VICE IN NEW YORK

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 77, 10 March 1931, Page 5

VICE IN NEW YORK

'RAILROADING' CHARGES AUTHORITIES IMPLICATED STARTLING DEVELOPMENTS NEW YORK, March 0. The murder of Vivian Gordon, who was found strangled in a van in Courtland Park, continues to create increased interest due to the expanding series of sensational developments connected with it. To-day guests at Lincoln Hotel were terrified when a brother of the strangled woman went mad and ran about the building screaming of the murder and his niece's suicide. The guests fled and the police arrived to find the house detectives exhausted trying to control the maniac who finally" was removed unconscious to Bellevue Hospital. Governor Eooscvelt has announced that he will hold an immediate investigation into the charges filed by aroused citizens to the effect that New York's district attorney in handlingvice investigations is "incompetent." Mayor Walker, on whom citizen groups and newspapers are calling to assume the leadership in control of matters, states that the incidents have shocked him "more or less." He has announced that he is leaving for a month's vacation in California.

A New York message on March 4 stated: Investigations into the city's vice conditions reached a pitiable climax to-night with the suicide by gas of the 16-jcar-old (laughter of a woman known as Vivian Gordon, who herself was found strangled in a van in Courtland Park a few days ago after telling the authorities that she would testify against the policemen who she alleged " railroaded n her to gaol on false morality charges. The girl, who was living with her father and stepmother, left a note in a diary, "I can't face- the world any longer. I am going to end it all." The city for weeks has been arousod by the exposure of "graft rings" preying upon completely innocent as well as questionable girls and women, of whom a striking number are now attempting to gain their freedom from charges allegedly brought by members of the police aided by "stool pigeons" who are paid a portion of the money forced from the women by threats of imprisonment.

The Gordon murder and its tragic climax are but one instance of the shocking occurrences.