chicago over 7,000 -saloons and nearly 2,000 cigar stores. The number of gambling houses -proper is unknown, but the list swells into the hundreds. The saloon and -cigar stores have as a general rule a gambling annex. Gambling houses -proper, as known some years ago, have no longer the permanency they then -had. Roulette and faro, especially, are sleeping, and awaken only at -infrequent intervals. The negro game of craps, and the national game of -poker, particularly stud poker, have become the substitutes for the wheel -and the lay out. In two-thirds of the saloons and cigar stores poker and -stud poker are played, and in many of the saloons, especially the all -night variety, the crap table is part of the necessary equipment. It is -estimated that poker games are in progress in over eight thousand of the -saloons, cigar stores, barber shops and bakeries, every night, while -gambling houses with the roulette and faro barred, add over one thousand -to the number. Craps are shot even at the doors of some of the theaters. -All this is known to the police, tolerated by the police, and taxed by the -police. Take the average cigar store for illustration. In the rear are -rooms neatly fitted up and supplied with three or more poker tables. The -rake off to the house goes on just as in the regularly equipped gambling -house. The games are played by men of all classes in life below the -society men and men of wealth, who get their amusement at the club. The -clubs all forbid poker, but the tabooing order is "more honored in its -breach than its observance." In the cigar stores and saloons, workingmen, -artisans, clerks, and the loafing skin gambler, participate in the game. -The latter is quickly spotted, and placed under the ban. The proprietor -requires the games to be square, in so far as he can control them. The -losses of the cigar store players are more severe upon them than are -those of the gamblers who play for higher stakes. The wages of the -workingman, clerks and artisans are their only gambling capital. They have -no bank accounts to draw upon. The home suffers; wife and children are the -indirect victims. Theirs is a cash game. When wages are exhausted, the -unearned wage is mortgaged to the loan "sharks." These greedy and -heartless wretches lure the clerk earning a fair salary to borrow from -them at reasonable rates, and upon a "strictly confidential" basis. The -employer is not to know of the transaction. The clerk is soon in the -shark's strong jaws. He must pay what is demanded, or the employer, the -rules of whose establishment forbid dealings with the "shark," will be -made aware of the violation of his rules, and the clerk's embarrassment -commences. Rather than risk discharge from his position, and to escape -from the "shark" jaws, the frightened clerk pays in monthly installments -double the amount of his loan, plus a sum for a fee to an attorney who was -never retained. All this is so much blood money, flowing from the wounds -made by the "shark's" sharp teeth. - -The minor is not prevented in the cigar store joints from gaming any more -than he is prevented from drinking at the saloon bar. Nightly, over this -vast city, young men are succumbing to the terrible fascination of gaming. -Nightly, temptations, almost irresistible, are preying upon their minds. -The honesty of their intentions is gradually undermined, and almost before -they awaken to a realization of the truth, they have committed some theft -and commenced a downward career. Men who filled high positions of trust -and earned large salaries are today inmates of the state penitentiary, led -away by the fascination and excitement of the gaming table. The evils of -gambling, the intensity of the love of the average man for indulgence in -its exhilaration, the wide spread use of it in the home, the club, the -stag parties, and so on down to the lowest joints in the slums, have been -the themes of every writer who attempts to depict the daily life of great -cities. - -It exists in the form of prizes in progressive euchre parties, in social -gatherings, in the raffles of the church fairs, the voting for the most -popular man or woman, as city or county stenographer, popular firemen or -policemen; in guessing contests in the solution of puzzles; or wherever -the element of chance enters into the affairs of life, from which -amusement is sought to be drawn. Whether it is a wheat deal on the board -of trade in which millions are involved, or the cast of the dice by -newsboys and boot blacks in the alleys and upon the sidewalks of the city, -the controlling passion is there--the passion for gain at the whim of -chance. Judgment may prompt the wheat deal, but unless judgment promises -large profits the incentive to engage in the manipulation of the markets -is absent. The possible toil and mental worry is overlooked in the hope of -great gain without correspondingly prolonged labor. Millions fly away in -great gambling speculations as easily and as swiftly as the penny of the -newsboy takes its flight from one to the other of the inveterate little -gamblers, to be found among these sharp witted waifs of the street. It -goes on in billiard halls, where "hap hazard" is openly played; at saloon -bars where the loser at dice "pays for the drinks." It is to be seen in -beer halls, summer gardens, among well dressed people who carry the dice -with them, of the usual size, or smaller, with fancy box-guard, and who -"shake" for the drinks and dinners, not so much as a matter of gambling, -as for the zest it gives to their party, or their outing. It controls -political picnics in the fakers' attractions that follow them, and in the -prizes offered to the winner, of boys' and girls', women and fat men's, -races, or for which artistic cake walkers and ragtime dancers compete. -Civil and criminal trials are even chosen as events upon which to place a -wager. The frequency of elections, the daily horse racing contests -throughout the world, base ball games in season, prize fights between -professionals, club athletic contests, policy shops with their daily -drawings, and lotteries, all arouse the cupidity of the seeker after quick -gains without physical labor. "Bet you five" settles many a mathematical, -historical, political or economic proposition, contrary to the truth. - -Races, accompanied by the usual retinue of book makers, are conducted by a -wealthy club, many of whose members are leaders in civic bodies formed -for the betterment of local government, and consequently for the -suppression of vice. Grand juries report month after month their inability -to obtain the co-operation of the police in gathering evidence against -gamblers and landlords whereon to found indictments. Each grand jury when -empanelled hears from the bench the monotonous song "Gentlemen, bucket -shops exist, investigate them," together with such musical accompaniment, -as may be added by the judge, in the way of moralizing upon their -wickedness. - -Fashionable women have their down town clubs. There they meet, smoke -cigarettes, take their drinks from the sideboard "just like men," gamble -for excitement, lose their pin-money and diamonds with the abandon of a -virgin, "willing to be rid of her name." - -The vice and fascination of gambling are so well known and understood by -great merchants that they employ a corps of detectives to keep watch over -their confidential employes, whose movements are the subject matter of -daily reports to their employers. The bond companies, which insure the -honesty of clerks and managers entrusted with the handling of money, -receive from their spotters the earliest reports of the actions of -employes indicative of living beyond the yearly salary paid them by the -houses with which they are connected. - -Gambling, although condemned by all moralists as a degrading vice, is -recognized by some as aiding the development of certain qualities of -immeasurable service in the intensity of the struggle for business -existence prevailing in the aggressive commercialism of this age. Lecky -asserts: "Even the gambling table fosters among its more skillful votaries -a kind of moral nerve, a capacity for bearing losses with calmness, and -controlling the force of the desires, which is scarcely exhibited in equal -perfection in any other sphere." Whatever may be the meaning of the phrase -"controlling the force of the desires," it is certain that among the young -men of today, in all classes of society, the desires for intoxicants and -sensuality are past control when associated with gambling. In its most -seductive forms its principal aids are the gilded saloon, and the harlot's -enslaving smile. The necessity for means with which to gratify aroused -passion in both respects, comes through contact with the gaming table; -hence, the houses of ill repute, assignation houses and the innocent -looking "Hotel" nestling in the middle of the down town business blocks, -are the direct allies of the gambling hells in the development of -crime--in adding to, rather than in "controlling" the force of the -desires. "Sensuality," said a distinguished writer, "is the vice of young -men and of old nations." Another, tracing the effects of gaming on human -passions, wisely observes, "the habit of gambling is very often allied -with, and is even an incentive to, the practice of other vices, whose -darkness is beyond dispute. The ordinary aspect of a return from a race -meeting will fully confirm this. There we find that drunkenness, -licentiousness and gambling go hand in hand, a well assorted trio whose -ministry to separate passions is not inconsistent but consistent with -mutual incitement and co-operation in the destruction of the honor and -purity and strength of men." - -While gambling is not now conducted "openly," a word which has reference -only to the maintenance of down town establishments in which faro and -roulette were formerly played, it is conducted under police protection all -over this city in forms more inviting, more disastrous to the embryotic -gamblers who patronize it, than if the large establishments were in full -operation as of yore. The latter could not invite the younger class of -gamblers to enter the play, because of their lack of capital; the smaller, -widely scattered, and police guarded, cigar store and saloon games, accept -smaller sums of money, parts of a dollar, for a stack of poker chips, from -the anxious entrant to the game. Prior to the last election a leading -evening newspaper accused the city executive with farming out the slum -district to two aldermen of unsavory reputation, with leave to them to -extort money from gaming houses, high and low, within its limits, for -their personal benefit, in consideration of their opposing, in the -council, the passage of ordinances relating to the extension of street car -privileges. Its condemnation of this bargain was severe, and yet, later -on, it was the most persistent of that executive's supporters for -re-election. - -The coon gamblers, thieves, thugs and pimps were all on the staffs of -these aldermen. They followed these worthies into the campaign, under the -leadership of the eminently respectable newspaper referred to. Inspired by -such leadership "Spreader," "Sawed Off," "The Cuckoo," "Book Agent," -"Deacon," "Grab All," "Duck," "Shoestring," "Scalper," "Humpty," "Hungry -Sid," "Seedy," "Talky," "Whiskers," "Noisy," "Fig," "Old Hoss," "Slick," -"Ruby," "Sunday School," and "Mushmouth," captains in the corps of sports -felt themselves respectable, led their followers from the barrel and -lodging houses with a rush to the polls, and achieved a startling victory. -Over all this horrible saturnalia of vice, the colors of the police force -float in token of protection. The brave men of that force, morally -degraded by the obedience they are compelled to yield to unworthy -superiors want merely the opportunity to perform their full duty, not only -as patrolmen but as patriotic American citizens. The time when they will -be permitted to do so seems far distant, unless an aroused public opinion -shall speedily pronounce against the further continuation of a policy of -protection to crime and debauchery supported by the men chosen to war -unceasingly with both. - -The dens of the sexual pervert of the male sex, found in the basements of -buildings in the most crowded, but least respectable parts of certain -streets, with immoral theaters, cheap museums, opium joints and vile -concert saloons surrounding them, are the blackest holes of iniquity that -ever existed in any country since the dawn of history. A phrase was -recently coined in New York which conveys--in the absence of the -possibility of describing them in decent language--the meaning of the -brute practices indulged in these damnable resorts, and the terrible -consequences to humanity as a result of unnatural habits--"Paresis Halls." - -No form of this indulgence described by writers on the history of morals, -no species of sodomy the debased minds of these devils can devise, is -missing from the programme of their diabolical orgies. In divine history -we read of the abominations of the strange women of Israel, with their -male companions, in their worship of Moloch, Belphegor and Baal, and of -the death penalties pronounced by Moses against the participants in them. -To suppress the brutish immorality, and prevent the spread of disease -arising from it, the Jewish law giver put to death all his Midianite -female captives except the virgins. Profane history tells of the infamies -of the Babylonian banquets, of the incestuous and "promiscuous combats of -sensuality" of the Lydians and the Persians; of the Athenian Auletrides, -or female flute players, who danced and furnished music at the banquets of -the nobility and wallowed in the filth of every sensual indecency, and of -the polluted condition of Roman life, prior to, and as the Christian era -dawned, but in all the untranslatable literature of eroticism no -description of the debaucheries of the ancients, if freely interpreted -into English from the dead languages in which they are preserved, could -depict the nastiness these yahoos are reported as having introduced into -our midst, and rendered more hateful and disgusting by the squalor of -their underground abodes. The young are lured by them, ruined in health -and seared in conscience. The very slang of the streets is surcharged with -expressions, derived from, and directly traceable to, the names of these -unmentionable acts of lechery. - -Not content with the private and crafty pursuit of their calling, they -must flaunt it in the faces of the public and under the very eyes of the -police, in a series of annual balls held by the "fruits" and the "cabmen," -advertised by placards extensively all over the city. At these -disreputable gatherings the pervert of the male persuasion displays his -habits by aping everything feminine. In speech, walk, dress and adornment -they are to all appearances women. The modern mysteries of the toilet, -used to build up and round out the female figure, are applied in the -make-up of the male pervert. Viewed from the galleries, it is impossible -to distinguish them from the sex they are imitating. Theirs is no -maid-marian costume; it is strictly in the line of the prevailing styles -among fashionable women, from female hair to pinched feet. The convenient -bar supplies the liquid excitement, and when the women arrivals from the -bagnios swarm into the hall, led in many instances by the landlady, white -or black, and the streets and saloons have contributed their quotas, the -dance begins and holds on until the morning hours approach. The acts are -those mainly suggestive of indecency. Nothing, except the gross language -and easy familiarity in deportment, coupled with the assumed falsetto -voice and effeminate manners of the pervert, would reveal to the -uninformed observer what a seething mass of human corruption he is -witnessing. As the "encyclopedia of the art of making up" puts it, "the -exposed parts of the human anatomy" usually displayed in fashionable -society are counterfeited so perfectly, the wigs are selected and arranged -with such nicety, the eyebrows and lashes so dexterously treated, and the -features so artistically touched with cosmetics, as to make it very -difficult, at first glance, to distinguish between the impostor and the -real woman. The big hands and tawdry dresses, the large though pinched -feet and the burly ankle, betray the sex of the imitating pervert. - -No reason, except that the police are paid for non-interference with these -vice pitted revels, can be given for their toleration. The city's -officials are either in collusion with their projectors, they are -incompetent, or are the willing tools of these stinking body scavengers. -These beasts look with disdain upon the votaries of natural pleasures, and -have an insane pride in their hopeless degradation. - -The opium joints are closely related sources of iniquity to the pervert's -haunts. Under one of the worst of the all night saloons, conducted by a -politician of the first ward, who belongs to the party of the Bath House -and Hinky Dink, and who "touched" the Hon. Richard Croker of New York for -a small loan, the largest of these execrable cellars is protected. It is -but a step from the wine rooms of the saloon to the solace of the pipe. -The depraved of both sexes in those moments when despair seizes them, when -some recollection of childhood, or of home, arouses in them the dormant -good still remaining in their hearts, when, as they look into the future, -they can discern no ray of hope, but are appalled at the frightful end -which must be theirs, shut out the horrors of their situation in life by -seeking a paradise built upon "the baseless fabric of a vision." In this -joint, since reference to it was written, a man died from the effects of -smoking the pipe. The woman who accompanied him, the bartender and the -keeper of the joint were placed under arrest. The police expressed -amazement at the revelation of the existence of the joint, as did the -proprietor of the saloon. It was, of course, closed, and a number of other -like resorts were then raided. Press comments upon this death appeared as -follows: - -"In spite of the fact that there are plenty of laws against them, opium -dens and objectionable grogshops are among the hardest things in the world -to exterminate. The only reasonable explanation for this is that their -proprietors must have influence with officers who are employed by the -people to execute the laws. 'The police close these places,' said an -officer despairingly, referring to dens like that in which the man Adams -died Sunday night, 'but they spring up again in a day.' - -"The police seem to be downcast over it. Yet the causes of the 'springing -up' are as plain as the nose on one's face, and the means of removing them -as evident as one's hand. - -"Access to the den in which Adams died was had through the delectable O. -saloon, operated by S. V. P., and the den itself was rented by V. P. The -levee statesman says he had no idea his basement was used for an opium -den. He thought the procession of drunken and dazed men and women who -tottered through his saloon and went down his basement stairs all night -were going for their laundry. - -"V. P.'s statement is entitled to as much consideration as the guileless -protestations of the gentleman who is caught with the chicken under his -coat. V. P. is responsible for the opium den and as soon as the law lays a -hand, in earnest, on the landlord the opium dens will cease 'springing -up.' - -"The police knew that an opium den was running in V. P.'s basement. They -had been amply warned of it. If they had raided the place a few times and -sent the proprietor and inmates to the bridewell it would have stayed -closed. - -"There is a little virtue in sticking to one's native vices. Western races -come honestly by drunkenness and gambling. But why tolerate the deliberate -importation and cultivation of this strange oriental bestiality? This -ingrafted vice must make its own soil. Why should the police treat it so -leniently? A hundred-dollar fine for every person found in an opium joint -and a modicum of police activity, with the demanding of a strict account -from the guilty landlord, will quickly put a damper on the opium dens. -Every month that they are tolerated they get a firmer root." - -These resorts are patronized by others than the fallen women and the -criminal classes. Like slumming, it is a fad "to hit the pipe just once" -by some adventure seeking people in other walks of life. The habit of -opium smoking is easily acquired, and, when acquired, the smoker becomes a -slave to its use. There are between two and three hundred of these smoking -rooms in Chicago. The number of persons addicted to smoking opium cannot -be stated with accuracy. Estimates vary from ten to twenty thousand, the -number probably lies between these two estimates. In the Chinese quarters -the penetrating odor of opium smoke is plainly perceptible and is thrown -off from the garments of passing Chinamen, or is detected as one enters a -restaurant or laundry presided over by the oriental. The "dope" soon -affects the complexion, and the features wear a dejected appearance. The -movements of the victims are listless, almost lifeless. In the saloon -referred to, a constant procession of men and women, old and young, come -and go up and down the stairway to the region below. It is not guarded -with any degree of care, because it is protected from the law's -aggression, except occasionally, when by way of diversion it is pulled. -Then its patrons get a quiet tip to keep away, consequently few occupants -are found. The old pipes and a small quantity of the dope are graciously -permitted to be borne away in triumph by the officers. New supplies are -provided, and the baleful business resumes its accustomed routine. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - COMMON COUNCIL--BOODLERS--BRIBERS--COUNCIL OF 1899--POWERS OF--MISUSE - OF--PRICE OF VOTES--PASSAGE OF BOODLE ORDINANCES--PUBLIC WORKS - DEPARTMENT AND BUREAUS--ILLEGAL CONTRACTS--STREET REPAIRING, - ETC.--CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION--HISTORY OF--PRESENT BOARD TOOLS OF - MAYOR--EXAMINATION BY--EXAMPLES OF--ATTACKS UPON LAW--SPECIAL - ASSESSMENTS--ASPHALT RING--FIRE DEPARTMENT--COUNTY GOVERNMENT--INSANE - ASYLUM--SALE OF "CADAVERS"--CONTRACTS--SHERIFF'S OFFICE--JURY - BRIBERS--JUDGES--REVENUE LAW--TAX DODGERS--TOWN BOARDS--CORONER'S - OFFICE--PRESS TRUST--CIVIC SOCIETIES--BERRY COMMITTEE'S - REPORT--BAXTER COMMITTEE--OPENING TESTIMONY--CONCLUSION. - - -For a generation the Common Council of Chicago has been governed by a -majority of "boodlers." Aldermen have been, in that period, fairly -representative of the wards by which they were elected. The various -nationalities, clustered together in such a manner as to give rise to the -naming of a ward according to the nativity of its inhabitants, such as -Polish, Swedish, Bohemian, German, Irish, etc., have selected as their -representatives in the Council, men who, as a rule, in private life were -honest. Their selection was usually upon strictly party grounds. The -"independent" voter, in municipal elections, is a growth of quite recent -years. The class appears to be increasing with great rapidity and to be -finding a means of concentrating its strength at the polls. - -As honest as an alderman may be when he first takes his seat, he soon -finds himself surrounded by influences which appear to exert a fascinating -power over him. He must elect to be for or against the gang. Prior to the -allowance of a yearly salary the temptation to join the gang was -heightened by the promising returns, in a pecuniary way, which the gang -could almost guarantee the incoming member. An alderman "once prepossessed -is half seduced" and, since it is almost axiomatic that the total -seduction of a prepossessed alderman is a mere matter of time and -opportunity, the fall always comes when some high spirited, progressive, -and perhaps, God-professing citizen, offers from his purse a goodly -compensation to the gang for the grant of some public privilege. Thus the -public privilege is seized upon by the aldermanic gang as a private -privilege which it disposes of to the broad-clothed briber at a price -satisfactory to its members. The bribers are found in that sanctified -element of the community which attends church under the pretext of fearing -and worshipping God. - - "But yet, O Lord! confess I must, - At times I'm fash'd wi' fleshly lust; - An' sometimes, too, wi' worldly trust - Vile self gets in! - But thou rememb'rest we are dust, - Defil'd in sin." - -On secular days, its leaders, the accomplished, in thieves' parlance, the -"slick" bribers, whisper their temptations into the ears of public -servants willing to become their private tools, like the devil in the -garden of Eden, "who squat like a toad close to the ear of Eve." - -The "gang" spots its man with remarkable foresight, and year after year -its power to manage public affairs to its own private advantage has -become more and more felt by the public. - -For the first time in a generation, in this year 1899, it is believed an -honest majority is in control of the council. The pleasurable fact is that -the majority was elected upon a non-partisan basis, the recommendations of -a civic body, as to the honesty and capacity of the candidates in the -several wards, having been acted upon by the voters in preference to those -of party nominating conventions. - -It is, however, too early to predict a new era in the history of the -council. "All signs fail in dry weather," and at this moment there are no -indications of an approaching shower of "boodle." The street car franchise -question is drowsy and will not be awakened until the corporations -controlling the lines are ready to do so. That they will not do so until -some legislation is enacted in 1901, is too apparent to require an effort -to prove. For one year at least there is a majority in the council which -will, it is hoped, protect public rights; and it is also hoped that in -1900 this majority will not only be retained, but also greatly augmented. -Projects may be hidden which in the near, or not distant, future, will -come forth to plague the consciences of a number of newly admitted members -and put their integrity to the severest of tests. - -The power of the Common Council, as confided to it by legislation, over -the affairs of two millions of people, is too immense to be wielded by a -single ordinance making body. Under our form of municipal government it -controls the finances and the property of the city, regulates licenses to -sell liquor and to carry on various classes of business, such as -auctioneers, distillers, grocers, lumber yards, livery stables, money -changers, brokers, junk stores, billiard, bagatelle and pigeon-hole -tables, pin alleys, ball alleys, hackmen, draymen, omnibus drivers, -carters, cabmen, porters, expressmen, hawkers, peddlers, pawnbrokers, -theatres, shows and amusements, and many other classes of occupations. - -Its power over the uses to which the streets may be applied is, in one -sense, limited; in another almost unlimited. While limited by the charter -to the power to lay them out, open, widen and improve them, prevent -encroachments and obstructions thereon, lighting and cleansing them, its -power to regulate them is almost unlimited. "To regulate" the use of the -streets is a broad power, and while several distinct grants of power of -regulation are contained in the statute, such as preventing the throwing -of ashes and garbage upon them, their use for signs, sign posts, awnings, -etc., the carrying of banners, placards, advertisements, etc., therein, -the flying of flags, banners or signs across them from house to house, or -traffic and sales upon them, nevertheless, the uses to which they may be -applied in the way of business enterprises for advertising purposes, are -as numerous and as varied as the minds of the originators of the schemes -are original and unique. - -For the right to use, therefore, in a given way in a given ward, the -"gang" alderman long ago established and still maintains a schedule of -rates. They are graduated from the insignificant charge for permission to -"string a banner," or establish a fruit stand, up to the highly -respectable "rake off" demanded for the use of them for switch tracks, or -street railway purposes. It is not so many years ago that a leading -morning newspaper furnished the public with some information on this -subject, upon the occasion of the passage of an ordinance granting -valuable privileges to a railway corporation. Four members of the council, -not the "Big Four" of olden times, but the modern "Big Four" leaders of -"de gang," were said to have received for their manipulation of the -ordinance, and the organization of their followers for its support, the -quite comfortable sum of $25,000 each. Their supporters were to receive -$8,000 each for their votes, while the "go between" received $100,000 and -a few city lots. The standard price per vote for valuable franchises is -$5,000, yet in a pinch of private necessity, a few votes can be commanded -at lower figures. The contingency of a possible veto is provided for, so -that in that event one-fourth must be added for the second vote to pass -the measure over the veto. Thus it has gone on not only with respect to -street railway grants, but also for electric lighting, telephone -conduits, gas pipes, private telephone wires and that long list of uses -devised by business men for the advertisement of their personal interests. -The peanut stand privilege, the fruit stand privilege, the bootblack -privilege, the banner privilege, all pay cash to some "gang" alderman, as -do the policy rooms, pool rooms and saloons with wine room privileges. - -It is an amusing, as well as an instructive sight, to witness a meeting of -the council upon an occasion when some well announced "boodle" ordinance -is called up for passage. The plan of campaign has all been arranged -beforehand, and the floor leader selected to command the movement. Let it -be an ordinance for granting the right to a street railway company to lay -down its tracks, and operate its line, in a given street. The -preliminaries have all been gone through with, the signatures of property -owners verified, and the price to be paid for favorable votes agreed upon. -When the ordinance is taken up its opponents are generally in a -disorganized condition. There is among them, as a general rule, no -coherence of opposition. The main object to be attained, viz., the defeat -of the ordinance as it is presented, is lost sight of in the effort "to -make records" by the introduction of amendments, reflecting some -individual idea of the member who offers it, without having submitted it -to his associate opponents for their judgment. Consequently they disagree -among themselves and fall to fighting each other, thereby weakening their -opposition. Meanwhile the "gang" sits smilingly by, under instructions to -vote down all amendments. When one is offered, of comparative -unimportance, the quick-witted lobbyists of the corporations, Jew and -Gentile, convey a tip to the leader of the "gang" that the amendment "is -all right," "quite agreeable," "will be accepted," etc., whereupon the -gang's leader obligingly informs the chair that it is his profound belief -the amendment is a very proper one, and it is graciously accepted. The -opposition having some little encouragement, present other amendments, -which are, of course, defeated. Sometimes debate is permitted. If the -speeches could be reported verbatim and the words spelled out as -pronounced, it would make Mr. Dooley reflect on the style of modern -oratory, as presented by the "mimber from Archey Road." The question -coming to a vote upon the passage of the ordinance, the roll call begins. -From the "Bath House" on the right comes, on the first call, the familiar -"Aye." That response is repeated by every member of the gang without -explanation, and in a stolid way, indicating contempt for public opinion. -The measure is now out of the way. Preparations are made for the next. -Settlements have to be made and everybody satisfied before new matters -involving "boodle" can be presented. Occasionally there is a loud "kick" -by some slow-witted member who fails to secure his full share of the -"swag," but he is usually placated in some manner best known to the -combination, and business goes on in the old way. The division and -distribution of the "boodle" are matters of great secrecy and adroit -management. It is forced into the pockets of some, or finds its way into -them in mysterious ways. It is discovered under a plate at a restaurant, -or under a pillow at bedtime; but it seldom passes into the open hand, -held rearwards, as the caricaturist pictures the "boodler." - -A newspaper thus spoke of the members of the council belonging to the -party it represents. "The average ---- representative in the city council -is a tramp, if not worse. He represents or claims to represent a political -party having respectable principles and leaders of known good character -and ability. He comes from twenty-five or thirty different wards, some of -them widely separated, and when he reaches the City Hall, whether from the -west, the south or the north division, he is nine cases out of ten a -bummer and a disreputable who can be bought and sold as hogs are bought -and sold at the stockyards. Do these vicious vagabonds stand for the -decency and intelligence of the party in Chicago?" - -This is a picture drawn a few years ago, but it correctly sketches a -number of the hold over members of the present council, and a few of the -old timers re-elected. - -The new members of the council, one-half in number, are committed, by -their ante-election pledges, to the policy of refusing the grant of -privileges to individuals or corporations without compensation to the -public. Whatever of benefit the public may derive from this policy, it is -not quite clear that it will operate as a preventive of "boodling." The -ingenuity of the "boodler" combines the cunning of the sneak thief, with -the boldness of the highway robber in devising the ways and means to find -and secure his "stuff." It is a matter of congratulation that the boodling -species is dwindling away from the public view. How long it will remain in -concealment depends upon how long the independent voter wishes to keep it -concealed. - -The department of the city government to which is committed the control of -its public improvements consists of a number of bureaus. The Commissioner -of Public Works controls, as part of his executive department, the City -Engineer, Superintendent of Streets, of Street and Alley Cleaning, of -Water, of Sewerage, of Special Assessments and of Maps. When it is -considered that this means the care and management of 1,111 miles of -improved and 1,464 miles of unimproved streets, 112 miles of improved and -1,235 miles of unimproved alleys, making a total of 3,924 miles of -streets and alleys, the letting of contracts for their repair, improvement -and cleaning, and all the details of engineering, sewerage and water pipe -extension bureaus, involving the expenditure of millions of dollars, the -vastness of the public interests entrusted to the Commissioner may be -realized. Under every administration the department is assailed for -frauds, stuffed pay rolls, favoritism and boodling. The administration now -in power (and which has been in power for two years) has not escaped -criticism. Powerful as that criticism was, and founded in truth as it was, -it apparently did not affect the minds of a majority of the voters. -Contracts were let by this administration, in direct violation of the law -which provides for a letting to the lowest bidder, after advertising for -bids, where the amount is in excess of $500. Yet a political favorite, who -was himself at one time spoken of as a probable appointee to the office of -Commissioner, but who stepped aside, as it is charged, as the result of a -deal, obtained thereby a contract for street repairs amounting to -$230,000, which was never advertised for, but let to him privately in such -a manner so that the vouchers in payment were drawn in sums less than $500 -each. So grossly evasive of the law was this transaction, that it involved -the stoppage of payment of the warrants by the Comptroller of the city. A -re-measurement of the work was ordered by him. This developed the -astonishing fact that, even if the contract had been properly let, there -was nevertheless an overcharge, swindling in its nature, to the extent of -$60,000. The Comptroller was, therefore, compelled to withhold his -sanction to the payment of the vouchers. In some manner, however, they -were paid after some slight reductions were made. This was a blow at the -sterling integrity of the Comptroller, whose public services in thoroughly -reorganizing his office, and placing it on a business basis, and whose -devotion to public interests cost him his life, are the only conspicuous -acts, free from shame, egotism, or corruption, of an administration to -which he loaned the strength of his good name, and upon which he shed the -splendor of his ability and personal honor. He will be long remembered as -the one oasis in a desert of maladministration. Both in private and in -public walks Robert A. Waller lived an honorable life. He died mourned by -all who knew him. - - "His life was gentle, and the elements - So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up - And say to all the world: This was a man!" - -The attempt to let the contract for the use of a tug for service to the -cribs, or water intakes, in the lake, was another breach of the law so -flagrant, as to attract public attention for a time. Its consummation was -prevented by the threat of court proceedings, which, at once, led to the -insertion of an advertisement for bids. But here again fraud was -attempted. The specifications were so drawn as to call for boats of -certain dimensions, exact compliance with which was almost impossible, -except to one towing company to which originally the contract was about to -be let without a bid. This company's bid was $13,000; the lowest bid was -$3,500. Still the city authorities hesitated to award the contract to the -lowest bidder, but public opinion, and the known ability of the bidder to -fulfill his contract regardless of his boats' dimensions, compelled the -letting to him, thereby saving to the city the sum of $9,000. Vouchers -about which there was a doubt as to their legality, have been paid to a -contractor, who was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers, but who -resigned the appointment immediately, it is said, for business reasons, or -because he could not be assigned to a pleasing command. These vouchers -amounted to $50,000, and their payment, it is rather uncharitably said, -induced the gallant contractor to become an independent voter. There is no -difference between the manufacture of an independent voter in this manner, -and his manufacture by putting him on the pay-roll without work. This -method seems to have been adopted by the public works department of the -city government, following, perhaps, an old precedent. - -The purchase of water meters, under specifications with which only one -company could comply, and the laying of water pipes without letting -contracts in a lawful manner, are notorious instances of unblushing -frauds committed by this department. It is almost incredible that a dynamo -should be bought in parts, so that it could be purchased from a friend, -and paid for in sums less than $500; yet this was done. Thus a piece of -machinery having a fixed price as a whole, was not only purchased -illegally, but paid for in such a manner that its price, as a whole, was -doubled when bought in pieces. So it was with other electrical apparatus; -so it was with the protection to fire hydrants. Instead of advertising for -bids for the work of shielding the fire hydrants from the severity of the -winter's cold, they were divided up into companies like those of a -regiment of soldiers, each having its contract commander, who received his -pay on vouchers each calling for less than $500. The present commissioner -is an old politician, who has held several official positions. It is but -just to say of him, that, with the general public, he bears a good -reputation. His political enemies are not by any means complimentary in -their allusions to him, those particularly in the ranks of his own party. -He is energetic, self confident, amiable, and a particularly able bluffer -when occasion demands it. Without being profound he is efficient, and -without being remarkably efficient, he is not at all valueless. - -The Civil Service Commission has reached its present age, nearly five -years, after suffering all the diseases incident to poor nursing. It is -not by any means a vigorous child as yet, but as it gains in strength it -will perhaps grow in wisdom. When it recognizes the fact that the people -permitted it to be born, it will also recognize the further fact that its -parents require of it obedience to their wishes. They demand the -enforcement of the Civil Service Law as it is written, for the public good -and not for partisan advantage. They would impress upon the commission the -conviction of their belief that without a properly administered civil -service law, municipal government is a menace to republican institutions; -that without it the experiment of municipal ownership of "public -utilities" is hazardous, and that the increasing intelligence of the -people and their wider knowledge of the science of government have taught -them that the political maxim, "to the victors belong the spoils," is a -relic of the barbaric days of politics, in which wide open primaries, -stuffed ballot boxes, captured polling places, and thugs were the -governing elements of elections. - -The civil service law was placed upon the statute book at the instance of -those who had made the study of municipal government a duty, and who from -that study realized that the growth of great cities, in population, -material wealth and industrial development, demands commensurate changes -in the manner of governing such communities. The basic principle of the -law is the elimination of the spoils system, and the substitution of the -merit system. The banishment of the professional politician, that -individual who lives upon the spoils of office, is a result certain of -accomplishment under the proper administration of this beneficent statute. -Foreseeing this result, the professionals in all parties united against it -and have sought, and are still seeking, to undermine its provisions and -destroy its utility. - -The law was put into operation by a board of commissioners not one of -whom had ever been an active party man. No body of men ever met for the -performance of a public duty, who were less tainted with partisanship than -were these gentlemen. They studied the law carefully, and acquainted -themselves with its text and its spirit. Their selection was satisfactory -to the public, and was a guarantee of honest endeavor to place the affairs -of the city under the control of the law's terms, in all the departments -to which those terms applied, and which could be brought within the -classified service. They formulated adequate rules, after consultation -with able men familiar with the workings of the federal civil service law. -Open to criticism as some of these rules were as being more theoretical -than practical, nevertheless they were built upon the basis of selection -by merit alone, regardless of politics, and were adapted solely to that -end. For two years it adhered to the law, enforcing against the party to -which the majority of the commissioners belonged a rule which required -that no person holding an office which fell within the classified service -could take an examination for that position without resigning the -position. The law continued to work during 1895 and 1896 as smoothly as -new machinery can. In the Spring of 1897 a new city administration came -into power of a different political complexion from that under which the -law was placed in force. It was then found, to the amazement of the -public, which, however, in the hurly-burly of life soon subsided, that -these commissioners were incompetent. One placed his resignation in the -hands of the Mayor and was almost immediately appointed to the office of -comptroller by that officer. The efficiency of his service in his new -office, and the quality of his character, have already been referred to in -these pages. - -Suddenly the same Mayor addressed the late associates of the Comptroller -as follows, viz.: "You will please take notice that I have elected to, and -I do hereby remove you from the position of Civil Service Commissioner in -and for the City of Chicago for the following causes. First: You are and -have been in your performance of the duties of said office incompetent. -Secondly: In the performance of said duties you have been guilty of -neglect of duty." A new commission was appointed, which proceeded to -reverse the rule above referred to, whereupon nearly all the employes of -the city were discharged. No examinations having been held for these -positions there was no eligible list from which to select their -successors. Consequently, in such a case, appointments were made under a -section of the statute to fill the vacancies for sixty days, during which -time examinations were held to obtain an eligible list. These appointments -were, of course, all made from the Mayor's party. He could not do -otherwise in view of the public utterances he had made during his -campaign, when he said if he retained any employes appointed under a prior -administration of a different political belief, "it will only be for -menagerie purposes." - -When the examinations were held and a list certified, it was found that in -every instance the sixty day men passed at its head. Such a uniformity of -results was in itself evidence of a disregard of the law. From the highest -position for which examinations were held, down through all grades, to -the lowest, such as barn men, the sixty day man was always marked up to -the head of the list. - -During the years 1897 and 1898, no less than seven different persons were -selected as civil service commissioners, until a board was found willing -to act upon the Mayor's interpretation of the statute. One instance of the -abuse of the law will suffice to show the methods resorted to, for the -purpose of selecting a party man to fill a vacancy in office. An -examination was held of applicants for the position of "foreman of street -lamps repairs." The man who passed at the head was a sixty day man. At -thirteen years of age he became a sheet metal worker's apprentice, and -with the exception of a short period when he was engaged in keeping a -saloon and made a failure of it, he continued to follow that occupation. -He is a heeler for one of the most notorious of the aldermanic gang. It -will be observed in contrasting the questions asked him, and those asked -his superior, an applicant for the office of Superintendent of Street -Lamp Repairs, that a lower degree of educational qualifications is -required of the Superintendent, that of his subordinate, the foreman of -the gang of repairers. These questions were propounded to the foreman, -viz.: - -"If the hypothenuse of a right angle triangle is 35 feet and the base 21 -feet, what is the altitude? - -At 30 cents a square yard what is the cost of lining with metal a cubical -room 13 feet long? - -If it takes eight men five and one half days to make 100 lamps, how long -will it take six men to make 350 lamps? - -A building is 302 feet high; the walk and court measure 90 feet; what is -the length of a straight line running from the top of the building to the -opposite curb? - -At 25 cents a square yard what is the cost of a sheet of iron sufficient -for the construction of a cylinder pipe closed at both ends 28 feet long, -the diameter of whose base is 28 inches? - -What is the capacity in gallons of a sphere 15 inches in diameter? - -If 24 gallons of water flow through a 2 inch pipe each minute how many -gallons will flow through a 3 inch pipe under the same conditions? - -What is the length of the diameter of a circle whose area equals 1,386 -square yards? - -Name the materials used in the construction of a street lamp? - -Name three essential qualifications requisite for a foreman?" - -A street lamp could not be repaired, as a matter of fact, by a person -unable to answer these questions! This truth must be apparent to any -unbiased mind! - -All the other applicants could answer the last two questions only, simply -because they were honest; but the metal worker answered them all, and was -marked 100, although he had not been at school since he was thirteen years -of age, and does not appear to have been much of a student since that -time. - -The Superintendent's examination ran as follows, viz.: - -"What are the duties of Superintendent of Lamp Repairs? - -What experience have you had to qualify you for this position? - -How many lamps should a tinner complete in a day? - -How many signs should an etcher complete in a day? - -If a special assessment were levied and confirmed, what would your duty be -to secure the erecting and lighting of the lamps? - -On what part of the city property should those posts be set? - -If posts were to be erected how would you determine what class of posts -would be required? - -What is the general duty of Superintendent of Lamp Repairs regarding -repairs to lamps?" - -The attacks on the civil service law come from all sources. A party -convention in 1898, in its platform said, "We pronounce the Civil Service -Law inefficient, mischievous and hostile to the regnant principles of -popular government. We demand its repeal." - -The next convention of the same party resolved: "We pledge the ------party -to the strict enforcement of this, the Civil Service Law." - -The Mayor's consistency and that of his party are identical. If the two -removed commissioners were incompetent and neglectful, so must the third -have been, and yet that equally incompetent and neglectful commissioner -was appointed to an office, the very highest in the gift of the Mayor. - -Acting upon the demand of his party for the repeal of this law, the -Corporation Counsel began his attacks upon it by a multiplicity of -opinions calculated to gradually remove it from the statute book. -Ordinances were passed in accordance with these opinions, creating new -heads of departments and exempting them from the civil service rules. -Positions, filled by civil service appointees, were abolished. The same -positions were re-created under a new name, filled by a sixty day man who -was then examined, and certified to the head of the list. The police -department, the city treasurer, and other branches of the local government -which have attempted by judicial proceedings to emasculate the civil -service law, have in every instance been foiled by the decisions of the -Supreme Court. - -The Special Assessment Bureau of the board of public works, has for many -years, in conjunction with the alderman, had the origination and passage -of ordinances for paving streets, laying sewers, sidewalks, drains, water -supply and service pipes, etc. Under a law recently enacted, and now in -force, all ordinances originate with a board, named the Board of Local -Improvements. The right of petition on behalf of the property owners, is a -feature of the new law which smiles at the property owner, while it "winks -the other eye." It holds out a hope, as do other provisions of the law, of -reduced assessments, but, so far, the practical benefit to the owner of -real estate has not been made apparent. Since the year 1861 and including -the year 1897, the enormous sum of $90,402,790.44 has been levied upon -real estate for the payment of public improvements. During the year ending -December, 1891, the amount levied was over six millions of dollars, and -during the following year ending December 31, 1892, just preceding the -World's Fair, the assessments reached the sum of over fourteen millions of -dollars. Reference has already been made to frauds in the letting of -contracts for street improvements. They are split up and let to favorites -without advertising, so that each payment will fall under $500, although -the improvement may be a mile in length. The asphalt ring is just as -potent as ever. It fights every effort of other dealers in asphalt to -procure a contract and it generally succeeds in foisting upon the people -its quality of asphalt at a higher price than that offered at a lower -price, by other bidders, perhaps equally as good in quality and which has -been successfully used in other cities. Failing recently to stampede the -board, the ring accepted contracts at a figure submitted by its -competitors. This, however, is a familiar trick of trusts, and will last -for a very short period of time, unless the board manifests a disposition -to consider the merits of the material of competing contractors. The ring -will not abandon its struggle so easily. It is powerful, uniting in its -behalf the combined efforts of politicians of all parties, who are -connected with the asphalt corporations as stockholders and officers. The -Board of Local Improvements not long since made the announcement that it -was preparing to levy special assessments during the coming year to the -amount of $10,000,000. The people may weep and protest, while the -contractor smiles and urges. - -The one department of the city government, unsurpassed by any of its kind -in the world, is the Fire Department. The officers and men are of the best -material, of the highest courage, and serve under the strictest -discipline. They are fire fighters, not politicians. Their chief is a man -of independence of character, honest, taciturn, a strict disciplinarian--a -general in command of a corps of which he is justly proud. He tolerates no -political interference with his men. In this respect, particularly, he is, -always was, and always will be sustained by the entire community. Any -attempted management of the department which would tend to lessen its -efficiency meets with the chief's stern resistance. Aside from his own -moral and physical courage, his admirable sense of duty, and the fact that -the public honor him and support him, he has the powerful assistance of -the board of underwriters in any case of damaging intermeddling with his -command. Knowing his worth and the merits of his department that -intermeddling would bring, instantly, a threat of the rise in insurance -rates from this board, a threat which would touch the pockets of many -property owners, and consequently one which would solidify them in support -of the chief. He shares with his men the dangers of their calling. The -gallant men, who during the past year lost their lives in saving the -property and lives of others, testified by their sacrifice to the -hazardous nature of that calling. A recital of the heroic deeds of those -men would not be surpassed by the stories of gallantry in the field of -battle with which the pages of American history are replete. While Dennis -J. Swenie's strength holds out he will command his famous batallions to -his own honor, and to that of the city of which he is so faithful and -loyal a citizen. - -Even the possibility of his being supplanted in his command, which -appeared recently in the failure to reappoint him at the first opportunity -afforded the Mayor, aroused the people to a united protest, which, -indications prove, was timely and effective. The omission to send his name -to the council with the first of the Mayor's appointees, may have been, as -it was claimed "accidental," but it is nevertheless the belief that that -omission was in the nature of a test of public opinion. If so, the power -of public opinion retained him in command, despite political purpose to -the contrary. - -With the exception of this department all the others of the city are -merely run on political lines, as adjuncts of the political party in -power, notwithstanding the civil service law. The abuses of that law may -become fewer in number, not through any merit of the present board, but -because it has about exhausted itself in filling all the offices with men -of one political faith by means already explained. - -The departments of the County government under a feeble civil service law, -different from that applicable to the city, are conducted in the same -manner as those of the city for the benefit of machine politicians and -their regiments of ward and township workers. They are as corruptly -managed as those of the city government. - -The institutions at Dunning for the insane and the poor, are generally -managed by ward politicians, whose appointments are in the nature of a -reward for party services, or rather, services to some particular boss. -Recent reports of grand juries note some improvement in their conduct. On -the whole, however, they are regarded in the nature of spoils by the ring -of party loafers, whose views of government consist, mainly, in doing the -greatest good to the greatest number of the ring. - -The traffic in dead bodies, or "cadavers" goes on, as it did when exposure -came about a year ago through detected shipments to the State of Missouri -for the use of a medical college in one of the towns of that state. These -pauper dead "escape," in the language of the employes, from the "killer" -ward in which they are stored, a place selected to lay out a corpse suited -for the dissecting table. It has been a matter of more than rumor and -given currency by the press, that subjects for the dissecting table are -selected before the breath has left their bodies. This statement finds -more or less verification in the disclosures of the Missouri case before -alluded to. - -Contractors for county supplies pay a percentage of their prices to a -county ring, and, consequently, a poorer quality of food, fuel and -medicines, is furnished to these institutions than the contracts call for, -which cost the contractor an additional sum by way of boodle to obtain -them. - -The sheriff's office has had a standing shame for many years in the cost -of dieting prisoners. The county board allows the sheriff for dieting, -twenty-five cents a day for each prisoner confined in the county jail. The -cost of a day's dieting is estimated not to exceed ten cents, according to -the greed of the sheriff. From this one source alone the sheriff's office -is regarded as one of the most lucrative offices in the county. The excess -above the actual cost is clear profit to the sheriff. - -Some of the bailiffs of the courts have been discovered within the past -year as jury bribers, willing to take any side offering the most -lucrative terms. The principal in this disreputable business fled, and -now an unseemly quarrel is raging between the city's detective department, -and the sheriff's and state attorney's office as to which was to blame for -that escape. - -The judges of the Courts of Cook County are men of integrity. Some are -able jurists, but of late years the standard for judicial qualifications -has been, through party machine nominations, considerably lowered. These -judges are charged by the law with some duties the nature of which is -purely political. Thus, the selection of justices of the peace for the -city, the poor man's court, is confided to them. No scandals, so far, have -attended the exercise of this duty, but their selections have not, as a -general rule, earned the confidence of the people. "J. P." means nowadays -one who will give judgment for the plaintiff. The evil practices, the -frauds and swindles, which have their origin in the system now prevailing -for the conduct of justice courts, has given rise to strenuous efforts to -reform them by state legislation. This will ultimately be accomplished. -While the members from the rural districts, in each recurring state -legislature, are difficult to manage, in the one session of their term in -the lower house in matters affecting a large city, nevertheless, when -fully informed, they have granted such remedial legislation to Chicago for -which its civic bodies have made timely application. - -A new revenue law has just gone into operation, designed to abolish the -inequalities of taxation which grew up and were fraudulently fostered -under the repealed law. What its effect will be it is difficult to -predict. The personal property holders, those with long lines of stocks, -bonds, valuable house furnishings, large bank accounts, and concealed -wealth, are very likely to feel unkindly towards the stringent provisions -of this law. They have been evading their just share of taxation for -years. They are today the most ignorant of the many people calling at the -assessor's office to make out and verify under oath their respective -schedules, simply because it is so many years since they were called upon -to pay a personal property tax, that they have forgotten all about the -form. - -The holders of large real estate interests, who, for years, have been -paying assessors to exempt them from assessment, or reduce their -valuations, are, also, most probably confronted with the impossibility of -escape from paying their proper share of general taxes. This iniquitous -system has been denounced in the press for years. A year ago a town -assessor was convicted of the offense, and heavily fined by the court. The -tax evaders are as vicious a class in a community as are sneak thieves. -Their payment to assessors to lower their valuations is the worst species -of corruption. The payrolls of the town assessors present the most -conspicuous instances of corruption to be found in any department of the -county, or city, government. Many men are carried on their pay rolls and -paid from five to ten dollars per day who never do one moment's work in -the making of the assessment. They are simply being nursed for political -purposes. In one of the wealthiest towns a payroll fell under the writer's -observation, which showed a clear steal of $2,200 for a period of two -weeks only. These officials designated a personal friend to whom all -money was paid. One-fourth of these payments were handed over to the -"solicitor" who brought in the "business," one-fourth to the "friend," and -the remaining one-half went to the assessor. Men in high station in -national and state councils, state and national committeemen, city and -county officers, lawyers, politicians and sporting men were engaged in -this business of boodling, throwing upon the owners of small real estate -interests more than their fair share of the burdens of taxation. In an -address delivered in this city by an ex-President of the United States, he -said that as Lincoln had declared this country could not exist half slave -and half free, so he declared "it could not exist half taxed and half -free" from taxation, that the sin of tax evasion was a new danger to the -integrity of the Republic and that its evil lay in the "evasion of just -taxation by the rich, and the consequent thrusting of an extra burden on -the poor." The corporations engaged in the manufacture of gas, in the -management of traction companies, of live stock exchanges, of packing -companies, railroads, steel companies, sleeping car builders and -merchants owning large landed properties, have had their agents regularly -employed in procuring a reduction of their valuations for assessment, who -were nothing more nor less than bribers. Whether these crimes will be as -freely attempted under the new law remains to be developed, but some of -the distributors of personal property schedules are again playing their -old trick of taking money from the poor under promise of returning them as -non-holders of taxable personal property. An arrest of one of these -robbers, who had accepted one dollar from each of a number of women has -been made. The men elected as assessors and as members of the board of -review are men of good character and able judgment. The only indication of -danger is that a political boss who has lived and thrived at the public -crib and whose political methods have always been unscrupulous has been -appointed chief clerk of the board of review. His salary is large enough -to keep him out of temptation, if he has not forgotten the ways of the -righteous. He was an expert "adjuster" in politics. In assessments the -"adjuster's" occupation should now be gone. The difficulty lies in -teaching an old adjuster new tricks. The old system of assessment for -general taxation was denounced by an official of the county as "nothing -more nor less than a gigantic legalized swindle, reeking in corruption, a -harbor for 'grafters,' 'petty thieves,' and 'sharks,' and an enormous, -unnecessary and galling burden on the tax payers, the expense of which has -no justification in reason and should have none in law." - -The new system abolishes but one of the evils of the old. In place of town -assessors, a board of five assessors is established whose work is subject -to review by another composed of three members. Their labors are, in turn, -passed upon by the State Board of Equalization, before which for years -railroads and other corporations have had their adjusters, agents or -brokers, and before which they will continue to appear and accomplish, as -they always have accomplished, the placing of the lowest possible -valuations upon railroad properties, and a reduction of capital stock -valuations. The board of assessors now values all the real estate in Cook -county in place of the assessors in the separate towns within the county. - -These towns, six of which are wholly within the city limits, are, through -their officials, plunderers of the public, robbing the funds of the towns -by increasing their salaries out of all proportion to the services they -are required to render, and which could well be dispensed with to the -greatest advantage of the people. In the year 1898 they cost the treasury -$395,411.55. Absolutely nothing is apparent as the result of this looting -of public funds. They occupy, in the business parts of the city, expensive -offices, which are open for public use not to exceed four months in the -year, and afford, for the remaining months, club accommodations for the -hangers on of the political crooks who manage party affairs. Card playing -and gambling are their principal occupations. In the division of the -proceeds of the robbery, the justices of the peace participate. They are, -by virtue of their offices, members of the town board. Their services are -not worth ten dollars per annum, but they receive compensation ranging -from $200 to $500 per annum. - -As illustrating the tendency of these town boards, from which the -assessment of property for taxation has now been taken away, the following -are the valuations of real estate and personal property for the past three -years as equalized by the state board. The foundation for the assessments -was laid by the town assessors. It will be observed that, notwithstanding -the increase in population, the value of real estate and personal property -has been steadily declining. The decline is a measure of the boodling -propensities of the assessors. Their percentage of award "no fellah can -find out." - -VALUATIONS FOR ASSESSMENT. - - 1896. 1897. 1898. - Real estate $195,684,875 $184,632,905 $178,801,172 - Personal property 34,959,299 33,594,167 29,601,393 - Population, school census 1,616,635 1,851,588 - -The value of the taxable real estate in Chicago, according to these -figures, decreased in two years $18,883,703, and the value of taxable -personal property $5,357,906. During the same period the population -increased 234,953. As wealth and population increase in Chicago, values of -property decline. At ten per cent of its cash value, which is the basis -adopted by assessors for years for taxation value, taxable real estate in -Chicago is, in round numbers worth $1,788,000,000. - -It is impossible to average the per cent paid for reductions in valuations -to the assessors. Of the eighteen millions in reduced valuations in 1898, -as compared with 1896, it is safe to say five millions were purchased. As -the rate of taxation was between nine and ten dollars on one hundred -dollars the amount of taxes paid by those who should not have paid them -was $500,000. The assessors were "not working for their health," but for -about fifty per cent of the taxes saved to their principals, with the aid -of the friend and the agent who brought the business, or say about -$250,000 of "graft." - -The coroner's office is also one which not infrequently gives rise to -scandals. There are open charges made that some of the juries, called by -that official, have found exonerating, instead of incriminating, verdicts -for a money consideration in the division of which the office -participated. An unseemly quarrel between the coroner and the police -revealed the fact that both have favorite undertakers to whom the bodies -of those meeting sudden death from accident, or otherwise, are taken. In a -dispute as to which should control a corpse a most painful truth became -public that it was carted about from one undertaking establishment to -another, and that even the law was invoked to obtain possession of it by -means of a writ of replevin. - -The office of the recorder of deeds is one of the most important in the -county affairs. Generally speaking it is well conducted, although its -records are not as presentable to the eye as are the books of a -first-class mercantile firm. Female labor is employed mostly in recording, -i. e., spreading an instrument at large upon the records, while male labor -keeps up the tract books, indices, etc. The employes of both sexes are -favorites of political bosses. The abstract branch of the business of this -office is a sublime failure. For years it has cost the county a large sum -of money to make good the deficiency--expenses largely exceeding earnings. -Its abstracts cannot compete with those of private corporations, which -employ experts in that business, and pay them in proportion to their -ability, merit alone being their recommendation. The abstract makers -employed by the county are shiftless and incompetent. The Torrens system, -or the registration of titles, will, in time, but not for many years to -come, supersede the abstract system, but not until the public shall have -gained more confidence in its merits than it has yet acquired in -recorder's abstracts of title. - -It was not the purpose of these pages to pursue inquiry into the -corruption existing in both the municipal and county governments. The -primary intent was to refer to the vices and crimes which prevail by -reason principally of police partnership in their joint proceeds. Both -governments are corrupt, and appear to be so because the people consent -they shall be corrupt. The lessons the public learn from day to day, -through the columns of the press, are forgotten. When election day -approaches a revival of the facts through the press is then charged to -political trickery, and its charges of maladministration are disregarded -as being invented for party purposes. The press condemns while the evils -are prominent, then it condones, and becomes the subservient and truculent -supporter of the men who permitted vice and debauchery to attain its -stalwart growth. The people believe there is a trust press, banded -together to obtain favors through school leases, bank deposits of public -funds and personal appointments in return for services to be rendered -their municipal benefactors. The only non-member of the trust is the organ -of the street car corporations and such exposes of villainy as it may -present are set down as means to an end--the effort to obtain public -privileges without compensation to the city. Newspapers, therefore, in -municipal affairs no longer lead public opinion. They cannot again become -its leaders until they free themselves from the suspicion of conserving -their own interests by the sacrifice of those of the public. The greatest -of them delivered but feeble blows during the recent mayoralty campaign, -while the lighter weights, who were fighting for a candidate for renewed -honors, had been for two years most unmercifully pounding him for his -persistent assistance rendered to the vicious classes, in their indulgence -in crime and debauchery. - -The various civic societies formed for the improvement of municipal -government, pay attention solely to matters removed from the insidious and -ceaseless advances of crime, close their eyes to evidences of disease -apparent on the body politic, and merely dream of higher ideals. They -leave to one society the task of the suppression of vice. They give to it -neither sympathy nor pecuniary assistance. It begs its way in meetings of -its sympathizers, warns the community of the prevalence of crime and -indecency, but the community rushes on in the business struggles of the -day from year to year, trusting--as it always has trusted--in its public -servants for the full performance of their sworn duties--a trust so -constantly violated that municipal government has become merely the -synonym of the rule of the criminal classes. - -A special session of the Illinois Legislature was called by the Governor -in 1897. Among the subjects included in the call was one suggesting the -passage of an act "to establish boards providing for non-partisan police -in all cities of the State containing over 100,000 inhabitants." Pursuant -to the recommendations of the executive's message, a resolution was passed -by the Senate for the appointment of a committee of seven members of that -body, which recited the recommendation of the Governor; that a bill had -been introduced providing for the establishment of non-partisan police -boards in all cities containing the necessary population; that charges and -scandals had arisen in regard to the management of the police force in -Chicago, and that the committee be clothed "with full power to act" and to -investigate "fully the subject" and report its findings as early as -possible to the Senate at the special session. - -The committee consisted of one people's party, one democratic senator and -five republican senators. From the moment of its selection it was branded -as a partisan committee, appointed not so much to obtain information -which would enable an unbiased judgment to be formed upon the merits of -the proposed bill as to accumulate political capital for the use of the -republican party. The committee proceeded with its investigation, and on -February 10th, 1898, submitted its report, which was adopted February -15th, 1898, by a vote of thirty-three republicans and one democrat, eight -democrats voting in the negative. The only democrat voting in the -affirmative was a member of the reporting committee. - -On the last day of the special session, no legislation having been enacted -on the subject of the proposed bill, a resolution was introduced providing -for a continuance of the committee, which recited that it had "unearthed a -most deplorable state of affairs in the management and control of the -police force of Chicago," and that "the most flagrant violations of the -civil service law have been brazenly practiced by those in authority in -control of that police force." Nothing resulted from the latter resolution -continuing the committee. - -The report covered the investigations of the committee into the -operations of the civil service law, and the manner of its enforcement, -finding that it was a plaything in the hands of the party then in power, -and an object of constant and premeditated attack. It also found the -grossest abuses in the management of the police pension fund and in the -workings of the police force as an organization. That crime was protected -and lewdness tolerated by it, and that in fact it was a powerful ally of -the criminal classes, and practically made an unofficial livelihood off -unfortunate women of the town, thieves and their fences, gambling resorts -and their keepers, and the patrons and keepers of the all night saloons. -It found the Chief of Police was cognizant of the facts, and yet took no -steps to correct them. That Chief from whose testimony quotations appear -in these pages, was re-appointed to command the police force for the next -two years. - -The findings of this committee made but little, if any, impression upon -the public mind. There were no revelations as to the condition of criminal -affairs, and the relations of the police therewith, which were new to the -people, with the possible exception, perhaps, that it was not known how -utterly inefficient and irresponsible the Chief of Police was. From that -moment every newspaper has, if not demanded, at least suggested his -removal from office. In this respect it but voices the sentiments of the -entire community. It is a paradox why, in the face of this public feeling, -a majority of the people supported for re-election the staunch friend of -the dishonored head of the police force, unless upon the hypothesis that -he would not continue to be a part of the new administration. If so, the -hypothesis soon failed. The Mayor thought he would "hold him for a while." - -The lesson to be learned from the failure of this committee's report to -attract public attention to the prevalence of criminality and obscenity in -Chicago as fostered by the police force is this, that an investigation -concerning the methods of government of a city administration controlled -by the Democratic party, without a kindred investigation of the methods of -a county administration controlled by the Republican party is too -partisan to suit the sense of fair play and of justice entertained by -every American citizen. It matters not that the order for the -investigation had reference only to the passage of legislation for the -regulation of the police force in cities of a certain population, and -that, therefore, the scope of the inquiry was limited by the terms of the -order. Perhaps it was as broad as it could have been made, under the -governor's call, which, by the provisions of the constitution fixed the -subjects upon which only legislation could be enacted in special session. -Either the call should have been broader, or this particular subject -matter should have been omitted from it, and left for the regular -session's consideration. Then all matters pertaining to the manner of -conducting both city and county affairs could have been investigated free -from the delimitations of an executive call. Nevertheless, the fact -remains that the report of the Berry Committee, as it was called, is a -stinging indictment against the police force of Chicago, which sooner or -later must be tried at the bar of public opinion. It will, in a measure, -have blazed the way for a new committee of inquiry, whose sittings have -just commenced, in so far as the police department is concerned. - -The Baxter Committee was formed under a resolution of the Senate. It -consists of five republican and two democratic senators. The resolution -refers "to the management and control of the police affairs" of Chicago, -and "the conduct of the municipal government thereof, in reference to the -expenditure of public money and the enforcement of the law in its several -departments." This language would limit the scope of the committee's -inquiry to city affairs only. The resolution, however, closes with words -granting authority to the committee for a "full, complete and perfect -investigation of any and all the said subject matters herein named, and -such other subjects as they may deem wise and prudent to investigate in -the interests of good government." - -If this committee is wise it will not confine its efforts to ascertaining -how the city government is managed. It will command public approval if it -will extend its inquiries into the affairs of the county government as -well. This the community will demand; with less it will not be satisfied. -The great mass of both parties is concerned with what will be of the most -advantage to good government, not with what will be to the greatest -advantage of either party. Hence, if this inquiry has in view a partisan -purpose its sessions will merely reproduce tales of the street familiar to -the ears of the people, and with which the legislature has been familiar -for a decade. To associate these crimes and debaucheries with one -administration will in one respect be unfair, because they have progressed -under other administrations as well, but it can emphasize the one great -and astonishing truth, that never in the history of the city has a police -force been permitted to become the bed-fellow of these monstrous evils, to -protect them and contribute to their overwhelming power, in such a -shameless, openhanded and defiant manner as it has in the past two years, -as it is still permitted to do, and as it will probably be permitted to -do, for the next two years. - -That committee will find nothing in these pages unknown to the observing -citizen. The great mass of the people read and forget. These evils are -hinted at herein, and gathered together. They may impress those who are -unaccustomed to taking notes of passing events. That the growth of crime -in Chicago, and the prevalence of bestiality is not generally believed by -the majority of its people is a self-evident proposition. It would be an -insult to their intelligence and virtue to assert they knew the facts. It -is not a criticism of their intelligence to say they do not know the -facts. It is rather to their credit that in the pursuit of their business, -the care of their homes, and the cultivation of their morals, they judge -the great community in which they live by their own standard, and firmly -believe that as they know themselves to be good citizens, they believe -their fellow men are likewise good citizens. While they rest in this -conviction vice is eternally at work, immorality undermining and crime -attacking the power of government, capturing one and then the other of its -strongholds, until today the criminal classes constitute the balance of -power in every city election, and can handle it as they may choose, by -the mere concentration of the voting strength of the keepers of eight -thousand saloons and their hangers on. - -The appointment of a comptroller and corporation counsel acceptable to the -public, both being men of sterling integrity, and known ability, is merely -a partial promise of reform. The new comptroller is a worthy successor to -the deceased Waller, while the new corporation counsel takes his office, -with a reputation for probity and legal acumen which are guaranties that -neither will be used in an attack upon the people's laws. But the police -department and the public works department are still under the same -direction. They give no promise of departing from the protection of -criminals on the one hand, nor the illegal letting of contracts on the -other. Both of these are inviting fields for the Baxter committee to -explore, and when they shall have thoroughly done so, if they shall turn -their attention to county affairs, they will probably find pastures just -as prolific of the rankest of weeds. - -The Baxter committee began its hearings on the 18th day of May, 1899. Its -opening witness confirmed the truth of many of the facts set forth in -these pages. He paid protection money for keeping a gambling house, until -the demands for a contribution to a campaign fund became too exacting, -when he was "told he had better quit." "As an ounce of prevention is worth -a pound of cure," said the witness: "I quit." - -He testified that gambling was going on everywhere a few days before the -committee began its work, named a number of the resorts, and related some -of his losses in a few of the games in which, although a professional -gambler, he was "skinned." - -Officers were found in them, and protection to the games openly boasted -of. The club organization, it develops, is the gambling idea of evading -the laws, the theory being that none can gamble unless they are members. -The practice seems, however, to be that every man is a member who will not -squeal. Houses of disrepute were visited, and the indecencies alluded to -in foregoing pages witnessed by the sergeant-at-arms of the committee. -His testimony in this respect was too realistic for publication. - -A member of a recent grand jury submitted a list of all night saloons he -had visited, and found doing business, between the hours of one and five -o'clock in the morning. The list contained the names of forty-six saloons, -located on eleven different streets. His information was not as startling -as was the fact that his joint feat of pedestrianism and absorption of -drink is, perhaps, unequalled in sporting or drinking records. He drank in -each of the places visited--total drinks, forty-six in four hours. Length -of route covered four miles; width, about one-half mile; square miles -traversed--two! Can any sprinter, carrying the same weights, surpass this -achievement? - -The witnesses so far called before the committee are mostly from the -detective force, and from among lodging house keepers. Their replies are -evasive, and when not so, their memories are clouded. All they had ever -known of the subjects upon which they are interrogated had fled from their -recollection. "I don't remember," avoided many a pitfall. - -The methods of the committee do not impress an observer as having been the -result of much consultation or careful preparation for their work. There -is an apparent indifference on the part of some of its members to reaching -results, or to remaining steadily in the pursuit of the purposes for which -it was organized. Political influences are undoubtedly at work to shorten -the lines of its inquiry, and the length of the days it shall devote to -their development. This investigation is not wanted by local politicians -of either party. It rests with the committee alone to determine whether -its work shall be well done or not. To maintain the dignity of the State -is their first duty, let their investigation reveal what it may and strike -whom it will. - -A people who voluntarily submit to taxation for the construction of such a -stupendous improvement as the drainage canal costing $28,000,000, who -apply their surplus water fund to the building of a complete system of -intercepting sewers, who compel the abolition of the murderous grade -crossings, through the elevation of railway tracks, all for the -improvement of the sanitary condition and safety of their homes and lives, -are entitled to the best protection the state can give them against the -domination of criminals and debauchees, even if the management of its -police force should thereby be placed in the hands of state agencies, or -under some other supervision which will compel it to dissolve its -relations with vice, and prevent it from utilization for political ends. - -Submission to the exactions of trusts, in the shape of telephone and gas -companies, does not require them to submit to a trust of criminals and -police officials. The element to which it is estimated $70,000,000 is -annually paid in Chicago for its drink bill, must be so regulated, as that -it shall cease to furnish the balance of power in elections, to exercise a -baneful influence over the police, to ruin the young, to encourage -debauchery, and breed criminals. A municipal government that cannot, or -will not, control these vicious agencies, will ultimately be condemned by -a public-spirited people, if they can be, as they sooner or later will -be, persuaded to devote a few hours, taken from their business or -pleasure, to a vigorous uprooting of a system under which such iniquities -can be born and develop to such menacing proportions. There must be an -awakening to the fact that - - "They say this town is full of cozenage, - As, nimble jugglers that deceive the eye, - Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind, - Soul-killing witches that deform the body, - Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks, - And many such like liberties of sin." - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -From the daily press a few accounts are culled, and added by way of -appendix, as to the perpetration of crime and the habits of the police in -connection with it. - -The Baxter Committee unearthed the following account of the degree of -protection afforded to citizens by police officers, and the easy-going -indifference with which the Chief of Police regarded the affair when it -was first called to his attention. - -On the night of March 3d ult. a woman returning from a drug store was -stopped by two detectives and charged with soliciting men upon the -streets. She denied this offensive charge, told where she had been and -where returning, and showed a bottle of medicine she carried as -confirmatory of her statements. This happened about 8:45 o'clock. She was -then within twenty feet of the entrance to the house in which she lived. -Notwithstanding her denial, the officers went to the house with her. One -of them then said, "I'm an officer; open this door!" Another woman with -whom the arrested woman was boarding asked, "What is the matter?" One of -the officers replied, "This woman was on the street soliciting," to which -the boarding house keeper replied, "You are mistaken." "Well," said the -officer, "if you want to stop her give me $15," and the reply was, "She -has no money to give you or to any one." The boarding house keeper, -thinking the men were common thieves, then whispered to the accused woman, -"Go with them and I will follow you." The officers took their woman to a -corner and into a saloon, where they compelled her to give up a pair of -diamond earrings for ten dollars which were handed to her by the -bartender. The boarding house woman followed, and prevented the detectives -from obtaining the ten dollars, but finally they grabbed the bill from the -accused woman's hands. The women were then released and returned to their -home. Taking a sealskin sack with them they returned to the saloon, and -were handed the diamond earrings, but not without leaving the sack in -their stead. The women saw the detectives return, and drink at the bar, -paying for their tipple with the money they had snatched from the hand of -the one. - -While the parties were wrangling on the street a police sergeant and two -officers in uniform passed. One of the women cried out, "Here are two men -robbing this woman!" The sergeant replied, after observation, "I have got -nothing to do with this." One of the women asked, "What are you for?" Then -the sergeant, having discovered the men were detectives, said to one of -them, "They are all right. Get what you can." The sergeant then left. - -The women now demanded that the detectives show their badges of authority. -They were shown. Demand was then made that a patrol wagon should be -called. This was denied, but accidentally one came along the street -returning to its station. When the accused woman caught sight of it she -fainted. The boarding house keeper raised such commotion that one of the -detectives said, "For God's sake, shut that woman's mouth up or she will -make us trouble!" They then ran away. - -The next day the boarding house woman called on the Chief of Police and -told the whole story. He referred her to the Lieutenant at the station of -the precinct in which the indignity occurred. To him the entire facts were -given, and written down by the desk sergeant. The men were there -identified. - -On the following day one of the detectives went to the women's house, -accompanied by a brother-in-law, whose wife was a personal friend of the -boarding house woman. The detective had a copy of the woman's statement as -she had made it at the police station. He begged for mercy, crying, "he -had nothing to say for himself." He piteously pleaded he had a mother in -the hospital, a mother-in-law who was dying, and three small children to -support. Suggestions were made, and the woman's feelings worked upon so -that she was induced to leave the city. - -Meanwhile the boarding house keeper made a statement at another police -station, in which she suppressed the facts as to the diamonds and the -money. She was asked to appear before the police trial board, and -refused. Thereupon the charges against the detectives were dismissed. - -It developed before the Baxter Committee that the Chief of Police had been -told all the facts. The papers got hold of an account of the affair, and -the Chief called upon the boarding house keeper. In the course of his -conversation, this woman trying to protect the officers through her -aroused sympathy, was asked by the Chief, "What about those diamond -earrings and sealskin sack?" The woman answered, "If you don't know, I -don't." He then asked, "Didn't you tell that to me?" She answered, "If you -can't remember, I can't." She was then questioned by the Chief whether -these officers were begging her to quash the matter, whether they were -offering her money for that purpose, etc. - -The Chief stated the reporters were hounding him to death, when the woman -asked him "why he did not show her statement?" He replied it was locked -up, "if they want any information they can get it from you." - -One of the men is still a member of the detective force. The other -resigned and went into the saloon business, and appeared before the -committee entering a partial denial of the woman's story. The knowledge of -the Chief of all the facts was fully shown before the committee. -Notwithstanding this, he does not appear to have taken any steps to keep -the matter before the trial board, or to institute any other proceedings -to bring these detectives to punishment. - -This is not at all surprising in the face of the fact that this officer -is, as is shown in court proceedings, a veritable czar in his own -estimation. - -The following account is taken from the _Chicago Democrat_ of May 27th -ult. A similar report of the case is contained in the other dailies. - -"Judge Brentano held, this morning, that Chief of Police K. did not have -the power to have a man restrained of his liberty at his (K.'s) request. -The decision was brought about on the hearing of a petition for a writ of -habeas corpus filed by Attorney F. A. D. for the release of Edward H., who -was arrested last Monday morning at Twenty-ninth and State streets on -account of the shooting of Officer James S., which resulted from an -attempt of a number of officers to enforce the -disarmament-of-colored-people policy of the Chief of Police. - -"The man had been confined in the county jail, and the return of the -sheriff, when the prisoner was brought into court, read: 'Edward H. has -been detained in my custody at the request of J. K., Chief of Police for -the city of Chicago.' Judge Brentano evinced great displeasure when he -read the return of the illegal detainment of the prisoner. 'A man,' said -the court, 'cannot be held at the simple request of K. or any other -person. K.'s word is not sufficient to keep any man in custody. I won't -tolerate any such actions, for if the man was guilty of shooting an -officer, or committing any other crime, Mr. K. has had sufficient time and -knows how to take the proper steps to punish the prisoner.' - -"'The court certainly would not allow this man his liberty when he is -under arrest and has not been booked or complained against before a -justice of the peace owing to the neglect perhaps of such a high official -as Mr. K.,' remarked the assistant city prosecuting attorney. - -"'I certainly would, regardless of whose neglect it is,' said the court. -'The prisoner is discharged.' - -"No witnesses were heard, the prisoner being discharged on the ground that -it was shown in the return of the sheriff that H. was simply being -detained to please Chief K. - -"Attorney D. had witnesses in court to show that the prisoner had been -beaten and injured by the police who arrested him, both before his arrival -at the Twenty-second street station and after he was installed in a cell -at that place. - -"Prisoners who were in the station at the time H. was taken there were in -court to testify that the officers who had charge of the prisoner beat and -struck him in such a manner that they thought H. would be killed. - -"The prisoner's face and condition in court were the best evidences of the -treatment he had received. - -"Both of his eyes are closed, swollen and discolored to such a degree that -they stand out in bold contrast to his own color, which is a dark copper. -Two gashes, each six inches long, on the top and front of his head bear -testimony to the means said to have been used by the officers in carrying -out their chief's new disarmament policy. - -"It is also alleged that the prisoner was confined in a dungeon cell while -he was in the custody of the Twenty-second street police. - -"After his discharge the injured man had to be helped to the elevator by -two of his friends because of his injuries. The names of the officers who -assaulted the prisoner were not obtainable, for the reason that the -prisoner had not been booked and the officer making the arrest had not -signed any complaint." - -Two observations will arrest the attention of the average reader. They -must naturally occur to his mind. First, What sort of a Sheriff is he who -will keep a man in jail, without a proper commitment? Second, What kind of -a lawyer must he be who will suggest to a court the propriety of depriving -a man of his liberty, without due process of law, at the mere request of -such "a high official" as the Chief of Police? - -The return of the Sheriff in this case to the writ of _habeas corpus_ -should have been treated as a contempt of court. - -Pool rooms are operating as of yore. The _Daily News_ of May 27 ult. -contains the following, viz.: - -"The saloon of J. H. D. at E. and N. C. streets was converted into a pool -room yesterday afternoon at the time the ticker began to record the -winning horses in the races at the various tracks throughout the country. -A dozen men assembled in the barroom where the ticker was located and -placed bets, while a number of women sat in the back rooms and also -chanced their money. - -"The women's wants were looked after by a young man who answered to the -name of 'Dude.' After each race he carried them the slip printed from the -ticker showing the winners and handed their money to those who had been -lucky. During the interval between the races the schedule of the next race -was discussed by all who intended to place money, and 'Dude' would come -from the rear room with a handful of bills to place on some race by the -women. - -"On the inside money was passed over the bar indiscriminately and a clerk -was busy keeping track of those who placed bets. From the conversation -which passed between those in the barroom one might judge that he was in a -genuine poolroom, where the interference of police was not to be feared. - -"All the men present merely gave their initials when they risked their -money, and these were carefully preserved on paper until the ticker -decided whether the money was lost or won. The man who passed as 'Dude' -had charge of the pools apparently, and all the money which was placed -went through his hands. After taking it he would call the initials of the -man placing the bet and then hand the money to the man behind the bar." - -The ticker was presided over by a large, smooth-faced, well-dressed man -and anything which came over the machine which was not a report on a horse -race was of no interest. The reports of the score at the various ball -games were soon shown the waste basket, while the lists of the horses -which earned places were preserved and hung on hooks after they had been -carefully inspected by those present. - -A number of stylishly dressed women were seen to enter the place, and, -according to information furnished the _Daily News_, women have been in -the habit of visiting the D. saloon for some time for the purpose of -placing bets on the races. Two young women came from the direction of L. -S. avenue about 4 o'clock and entered the place apparently as though it -was nothing new to them. - -"The 'ladies' entrance' is on the E. street side. The rooms for women are -arranged in the east half of the double-flat building on E. street, while -the saloon faces on C. street. - -"J. H. D., who conducts the place, came in yesterday afternoon while the -betting was at its height, and, bedecked in diamonds, walked leisurely -behind the bar and, picking up a Racing Form, turned to the 'boys' and -asked how 'things were going.' He was told the winners in the races which -had been reported during his absence and seemed pleased with what was told -him. - -"The saloon is known as 'D.'s O. P. C.,' and has been conducted at this -place for the past five or six years. The license for the place is in the -name of Mrs. J. H. D. It is said that D. was formerly in the saloon -business here, but sold out and went to New York, where he put on a -vaudeville show and sunk several thousand dollars trying to make it pay. -He finally failed, it is said, and came back to Chicago and reopened his -saloon. - -"At the Chicago avenue police station nothing was known apparently of the -gambling at the D. saloon on the races. Capt. R. said that he told a -couple of his men some time ago to watch the place, but he said they had -reported nothing irregular. The captain seemed surprised when he heard of -how affairs were, and Inspector H. was apparently very indignant at the -thought that anything of the sort was going on in his district. He at once -gave the captain orders to send a couple of men to the place and if -anything was found to be going on there to stop it." - -The result of the visit of the Inspector's officers is thus stated in the -_Tribune_ of May 28th ult. Its headline is suggestive, in view of the -particulars given in the _Daily News_ of the occurrences by its reporter. - -"REPORT NO GAMBLING." - -"A report that a poolroom was being conducted in the saloon of J. H. D., -E. and N. C. Streets, was investigated yesterday by Detectives B. and R., -who visited the place at 3 p. m., and reported no gambling existed there. -It was said that during Friday afternoon bets on the races were accepted -in the saloon and that men as well as women frequented the place." - -The newspapers contribute evidences of the absence of crime in Chicago, -and of police operations as follows, viz.: - -From the _Daily News_ May 27th ult. - -"Officers from the Attrill street police station are scouring the west -side in an effort to apprehend burglars who created havoc in the vicinity -of Humboldt Park boulevard and Western avenue during the early morning -hours of yesterday. Among the residences visited by the night prowlers -were those of: (Here follows a list of eleven burglaries.) - -"In addition burglaries at the following places in the immediate -neighborhood have been committed within the last few days: (Here follows -a list of four burglaries.) - -"One of the burglars rode from house to house on a bicycle. Two revolvers -dropped by the visitors were found in the yard of the E. residence. The -territory suffering the nightly raids is embraced in the suburb of -Maplewood, and citizens have armed themselves in their own defense, -asserting that police uniforms have not been seen on the streets concerned -for weeks." - -From the _Democrat_ May 27th ult.: - -"Burglars forced an entrance into the store of the Guarantee Clothing -Company, State street, last night and stole nearly $1,000 worth of goods. - -"Apparently the thieves took their time, and the police say they must have -used a wagon in removing the goods. Persons living in the flats above -heard nothing unusual during the night, and the police are unable to -comprehend how the thieves could remove the great amount of property -without attracting attention. - -"This morning a clerk opened the front door of the store. It looked as -though a small cyclone had passed through the establishment." - -This burglary took place between two police stations, from neither of -which it was far distant. It is probable that if one officer had gone over -his beat just once that night, its perpetrators would have been caught in -the act. Some neighboring saloon was, perhaps, more needful of police -protection! - -Some tremendous effort is being made, however, to suppress policy shops -and clean out all night saloons! Witness the following, viz.: - -From papers of May 27th ult.: - -"Detectives D. and D. of Chief K.'s office raided a policy shop in the -basement of the building at 6 Washington street last night and destroyed -the fixtures of the place and confiscated the sheets, records and other -paraphernalia. - -"The shop was in a small room under the sidewalk and was reached through a -barber shop. S. H., the police say, was the agent in charge of the place, -and represented the O. R. & G. company of Fort Erie, Canada. No arrests -were made, but Chief K. says the place will remain closed." - -"Two hours after midnight Sergt. M. and Officers M., O'B., H. and F., -from the Harrison street police station, raided the C. L. saloon at State -street, arresting sixty inmates. The majority of these were boys. There -was one man with gray hair and wrinkled face. - -"Shortly before the police court convened at 9 o'clock the entire crowd -was marched into Inspector H.'s office and from there to the courtroom, -where the cases were disposed of by Justice M. Every sort of a plea -generally used in court was brought into play by the defendants. Some -cases were dismissed, while other prisoners were fined $25 and $50. The -police claim about half of those arrested were criminals. - -"The arrests were made because of the large number of complaints against -the saloon." - -The raid on the policy shop belongs to the spasmodic line of operations of -the police. Fifty of them could be made if some mysterious reason did not -exist why they are not made. - -The saloon referred to belongs to the all night class, and is one of the -most notorious of the kind. It has been protected in the past, and still -would be if it were not for the fact that "a large number of complaints" -have been made against it. These are not new to the police. They have been -made before, but something must be done for appearance sake while the -Baxter Committee continues its probing! That this place was a resort for -criminals is not a recent discovery by the police. They always knew it. - -To cull the press for proofs of the truth of the charges made in the -foregoing pages, would result, in a few days, in the reproduction of a -mass of evidence on the total inefficiency of the police force. Such as -are here given are examples of the many the scissors could find. - -The reader can multiply them, in his mind, ten fold in a week's time, and -then reach a result far short of the facts. - - -The whole story of the alliance between the police, the saloons and the -justices is told in the following cartoon taken from the Daily News of -June 23, 1899. - -[Illustration: CAUGHT COMING AND GOING.] - -THE DIVEKEEPER (to Harrison street police officer)--"I've got my dollar a -head out of them. Now you can drive them into court and give the justice -his chance." - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chicago, Satan's Sanctum, by L. O. Curon - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHICAGO, SATAN'S SANCTUM *** - -***** This file should be named 42830-8.txt or 42830-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/8/3/42830/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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