Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 189, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 August 1912 — Page 3

The Case Book of a Private Detective

True Narratives of Interesting Cases by a Former Operative of the William J. Burns Detective Agency

THE BRIBE TAKERS How a Clique of Corrupt City Father* Was Brought to Book The connection of the Burns detective agency with the exposures of bribers and bribe-takers in various towns throughout the country has been so well exploited that it is unnecessary for me to say anything about it here. I am going to tell the actual story of how the ring of choice crooks, in the council and out, who had for years looted the city of Springvale finally were run to earth, sent to prison, or otherwise rendered innocuous, and the political life of the city purged for a time, at least. Springvale is not the real name of the town. The case is too recent, and there are too many raw threads of it still hanging about, to permit the use of the actual name. But shrewd readers, who have kept track of bribery stories in the newspapers in the last year, may be able to guess which of our cities it is that I am telling about. It is a typical case of the exposure of municipal corruption by outside 'detectlves, and has been duplicated in a half dozen instances in other cities to my own knowledge. Springvale had for years been what a magazine writer once called “cor- 1 rupted and content." It was a busy manufacturing town. It was prosperous. That is, there usually was plenty of work to be had for the working people, plenty of business for the merchants, and plenty of money To be handled by the local banks. Most of this prosperity was due to the presence of the factories in the town. These factories were in the hands of a clique of men who placed money above all things; They would go to any length to make more money—and one of the easiest ways for them to make it was to violate the law, usually in the form of ignoring city ordinances. Thus, there were violations of the child labor law, violations' of street ordinances, water ordinances, building ordinances —in fact, of most of the articles in the municipal cede applying to the regulation of factories were- to be found in these establishments. Naturally these violations could not be committed and continued, y.ear after year, without being .disturbed, without the connivance of the local authorities. The mayor, the councilman, the chief of police, the building commissioners, in fact, all the active heads of the city government, must have winked at the lawlessness of the factory owners, or the lawlessness would have been stopped. Naturally, these heads of the local government, being human, and most of them politicians, did not agree to wink so accommodatingly solely for .the good of their health. They did it for what there was in it. Thus, the factories became a fertile source of corruption of the city governmetft of Springvale. When a factory needed the stub end of a street in its business, an ordinance would go through the council without any trouble —because the ways had been well greased by the factory’s owner. If a factory wanted to tap a city water main and use city water without having it metered, it did it, because the water department was fixed. If a street car line felt that it needed a residence street in its business, that street it got in spite of the protests of property owners. The city hall machinery ran smoothly for the benefit of these factory barons because they controlled the oil that made the machinery go. The whole town, naturally, in time came to take its moral tone from this influence. The banks were In on the deal. The bank that contributed most to the prosperity of the politicians was the one that got the deposits of city money. Several big merchants fell in tine. Special privilege had the town by the throat; and while the town was prosperous In inoney matters it was poverty-stricken in good citizenship. A few sterling citizens began to get tired of this state of affairs. .They were men who believed that a city should be something besides a mere machine for the manufacturing of ‘ money. They believed that a city govsrnment should think first of the welfare of its citizens, and of the future of children growing up within its walls. They placed civic spirit above dollars, and to them was due the cleaning up of Springvale. One of them was a Judge on the local bench who had waged uncompromising war against the special interests snd corruption. He was the* only fudge in town wjto was not the big interests’ bound servant. Then there were two lawyers who had resisted the temptations of big fees offered them to turn crooked, one banker, one minister, two or three merchants, two or three others of various occupations, and one old retired capitalist This man was the,backbone and the foundation of the crusade. When this group of puhlic-spirited men had determined on their course he quietly deposited SIOO,OOO cash of bis own money to be need in furthering the campaign. It was the action of the city council

By DAVID CORNELL

(Copyright by the International Pres* Bureau.)

in passing an ordinance that deprived the city of a square that had been set aside for improvement into a little park that brought on the WaR The council calmly gave this tract to a. railroad eompany for use as a switching yard. The steal was so raw that the mayor, who hitherto had been on the fence, vetoed the ordinance. The council laughed and passed the ordinance over his veto. Obviously there was only one answer to this: The railroad company had come across with enough money to make the council defy all public opinion. They had been bribed. It was then that the decent and prominent citizens of the town got together and resolved to clean up the town. “What is the best way to go about it?” asked one of them. “Get after the council,” said the old judge, grimly. “Prove them guilty of bribery. Send them to prison. Break them up. Throw the fear of God so hard into the city government of this town that it will be years before a city official dares to think of taking a bribe.” “That is right,” agreed the retired capitalist. ‘We must scare this town so It will not forget.” The first process of concocting this scare was the sending of Clutter and Dawson of the Burns Detective Agency to take up.atemporary residence at the Imperial hotel —the leading hotel —in Springvale. Clutter was a merrylooking little Englishman who could make friends with anybody ip the world at ten minutes’ notice. Dawson was a young, fine-appearing fellow who looked the part of a high class salesman, or a high class gambler, depending on your point of view. They merely registered at the Imperial, and commenced to spend money judiciously in the bars around the city hall. It was not long before they began to attract attention. As in every city, the liquor emporiums near the city hall were the meeting places for a certain brand of politicians —the brand that Clutter and Dawson were anxious to meet. Naturally they did not display any of this anxiety. After two or three days of being good fellows around town they began to make the acquaintance of the politicians who were steady customers of the places where the detectives were spending their time and money. At first the politicians were shy about making acquaintances. Later they began to warm up, and after a week of careful work the detectives found themselves part of the little ring that made these bar rooms their headquarters and whose occupations lay in the city hall. There were two councilmen with whom they became especially friendly, Corcoran and Stein, who were the leaders of the city hall clique. When they had established themselves on firm ground with these two, Cluffer and Dawson broached their alleged reason for being in Springvale. “We represent the American Wood Block company,” they said, “and we want to try to sell some blocks in Springvale. We sell the best blockß In the world.” Here they brought out some excellent samples of wooden paving blocks and began to expiate on their merits. “Not only that, but we can sell these at prices far below those charged for the ordinary blocks,” continued Cluffer. “We are so anxious to put our blocks into Springvale streets that we will make the city a price at which it can save all kinds of money on its paving bills. I’ll bet you we can save the city $60,000 a year and give It better paving material than it ever had before *" » “Well, what of it?" said Stein. , “Well,” continued Dawson, “we thought if we could interest you gentlemen and could show you where we could save the city all this money, we might convince you that it would be in the interests of the city to introduce wood paving here.” “Yes,” said Stein, who was the spokesman for the councilmen. “What of it?’’ “Why,” said Dawson, “you gentlemen, in order to help the city save money, ought to Introduce an ordinance calling for wood paving on some streets. Then, after we had shown how much we could save the city, we might hope to get some bigger contracts.” Corcoran and Stein laughed as one man. “Gee, but you’re green!” laughed Stein. “Is that really what you got us up here to tell us?” “Why, certainly,” said Cluffer, all innocence. “We’re salesmen for the wooden block company ” “And you’ve got a couple of wooden blocks yourself,” roared Stein. “If that’s all you know about selling stuff to cities I don’t see you holding your jobs much longer.” “Why?” ' .jfej , "Because that ain’t the way It’s done,” said Stein. “Anyhow, not in Springvale. You got to have a different system than that, Johnnie, to do business here. Save the city money! What the devil do yon suppose we care about the city? To hell with the city! If that’s all yon know about getting city contracts, take your little

blocks and go. You can bet you’ll never get a contract here, If that’s all you know about the game.” Cluffer and Dawson, having found out what they were sent for—that the councilman of Springvale were reaching openly for graft with greedy hands —and having Implanted the germ of wood block paving in the minds of the two leaders, quietly packed their grips, paid their hills at the Imperial, and flitted out of the case. Then I came into the game. Now, there really was an American Wood Block company, and the president of it was an old man named Steger. He was interested in running down grafters, and for the purposes of this Job he loaned me his name and identity. A few days after Cluffer and Dawson had retired from Springvale Alderman Stein got a letter from the president of the block company. It read: “My Dear Alderman: “I am afraid that my two salesmen who saw you in regard to furnishing wooden blocks for paving In your city knew little about how such things are managed. Igow you and I, my dear Alderman, are men of experience and we know how such things are done. I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you at noon at the Imperial hotel in your city. It is long since I have taken part in any selling campaign, but in a matter like this, Alderman, I feel it is better and safer that I, and I alone, cover the ground. “I suggest that you destroy this letter. I have always found it advisable to save as few papers as possible. I am, very truly yours, “HERMAN V. STOfeER, “President American Wood Block Co.” When Stein got that letter be saw at once that it was from a mam of his own heart. The tone of it showed

the writer to be “right” according to Stein’s peculiar point of view. The cautious advice to destroy the letter was a winner. It showed that "Steger” had been through the mill and was too wise a bird to overlook any bets. Stein sat down and wrote a brief note to Steger, advising him that he looked forward to the latter's appearance at the Imperial hotel with much pleasure. I came into Springvale at night and registered at the Imperial as Herman V. Steger. I stayed close to my room the next morning. It seemed, indeed, that Stein was awaiting my arrival with much pleasure, for at noon a telephone message from him informed me that, having seen my name on the register, he waited impatiently to welcome me to Springvale. ' “Come up, Mr. Stein,” I said, “I have been expecting you.” Stein and Corcoran came up together. I had taken the best suite of rooms in the hotel. I had attired myself in a manner as expensive as was consistent with fairly good taste. I wanted to give the impression of plenty of ready money. Stein and Corcoran greeted me cordially, though quietly. “Don’t be afraid to speak up, gentlemen,” I said, laughing. ‘T have reserved both rooms adjoining my suite as a precaution.” We all laughed together at this sally. - I ordered up champagne and cigars.

“Well, gentlemen,” I said, “I am here to sell Springvale some cedar blocks. And I won’t be so foolish as to talk about how much money I can save the city.” We had another laugh over this. We understood one another right away. “The whole town ought to have wooden block paving,” said Corcoran. “I knoW it. It’s got to have it” Again we laughed. We were getting along famously. "Show me a good hand In this matter, gentlemen,” said I, “and HI show you a better one.”, "We’ll show you something tonight,” said Stein. "It’s a council meeting night Just watch tomorrow morning’s papers for the proceedings and you’ll see how we do things in Springvale.” - Next morning I saw that Steiq had Introduced and the council had passed an ordinance calling for the pavingof two blocks of an important street with wood bloeks. “Well,” sgjd he, when he called upon me soon after breakfast, “how do you like that for aetion? That’s just a sample we showed you. Now all you got to do is to pay the price and we come across with the whole delivery of good^.” “How large Is that delivery?” I asked. v “Why, we’ll pave the whole damn city with blocks and specify your brand,” said he, “if you’ll do the right thing.” "What do you call the right thing?” I asked. “Well,” he said, "some of these aldermen are cheap skates and some are what you call wise guys; Some can be reached for a ten-case note and some want as high as five hundred. There’s 18 of ’em to be deliv-

ered, and I guess $5,000 would just about be right for what you want.” “Five thousand is what I had thought would be right,” I agreed. “But how is the money to be got to the right men?” \ “I’m the money wagon,” said Stein. ‘1 handle all such deals for the hoys.” Then without any solicitation on my part he began to assure me of his reliability by relating in detail how he had carried money from briber to bribe-takers in half a dozen cases. He had a wonderful memory. He gave dates, places, figures and names with an exactness that was marvelous. He told how So-and-so had given him such and such a sum in such aud such a place, how he had split |t up in certain amounts and given so much to that alderman and so much to that one, and how such and such an ordinance had been shoved through the council as a consideration. He had been so accustomed to dealing in graft that he looked upon it as a pure business transaction. He even referred to entries in a note book to substantiate some of his statements. When he was through I said, “You sky you want to see the money in your hdnds before the ordinance goes through. How, I don’t mind haring my money up, but I want to see the goods delivered before I let go of it. Now, you go out and get your men one by one. Come hack and give me your word that you’ve got them, and how much they cost yon, and you can

have the $6,000. I don’t care how much you make out of it; I don’t care if it only costa you a thousand to get your men. I want to hear you tell me that you've got ’em before the money becomes yours.” “All right,” said he. "I can get my men in one day." He did, too. That night he was back with a list of his men. So much for this man, so much for that —he had them all there and the amounts required to buy their votes for the shameful measure he was putting through. This*? measure called for nothing more or less than paving about half of the streets of Springvale, except the boulevards, with wooden blocks. And my company was to have the contract of furnishing them. It was raw, rotten robbery; but Springvale was used to Just that sort of thing. I paid over the $6,000 in cash and Stein made good on his promise. Next council meeting the ordinance went through with a rush. Stein called on me the morning after. “Well, are you satisfied with the way things are done here?” he said. “Perfectly, Stein, perfectly,” I replied heartily. “Things could not have been done any better to suit me. But, Stein, I wonder if they have been done to suit you?” “Why?” he said. Then, as if instantly scenting a rat, “Why? What in hell do you mean?” “Suppose,” said I, “that I should tell you that every word that you and I have spoken in thig room has been overhekrd by a committee of prominent citizens in this town and several stenographers. What would you say?” He looked me up and down and his usually red face began to go white.

“Ain’t you in it as deep as I am?” he demanded. “What license you got to talk that way?” “Oh, I’m Just a detective sent down here to get the goods on you, Stein,” I said. "Look here."' I went to one of the walls of the rooms, and raising my fist shot it through the wall-paper where the wall had been cut out to make listening from the next room easy. I went to another room and did the same. “I reserved those adjoining rooms, Stein,” said I, “to give these men a chance to listen to you and me.” With that I threw open a door and in came the group of public-spirited men who had set out to clean np Springvale. ~ v “I have often longed for the opportunity to sentence you and your clique to the penitentiary, Stein,” said the judge. “Now it seems that I am going to have that opportunity.” And he did. Before we had , got through with that crowd fifteen of them were in state’s prison, two of them were in jail, one committed suicide, two fled the country, and one died of heart failure when be heard his sentence. It was a terrible toll of punishment, but ft was justified. Stein turned state's evidence and helped ns bare bribe cases for five years back. He had been In all of them himself, but be was punished for only -one. He got two years. Hs snd 1 got to be fairly good friends before

his trial fen due, and it was partly my intercession, and explaining the great, service he had done us in unravelling the whole mess, that kept him from finding a harder fate. Springvale is fairly clean now, politically. The politicians are too scared to be crooked —for the time being.

Rivers In the Air

Did you know there are air-falls In the atmosphere just as real and apparent as are the waterfalls you have so often viewed with admiration and delight because of their natural beauty? In the famed Yosemite valley the most interesting feature is, to the scientist perhans, its winds. The winds there are seldom more than light zephyrs, moody and capricious to the ordinary tourist, but when rightly understood, one of the wonders of the valley. These Interesting facts are told by Prof. P. E. Matthes of the United States geological survey in the Sierra Club Bulletin. In no other place in the entire world, perhaps, are ( the air currents more systematic and regular than in the Yosemite valley, he says. In the first place, the sun naturally heats the ground more rapidly than it does the air. Thus every hillside basking in the sun becomes a heat radiator and gradually warms the air above it, so that the air, becoming lighter, begins to rise. But under those conditions the air does not rise vertically because the air directly over it is still cool and Is pressing downward. Therefore, up the sides of the warm slope the heated air makes its way. That is why the tourist making his way up the mountain slope with the sun on his back finds his own dust traveling upward with him in a choking cloud. But on coming down the same trail when the face of the slope Is in the shadow the dust ever descends with the traveler In the same irritating cloud. When the face of the mountain is in the shade the air is cooling from the face of the slope and is pressing its way down into the valley. Just as soon as the sun leaves the slope of the mountain, the earth begins to lose its beat by radiation, and in a very short time Is really cooler than the air. The layer of air next the face of the hillside chills by contact with the earth, and becoming heavier as It condenses, begins to press down along the slope. Thus there is, normally, the warm updraft on the sunny slope and the cold downdraft on the side in the shadow. In a windlesa region like the Yosomlte, with its bold' cliff topography, these upward and downward air currents are somewhat interrupted. On every sunny slim* bold cliffs create shadows and consequently there are downward air currents of local breezes dally at regular hours, as the shadows coffie and go. Glacier Point is one place in partioular in which Professor Matthes saya this shadowy effect on the air currents may readily he tested by casting small bits of paper into the air. As the afternoon wears on and the shadows in the valley gather, the chid draft in the hills pours downward, forming the valley like a great river, and flowing on to the plains below. Every side canyon and valley sends Its reinforcements, like the tributaries of. a great river, to this general air current flowing onward to the plain. With the return of the morning sun, the earth at the tops of the hills la warmed and the downward current in the air is suspended. The updraft soon . begins as the sun shines into the valleys. The air currents are so regularthat they may almost be timed. Few realize, says the author of the paper, that it is on these reversing air currents that one of the chief attractions of the Yosemite depends. Mirror lake, to be viewed at its best, must be seen in the darly dawn, when the reflections are most perfect The lake Is stillest and Its surface most mirror-like when the cold night currents have ceased and the uprising day currents of air have not yet begun. Yet unless one is punctual he will miss the chief beauty of the place, for this perfect stillness Is as brief as the turn of the tide. In the evening and during the night, when the downdraft of air from the mountain sides is strong, the stream of cool air pressing down the slope plui* ges over cliffs just as water is seen to fan from similar heights. On either the Yosemite falls or the Nevada falls trails, this alr-faU cariosity Is readily encountered in the evening. During the daytimg, on the other hand, the air rises vertically along the cliffs and up Into the hanging valleys, taking part of the spray from the falls along with it A pretty example of the air carrying the spray from the fall upward may be seen at Bridal Veil falls, where two little combs of spray, one on each side of the stream, steadily curve upward over the brink. As soon as the sun Is off the cliff the spray combs cease to exist

She Got the Money.

"What did the lady sue fort” “She sued for $10,000.” “Did she winT” “She sure-did.” “Huh! I suppose her lawyer got /most of Itr . "Her lawyer didn’t get a cent, as far as I’m able to find out.” “Go on! If he was able to recover that big Verdict, he was smart enough to get his.” “Washer Well, he wasn’t She married him!” . k