A CORRUPT POLICE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 589, 18 August 1909, Page 5

A CORRUPT POLICE.

— • —*— : —- ■ CHARGES BY EX-CHIEF. IN TAMMANY-RULED NEW YORK. PURCHASED IMMUNITY. ' (By Telegraph.—l'rcss Association. -OoDTrlltbl.l London, August 15. Tho New York correspondent of "The Times" states that General Bingham, exCommissionor of the New York .police,, deolarca, in the forthcoming issue of "Harper's Magazine," that the power of Tammany half rests on its ability to control the police. General Bingham affirms that two thousand members of tho force are unscrupulous grafters, whose hands are always open for easy money. The sum annually. paid ,by criminals and dishonest politicians' for protection and for votes and immunity amounts, lie asserts, to twenty million sterling. ' On the basis of his actual experience, the General considers that New York is the most lawless city on earth. , POLICE OFFICER SACRIFICED TO TAMMANY. • ; Similar charges of receiving money from criminals and others are now pending agninst members of. the Chicago police. In New; York the political element appears to bo uppermost in tho force, as may be judged from tho following message sent in July 1 by the New York correspondent of "The Times" concerning the polico officer who figures in to-day's cablegram: ■ .-..■■ "General Bingham, Commissioner of Police, was .sacrificed to Tammany to-day—at least such is the interpretation, generally given to his removal from office by Mr. M'Clellau, Mayor. New York is to elect a new Mayor in November, and already a strong campaign is being organised by independent citizens who wish to .overthrow Tammany. If it is to win, Tammany must have control of the police, and General Bingham is no politician. The retention in the "ropes gallery" of photographs of a youth whom tho polico are alleged to have wrongfully hounded, provided .the ifayor and Corporation with an opportunity of ousting the commissioner. General Bingham inado mistakes,' but he certainly strove to perform his duty honestly. The whole affair is a deplorable example of how the police force is used as a political, weapon in this city." .