Newspaper Page Text
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Shifting of Old Method of Handling Gamblers From Ward Leaders to‘ Strong Arm Squad’ Perfected ‘ System’
HOW BECKER, LOW POLICE OFFICER, GOT HIS GREAT POWER
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' ; siili'iice of Herman Kosenthal at H>4 West l-'orthy-fifth street. New York, from which ho was lured to
the Hotel Metropoh lor 1 y ilii la I aml Broadway; at right, where he was slain ; center, the murder car, with William
HRS. GRACE ■
OiJITE ILL M
Tur CllfipK
I Hl unUUft
Mrs. Ulrich Declares It Was
Power of Prayer That Saved
Her Daughter.
Continued From Page One.
case forever these have absorbed the
mind of ni: Atlanta foi five days.
And now. vindicated by a jury of
her peers, tin woman in the ease goes
back to Philadelphia to join the sad
faeed little mother who came to stand
by her daughtei in distress and to d< -
vote the remainder of her shattered
life to the little blind son who loves
her. The spotlight is spluttering Into
dimness, the th..He Is darkening, the
crowds passing out Into the fresh air
to discus.* the plot and the players.
The Anti! curtain has fallen upon the
strange tragi dy of West Eleventh
street and the star has gone into re
tirement.
Grace Prepares to
Ask Divorce
NEWNAN. GA. Aug ;i. Declaring
that his wife's acquittal is an ■'abso
lutely rotti n miscarriage of justh-v,"
Eugene Gra. < . lying helpless at his
; parents' home here, today asserted that
he will get a divorce from Daisy Opie
Grace just soon as his lawyer can
procure it.
"She knows she is as guilty as you
g< ntlemi i sitting upon those steps
know it," h .a -I.aimed. angrily. "The
Verdict makes no difference to me so
far as getting a divorce is concerned.
As soon as I si- <ll have lived in Georgia
n year that will be November I will
rue her upon the same charges I have
already made and other charges be-
Sidesjand the court will give me a
’decree, 1 pray God may give mo power
to walk just 2 I hours. 1 w ill set myself
right in the ey < of the public.
Attacks Lawyers.
"That woman - hi -trionb ability on
the stand was . ..tillable is her lying
ability bit .ie that. She was coached
on it four or live months." continued
Grave. 'Hi r !:• yers km i from the,
first what her t '.milt was going to i
b-. although they ay that th< y did not
All her three law vers wcie as black as I
they could bl nd they could not look '
me in the fa. • at the trial,
"She may b< Irmin aat in tie eyes of i
men. but s o is guiltv in the eyes of
God. This hurts it hurts badly. If |
I could have In . n fighting for my coun- |
try or horn, or honor. 1 could hare ac
cepted the result like a man. Hut to be ;
shot down in cold blood is hard to |
bear."
"God knew -. 1 kaint that in her
heart she is •• guilty a- guilty can
be; and on top of it shi tried to
put a stain on my name It will
be a cinch for me to g> t a divorce."
Grace declared that his wife en- ,
tered into a conspiracy with a Phila
delphia physician to give a death cer- 1
tificate upon the death of her former I
husband. Opie. He said the bruises
on Opie's arm would not have killed a
child.
Grace Indi ated his belief that it
would be necessary to name a <o- '
respondent H<- .id s'u- has awratefi ,
marital infelicity.
"Daisy n. ver bought me a suit of
clottres in her life,” hi continued.
"The statement that she gave me
s6,o<)<) is an insolent lie. 1 swa.ar
to God. and it is sat red to me, I
never drew a gun on her or slapped
her in my life. I old not push her
out of an auto or otherwise try to
fake her life. 1 never .asked her
for a nickel in my life Siu gave I
me only small amounts out of
goodness of her heart. If
they will paove I ever
flirted with another woman
pin ■ my marriage, with two men
as judges- and not th. kind that
s ■ on the present ca t —l will rake
together $5,000 tn .some way, and
give it to them. I was as true to
her as any man could be. 1 reit
erate my former statements. They
are absolutely true. I stand by
them, and have had only one story'
to tell.
"All three lawyers for Mrs Grace
ire as black tis van be. They could
not look me in the face, but turn
ed their heads away. Luther Ros
ser told Lamar Hill shortly before
the trial that she was guilty. But
the court turned away my best
witnesses. I was not allowed any
hance. Mrs. Grace bought that
ring she told of herself in Savan
nah.”
He was very excited as he declared
this.
"They might as well put dyna
mite under every court house and
jail in Georgia and blow them up.
There is no justice in them," he
continued.
Grace Case Georgia’s
Most Famous Trial
No criminal case since the trial of
W ill Myers for the murder of Forrest
Grow'ley. in 1894. has compared with
that of the State vs. Daisy E. Grave
in popular interest, in the insatiate
curiosity of the crowds, in the wealth
of "human interest", involved in its cir
cumstances. it had all the element*
which go to make what newspaper men
call a "great story."
The Will Myers case had lingered in
the memory of Atlantans as Fulton
ounty’s greatest criminal drama. It
wu> replete with strange circumstan
tial evidence; it dragged through sev
eral trials to repeated convictions. It
was marked by masterpieces of oratory
by Solicitor Charles D. Hill and it made
famous the principal 'counsel for the
defense. Colonel W. T. Moyers. Its lag
ging interest was freshened by the es
cape from the Tower of the convicted
man. who never was captured. But it
.. as a sordid crime a murder. It lacked
the one great element which makes the
"big story" and sots the telegraph wires
humming from coast to coast —the
woman in the case.
But the Grace case had everything
which goes to make up a gripping
melodrama in real life. There was the
woman, the very heart of the dram.''.;
the wounded husband, facing her in the
court room and swearing to the public
that she was "guilty as hell;" there
was the strangest circumstance in the
history of circumstantial evidence—a
man found wounded by a bullet and
not actually knowing who shot him
■ ven had he boon permitted to tell his
story; there was the woman's own sto
ry of her infatuation for a husband
who several time,s attempted her life:
there was the strange evidence of the
“alibi letters," and the secret which
locked a woman's lips while she lay
under accusation for elements which
would have given a Poe or a Gaborleu
inspiration for a masterpiece.
Loss a Fortune of War.
No less wonderful than the strange
threads in the evidence was the weaving
of those same threads into two sep
arate webs by the rival counsel. It was
oneeded by friends and foes alike that
Hugh Dorsey and his associates had
taken the fragments they had found
and woven them Into a fabric truly
j marvelous in Ils sequence, pitilessly
< onvinelng to the listeners. Rut there
were tin,.ids missing in the warp and
woof of the fabric, threads not all the
[detectives and , ."msel could discover,
and it was these missing strands which
igave the jury that "reasonable doubt"
■which left no alternative to acquittal.
■ 1 he state had done Its best with the
I material at Its hand; it had made a I
■ tight which will go down Into Atlanta
I annals as worthy the noted criminal
’av. yers of the days when the great
i minds of the profession found their re
, ward in the court room and not within
' t ■ ottiees of giant corporations. That
'.heir tight was lost was the fortune of
I w ar.
\nd if the state were skillful Ini
1 weaving its own web of evidence, no I
.s- istute was tin defense in taking ;
'hi state's own threads and twisting!
them into a fabric to serve opposite |
.cm - Hardly a circumstance painstak- |
' ingly brought forward by tin state but
. was caught up instantly by the defense
| and us' d to prove a point in favor of
, the defendant. The very words the
I-tat* brought oat to damn the woman
I were repeated by the defense to save
I her.
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, AUGUST 3. 1912.
Accused Policeman W ielded Influence Greater in Many
Ways Than That Held by the Official Heads of
Greatest Department in America.
NEW YORK, Aug 3.—The probers
into the assassination of Herman Ros-
the gambler-squealer, and the
workings of the "system” which decreed
his dtath, stood aghast today at the
marvelous power of the police strong
arm squad by which Becker, a mete
lieutenant, wielded an authority great
er in many respects than properly be
longs to the chiefs of the force. Slow
ly but surely the methods of the sys
tem are being brought to light.
The probers have shown that Becker,
now in jail for complicity In the plot
against. Rosenthal, who had "squealed”
tn the strojlg arm's graft levy, could
not only Collect, hundreds of thousands
of doMars of graft money every year,
but summoned murderers at his bid
ding as though he had been the head
of a giant organization instead of a
man only two degrees removed from a
mere patrolman on beat.
The Investigation furnishes a start
ling answer to this situation. It shows
that with the shifting of police given
power from the old time ward leaders
and captains the head of the "strong
arm squad” Is now the man the crook
is obliged to "see." Th« old famed
power of the ward man has been trans
ferred in the Waldo administration to
the man who had authoiity to raid
gambling houses over the heads of
captains and inspectors.
And the whole fearsome situation is
epitomized by Becker himself in th
statement he made to the gambler po
lice go-between. Rose, when the latter
asked him why he did not go out for
a big job in the department:
"I'm right where I want t<j be,” Js
Recker's quoted reply. "After J have
a coilpie years more of tTiis I'll get
any old job 1 want."
Why Becker Was Powerful.
The immediate explanation of Beck
er’s might in the department was the
Wei] meant, if somewhat benighted,
attempt of the commissioner to con
trol the gambling situation, by set
ting one man to watch another, and
it is in some such way that "the Sys
tem" will eventually vanish, if that
monster is ever to be slain at all.
By this move Commissioner Waldo
did not break up the system. He did
not even seriously .embarrass it,. He
sini|dy forced it to alter its methods.
It became more centralized, and, in tne
last count, the forced alteration of the
machinery expedited the collection and
distribution of tribute money.
Changes such as these, even the con
viction of one, or a dozen, or a hundred
men will never wipe out the system.
It is imbedded in the soil of the de
partment. an 1 it flourishes in the shade
ABDUL HAMID’S CLAN
SEEKING TO RESTORE
‘BUTCHER’ TO THRONE
PHILIPPOPOLIS, BULGARIA, Aug
3.—Dispatches that escaped the Turk
ish censorship today tell of an effort
being made to replace Abdul Hamid,
"the butcher." upon the throne in Con
stantinople.
The Albanian rebels, victorious in
every battle, have offered their aid in
this movement.
A number of deputies caused a riot
in the Turkish chamber in an attempt
to frustrate dissolution, except by rev
olutionary methods, on the part of the
government The ring leaders of the
riot were arrested.
MAN ARRESTED AFTER
A 2,000-MILE CHASE
CALGARY. ALBERTA. Aug. 3.
, Pursued for four months through the ;
i wilds of northern Canada by members !
|of the Northwest mounted police. Willi
i Ropp. said by the authorities to be the j
| most notorious horse rustler and cattle
I thief in the Western country, has been
; ipprehended and is in the barracks here ;
today awaiting trial. The chase cov
ered nearly 2,000 miles and was re
markable for the persistency with w hich
the police followed the trail of the
fugitive through the trackless north
country . Ropp. tired of being hunted. >
■ finally gave ur
Shapiro, one of its owners, at the wheel, and seated in it are “Gyp the Blood," “Dago" Frank. “Lefty l.onie and
“Whitey Lewis." the four gun men charged with the actual slaying of Rosenthal.
of two sturdy trees of evil fruit—-the
secrecy of police records and the
twisted notion of loyalty to "the force"
among the thousands of honest police
men who make up the great mass of
the city’s protectors. Hundreds of
honest policemen who would not take
a rent of graft under any circum
stances. will not bear testimony
against a known and merciless crook
because he is a member of the force.
No one believes that any one of the
half dozen or more uniformed men in
the vicinity of the Hotel Metropole
knew anything of the murder of
Rosenthal. Yet. as District Attorney
Whitman says, the efforts of the police
to run down the assassins would not
fool a child.
Secrecy of Records Helpful.
Rut it is the secrecy of the records
of the department that is the greatest
shelter of the system. It is this that,
gives comfort to those whom pub
licity would quickly destroy. It is this
that at once fosters and conceals the
alliance between the lawless in the
department and the lawless outside, it
is this that permits the system to
make and unmake law, by enforcing
or not enforcing It, and to hold in
absolute bondage the denizens of the
underworld. And it is this that makes
‘it possible for a lieutenant of police to
command murder at will.
The last report of the police de
partment showed twenty-five hundred
eirrests for felony and only' six hun
dred convictions. It is in this vast
field of nineteen hundred men arrested
and never convicted that the system
works.
Practically all of the police owe their
appointments to politicians. If the
crook is “in right,” some one whom the
policeman knows is very close to the
man who is his—the policeman’s—-
sponsor “approaches him.” He sug
gests to the policeman that while no
body wants him to do anything crook
ed or swear falsely, yet, if his memory
should prove a little hazy on these two
points, it would be pleasing to several
important personages. And a man is
likely to forget a lot of things in three
or four months. Possibly the police
man's superior drops a hint to the ef
fect that discretion should ever walk
hand in hand with a good memory.
He Forgets "the Details.”
And so when the policeman takes the
stand he tells a -perfectly honest story,
but in the interval his memory has
dropped one or two details that he could
not be expected to hold as essential.
And the case falls down.
Now. whether the memory of the po
liceman tails or not depends entirely on
HE DIES AFTER GETTING
FREE TO MARRY GIRL
SACRAMENTO, CAL., Aug. 3.—A
shattered romance, in which Miss Isa
belle Garwood, of New York, reputed
to be worth $2,000,000, and Dr. R. A.
Ramos, a physician of Brooklyn, played ,
the leading roles, has been brought to
light by a' civil suit filed in Sutter
county by Miss Garwood against
Schreiber Bros, to cancel the sale of
600 acres of land valued at $96,000.
According to Miss Garwood, she and
Dr. Ramos were engaged to marry.
Ramos left his home in Brooklyn and
went to Reno to take up residence for
the purpose of securing a divorce. Just
after getting the divorce Ramos died.
Miss Garwood says she learned he had
been paid sl,i>oo for inducing her to buy
the land.
ROOSTER DOWNS A BOY
AND NEARLY KILLS HIM
DULUTH. MINN . Alic. 3. - Lloyd
Burley, aged two years, was nearly
I killed by a rooster. The child was so
i seriously injured that it is feared that
he will lose his eyesight. The rooster
I had the little fellow on bis back and
I was furiously attacking him with its
' spurs when discovered.
SHE REFUSED HIS TREAT.
HE SHOOTS HER EAR OFF
M< iNTICELLt >. N Y , Aug 3. B< -
cause she refused to eat ice cream at
his expense, trbin Barber last night
I shot Mrs. Fred Miller. The bullet
took away her left ear.
the crook’s usefulness —potential or im
mediate—to "the system." He must not
fail in his duty to the system while he
is out on ball, and even after his ease
has been dismissed, he is marked as
being under obligation. It is easy to
"get” him if he rebels—and it strikes
greater terror in the underworld to
send a man to Sing Sing for something
he did not d 6 than for something he
did.
Previous dispatches to The Georgian
referred to a quarrel of Chick Tricker
and Zelig over the affections of "Won
der” Murphy. Zelig was preying, with
out letters of marque, on the sinister
traffic of Chinatown and the East Side,
and that he was. therefore, one too
many in a district that was framed by
Jack Sirrocco, Chick Tricker and Jim
my Kelly.
Row Starts at Coney Island.
One night not long ago Zelig and
several of his henchmen went to Coney'
Island and sought diversion and re
freshment at a music hall. There one
of the singers accused a henchman of
Zelig’s of robbing him on a previous
occasion, and Zelig broke a glass in his
face. The party returned to New York.
This incident has no bearing on sub
sequent events save as it fanned the
war lust in Zelig’s bosom. He ordered
the auto to drive past a saloon where
Chick Tricker rested from his labors,
and he and his friends emptied their
revolvers in at the door. This was no
very knightly feat, and Zelig was ar
rested on a charge of carrying con
cealed weapons. There is no sympathy
for a gang leader who shoots and flees
like a Chinaman. He must stand and
aim. He was arrested by two of Beck
er’s aids.
Zelig faced a term of seven years in
Sing Sing, but he was released on bail.
The other leaders whose activities he
had attempted to curtail decided that
he would be better off in the grave
than in Sing Sing. He would be much
better off in the grave than loose around
Chinatown under indictment with
Becker's aids as complainants.
So one Torti was assigned to kill
him. He did his best. He waylaid
Zelig in broad daylight in front of the
Criminal Courts building, just as he
was leaving after pleading to the in
dictment, and shot him through the
head. But the bullet went an eighth
of an inch astray and the head-hard
ened gangster was merely discommod
ed for a few days. Torti is serving ten
years.
So Zelig was loose under indictment,
and this was the situation when gun
men were needed to "bump off" Ro
senthal.’
THERE IS MONEY IN
SELLING PEACHES;
CAR NETS 52 CENTS
DALTON. GA.. Aug. 3.—That there
is money in peaches has been proven
by Colonel S. P. Maddox, a prominent
local attorney, who possesses a big
orchard.
Colonel Maddox received a check for
a carload of fruit shipped by him. and
after paying allv xpenses the car netted
him exactly $1.62. So great was hi'
joy over clearing money, he told his
ft lends of his good fortune, and after
being highly congratulated, he insisted
on his friends letting him pay for the
crinks (soft ones). When the treating
was finished, he had exactly 52 cents of
his profits intact in his pocket and a
broad smile mi his face.
PLANS FOR EATONTON’S
LIGHT PLANT DRAWN
The city of Eatonton, Ga.. has employed
the Solomon-Norcross Company, consult
ing engineers, to design a municipal elec
tric light and power plant. The engi
neers now are making necessary surveys,
estimates and plans for the plant.
<1 It. Solomon, the senior member of
the firm, is at Eatonton in charge of the
work
MARITIME STRIKE ENDS.
PARIS. Aug. 3.—The maritime strike,
which lias lasted 54 days, was declared
off today by the strike leaders. The
men were ordered to return to work at
once.
NEGROES DOOMED
FDR BIG SIEH
New Party Committee. Making
Up Convention Roil, Eliminate
South's Black Men.
CHICAGO, Aug. 3.—Elimination of
the Southern political negro from the
new Progressive party was on the slate
for this afternoon. The limination was
expected to begin when the provisional
national committee assembled at the
Congress hotel to hear delegate con
tests from three Southern states. The
contestants in most eases are negroes,
and it was unofficially stated before the
newest steam roller began its work
that the negroes would go away with
out recognition. Officially, it was said
that "regularity” was to be the test by
which the delegates would find their
way into their seats. The action of
the committee, however, has already
been forecast in the case of South Car
olina, the only state that will not be
represented in the national convention
that meets Monday. In South Caro
lina a set of negro delegates were
named without the authority’ of the
Roosevelt manager. They have been
repudiated by the national committee.
Big Convention Roll.
The absence of the South Carolina
delegation will not be missed in the
national convention of the new party.
Far from it. The national committee
has more delegates than it knows what
to do with. The really big task that
confronts it before its meeting today
was the making up of the temporary
roll call of the convention. The cal!
provides that here shall be 534 dele
gates. As a matter of fact, the com
mittee will have to give seats to ap
proximately 1,200 delegates—posKibly
more. The final count is not in y et.
Many states have lected double dele
gations. Some have elected three
times the number provided for in the
call. Connecticut, enthusiastic pver the
idea of the Bull Moose party, entitled
to seven delegates as the call was sent
out, elected 49. They will be seated,'
of course, and will be allowed one-sev
enth of a vote each, which would make
the work of the tellers pretty hard, pro
vided there (happened to be a hot fight
for a nomination.
Then there are the alternates to dis
pose of. There are not quite as many
alternates as there are delegates, but
there are more than the call asked for,
and they, too, will be given chairs on
the convention floor.
Big Demand For Seats.
This unexpected demand for seats
from the delegates has made the work
of the arrangements committee diffi
cult. And there has been an unprece
dented demand for seats from specta
tors.
Senator Dixon, chairman of the na
tional committee, going over details
today before the committee session,
easting his eye over the voluminous
roll and listening to the wail of the ar
rangements committee that demanded
more seats, smiled.
“We are going to have one of the
biggest national conventions that was
ever held," he said.
The committee was 'scheduled to
meet at 2 o’clock this afternoon. In
addition to the contests and the roll,
a number of minor tasks confronted it.
Final arrangements had to be gone
over and approved. The list of tem
porary officers, already prepared and
announced, was to be submitted to the
committeemen for formal approval.
For Party Vote Rule.
It is pretty generally believed among
the delegates and leaders so far assem
bled that the negro question in the
South will bo solved by the method fre
quently suggested in Republican na
tional conventions. A rule will be
adopted basing th,' representation at
the conventions on the vote cast for
the party. This, it is pointed out,
would effectually end negro domina
tion. because the vote of the negro in
the South is negligible.
There w ill be a number of negro del
egates in the convention, but they will
all be from the Northern states, whert
Mr. Roosevelt has made- the strongest
showing at the primaries.
The question of the permanent chair
manship has not yet been definitely de
cided. It was at first suggested that s
Southern Democrat be given the honor
of presiding over the convention. There
is a general movement, however, to
make the temporary chairman perma
nent. This, it is pointed out. would
save time. The address to be deliv
ered by Roosevelt, after ex-Senator
Beveridge, as temporary chairman,
makes his keynote speech, would take
• the place of the speech usually deliv
' ered by the permanent chairman.
There will be more women delegates
at the convention than ever took part in
a similar gathering. According to the
estimates made before the temporary
roll was made up. thirty women will be
recognized as having a voice in party
affairs. Illinois will contribute two—■
. Miss Jane Addams and Mrs. Anna H.
> Wilmarth.
CAR MEN OF CHICAGO
VOTE FOR A STRIKE IF
PEACE EFFORT FAILS
CHICAGO, Aug. 3.—Voting of the
street ear employees of Chicago on the
I strike question ended at 4 o’clock this
morning . The official vote will not be
• known until tomorrow, but it. was
t stated unofficially today that the check
- on the vote kept by the officials of (he
. unions involved and the early work of
. the tellers showed beyond doubt that
i the strike had carried by an over
whelming vote.
- It is generally- believed, however, that
■ an attempt to effect a peaceful settle
i ment will be made.
A conference between the elevated
railroad employees and the companies
was held yesterday, and now the em-
■ ployers will hold a confernece and draft
. a proposition to submit to the men.
■ Two of the smaller street ear com
. panies have made plans for the strike.
They will make no effort to operate
• their lines.
CAN NOT SELL NOR
TRADE YOUR WIFE
FOR REAL ESTATE
CLEVELAND. WASH.. Aug. .3.—A
man can not sell his wife or even trade
' her. This dictum was established by
the courts here which set aside a deal
whereby James M. Davis disposed of
. his wife. Ida. for two lots in Tacoma.
Going a step further, the court de
cided that a man who regarded his
wife as a chattel wasn't entitled to
have one. so Mrs. Davis was granted a
divorce.
In her bill she alleged she had suffer
ed great mental anguish because her
husband had traded her to "Doe” Far
row and the whole town knew about it.
Mrs. Davis said she didn’t think much
of Farrow. She blocked the deal, even
though her husband bad received a deed
tor the lots having agreed to part with
his wife in lieu of cash.
BLACKBEARD ISLAND TO
BECOME GAME PRESERVE
SAVANNAH. GA.. .\ U g. 3.—Black-
■ heard island, off the coast of Georgia
at the entrance to Sopels sound, will
be leased by the government for five
y ears as a game preserve.
Bids will be received until August 24
by the treasury department for this
privilege. The island, together with the
buildings there, will be leased with
hunting and fishing privileges. The is
land is now the site of the South At
lantic quarantine station.
ANTS TIE UP TROLLEY
LINE TO EAT GREASE
VALPARAISO. IND Aug. 3.-An
army of ants attracted by grease and
oil attacked a transmitter at the Good
rum power house and grounded the
current tying up traffic on the Valpa
raiso and Northern electric intcrurbcn
lines for five hours.
OUT FOR 13 YEARS ON
PAROLE. HE'S ARRESTED
LOUISVILLE. KY Aug. 3—After
being at large thirteen years. James
Pierce, charged with violating his pa
role at the Indiana reformatory, has
been arrested at Sullivan, Ind.
