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.”