Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Crime in America By ESTES KEFAUVER United States Senator Thirteen of a Series Philadelphia: Police Tactics In the City of Brotherly Love In Philadelphia, one of the nation’s largest, most efficiently organized numbers rackets • flourishes—operating through “a po litico-gambler-police tie-up that makes it impossible for any in truder to edge his way in from the outside." A paralyzing attitude of apathy seems to hang like an ether mist over the police department. One judge who agitated—finally with some success—for stiffer action against the numbers racket eers, told the Senate Crime Committee frankly that the “big fry just didn’t seem to get caught. Evidence indicated that Philadelphia is organized by the numbers operators into various geographical territories, each with its own “numbers bank.” Public Safety Director Samuel H. Rosen berg told us he understood that was the way the racketeers oper ated. We questioned Rosenberg: Q: Are you aware that it is com mon knowledge, in connection with gambling operation, that payments are made to police officers? Rosenberg: I have never been able to prove that. We have asked for proof, and have never been able to obtain it! Caserta, “who had been named by Rogers as his backer,” came into the station house. McDonald said that Caserta of fered him $200 if he only woulc modify the charge against Rogers to disorderly conduct. McDonald testified: “I refused the offer. As he turned away he said. ‘I wil frame you good.’ When he saic that, I grabbed hold of him and placed him under arrest.” One of his worst handicaps in administering the police depart ment, the safety director stated, was the Philadelphia system of civil service regulations, “originally in tended to be on the merit basis, but which have pul us in an abso lute strait jacket.” I was pleased, some months after our Philadelphia hearings, to hear that a long-desired city charter re form had been voted by the cit izens. The victory was achieved despite the opposition of Mayor Bernard Samuels’ administration, and, among other things, will set up machinery to take civil service out of politics. The principal racket character we questioned was Harry Strom- berg, alias Nig Rosen, a stocky, swarthy, balding man with intense ly dark eyes and an annoying habit of repeating almost every question before giving an answer. * • • At the age of nine, the Russian- born Stromberg was sent to a pro tectory as a juvenile delinquent. He has been arrested numerous times since, served time for at tempted burglary, and admitted to us he had been a bootlegger and, more recently, a numbers operator and book-maker. It was evident from his grudging testimony that he had been the rackets king-pin in the city of Brotherly Love. Now, Stromberg argued, he was engaged in the dress manufactu-'ing busi ness in New York city. He insisted he had no connection with the rack- jets. The nemesis of Stromberg in Philadelphia was the assistant su perintendent of police in charge of detectives, white-haired George Richardson, who heaped vilification, upon him. Richardson asserted that Strom berg had run his part of the Phila delphia numbers racket by remote control from New York, after leav ing Philadelphia around 1914 and still had a hand in Philadelphia rackets. Eight months earlier, Rich ardson had written the director of the Greater Miami Crime Commis sion: “Rosen has connections with the underworld throughout the en tire nation. So far as the local mob is concerned, he is their undisputed leader and is commonly known as *Tbe Mahoff.’ Among his follow ers his word is law.” Since testifying before ns, Chief Richardson has been suspended from duty on a charge that he had forced the “confession” of a man who had been sent to the peniten tiary for homicide. After 12 years in prison, the victim was found to be innocent and released. * • ♦ Judge Joseph Sloane of the com mon pleas court told us that many of his colleagues on the bench were, content merely to impose small fines and no jail sentences on per sons pleading guilty of gambling offenses. In five years prior to 1950, we learned, out of thousands of gambling arrests, only two defend ants actually, had gone to jail. However, as our report summed up: “There has been a change in atti tude on the part of judges since the committee held its hearings in Philadelphia. More and more jail sentences are beginning to be imposed and it is a fact reported by municipal authorities, that the numbers game is no longer as easy to carry on in Philadelphia . . .” The committee took note of a lo cal “cause celebre,” which we re garded as “indicative of the tie-up of gamblers, politicians and po lice.” Michael McDonald, a Phila delphia policeman, had arrested a numbers writer named Jack Rog ers. While Rogers was being booked, McDonald said, one Mike At that point, McDonald con tinued, Police Captain Vincent El- well appeared and “wanted to know who locked up ’Mike.’ He addressed him as ‘Mike.’ ” That night, McDonald said, he was called in to Captain ElwelTs office and was ordered to alter his report on Caserta. McDonald claimed he refused and that Cap tain El well then told him, “Stick around. I want to talk to you.” In about 10 minutes, Captain Elwell walked to the door and asked, “Who is hollering out there?” A sergeant promptly stepped in and dutifully announced: “A man is complaining about being short some money out here.” Thereupon, on Captain ElwelTs orders, the numbers writer, Rog ers, was brought in and complained he was short about $123. McDonald was , accused of turning in less money than he had taken from Rogers at the station house when he brought him in, and Captain Ell- well immediately suspended him. “McDonald gave a picture of the operations of the politico-gambler- police triumvirate,” the report con tinued. He named a policeman who, he said, was known as the “collector” for Captain Elwell— he would come into the station house with his pockets “bulging,” McDonald testified—and a ward boss who frequently conferred with Captain Elwell at the station house. McDonald estimated that protec tion money paid to police alone, exclusive of “payment to the high er-ups,” totaled at least $152,000 a month. • • • The committee Inquired, too, into the underworld penetration of a Philadelphia steel fabricating con cern, which we concluded had been accomplished through “political in fluence.” A numbers racketeer named Louis Crusco had bought his way into the Strunk Steel Co. by virtue, the committee inferred, “of his close association with the son of Philadelphia’s mayor.” Crusco was an old friend and neighbor of Richard Russell Samuel Sr., son of Mayor Samuel. The numbers man bought his interest in the com pany under extraordinary circum stances: he carried the purchase price, $34,000, in cash in a satchel to a stockholders’ meeting. Richard Samuel Jr., 19-year-old grandson of the mayor, accompanied Crusco and, according to the testimony of one stockholder who was selling out, “apparently was the mouth piece for Mr. Crusco.” “Until Crusco came along,” our report to the Senate summed up, "the company had never been able to get any business from the city of Philadelphia but, while Crusco was negotiating his stock purchase in the company, it received a con tract from the Philadelphia Transit Co., a local public utility, on which there were no competitive bids. The president of the company testified that this deal had been suggested to him by the mayor’s grandson, who, coincidentally, was placed on the company’s payroll as part of the Crusco stock deal.” Next week: Nevada: A case against Legalized Gambling. Condensed from the book, “Crime In America.” by Estes Kefauver. Cpr. 1951. Pub. by Doubleday, Inc. Dist. General Features Corp.—WNU. Onto A Steeple! And then there’s the Herb Sjhriner story about the man who painted the church steeple from the bottom up. He had to wait for the paint to dry before he could come down! Production U. S. bituminous mines produced 512 million tons of coal in 1950. THE CHARMING DECEIVER Detective Disguises To Catch Crook CLEVELAND—An ex-convict, at tempting to extort $5,000 from the parents of a 10-year-old girl who has been missing since August, was nabbed by a detective who posed as a woman to trap him. Frank Davis, 48, admitted to po lice that he phoned and wrote to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Potts, telling them their missing daughter, Bev erly, would die unless they paid the money. Then Potts informed police and Davis was captured when Detective Bernard Conley, masquerading as Mrs. Potts, handed him a paper sack, supposedly containing the $5,000. Davis, who has served time for automobile theft, was turned over to the FBI and Postal authorities tor prosecution. Suggestions Paper Seeks Improvements CARMI, HI.—The Carmi Times has dedicated one corner of its front page to letters from the public for constructive sugges tions for the betterment of the community. The idea has met with con siderable success and has given community officials a number of practical ideas. As an example, one reader suggested another factory that would furnish employment. The writer pointed out it would in crease retail sales in the county and take up slack in other in dustries. And a Carmi housewife sug gested that the town had long been noted and admired for its beautiful trees, but that many are being allowed to rot and have to be cut down. She suggested they be replaced as soon as they are removed. The suggestions are not limited to new ideas, but also include practices which the citizens feel would be better discontinued. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ if 'Rat-Cat' Industry Proposed for Small Missouri Community NORBORNE, Mo. — The Nor- bome Democrat-Leader, the com munity’s weekly newspaper, ob viously with tongue in cheek, re cently published the following front page account of a proposed new in dustry for the town: “An unusual business venture is being discussed by three Carroll ton business men that calls for the raising of cats and rats on a huge production basis that resem bles perpetual motion. Those involved in the discus sion are Jim Taylor, of the Flor ence Hotel, E. C. Johnson, con tractor, of Carrollton, and George Simpson a stock man, of the Colo- ma neighborhood. “The plan calls for the purchase of a farm, near Coloma, known as the Bell farm, and owned by Simpson. It contains about 180 acres. It will be necessary to in stall many concrete vats to raise the rats in but that seems to be no problem as Johnson is a con tractor and will look after that installation. “If and when they get started they will have 10,000 rats and 10,- 000 cats as a working basis. It is estimated that at the end of the first year the cats will increase to 180,500. The rats will do some what better so they are expecting to have 541,500 rats at the end of the first year. “They expect to feed the rats to the cats and then after the cats are skinned to feed the cats to the rats. It will be necessary to supplement this diet with 10 per cent horse meat to keep produc tion up to standard. The cat hides are to be sold to the Government at 30 cents each to be made into caps and furnished to Europe under the Marshall Plan. “According to Taylor they antic ipate no trouble in getting either the 10,000 rats or the 10,000 cats. The market price on cats at the present time is 50 cents each pro viding the cat is at least half grown. It appears that the price on cats fluctuates from day to day as they have been Selling as high as $1.00 each. “This is a closed corporation and no stock is to be offered for sale.” Small Town Celebrates Greatest Football Upset DANVILLE, Ky.—The little com munity of Danville, home of Centre College, recently celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of football’s greatest upset, the 6-to-0 victory over Harvard back in 1921. Norris Armstrong, the captain of that crew of “Praying Colonels” which was quarterbacked by Bo McMillin, recalled how the players went up to Soldier Field at Cam bridge, Mass., to face the then mighty Crimson eleven which never jefore in its history had lost an ntersectional football game. After the game the, people back in Danville, townspeople and stu dents, went berserk and literally sainted the town with huge scrawled whitewash figures which state sim ply “C-6, H-0.” Even today the figures remain on the side of a water tank and the wall of a warehouse, and the legend persists that enthusiastic old grads come around occasionally and touch them up. Make Steamed Pudding for Holidays Now (Set Recipes Below) Machinery Threatens Existence of Old Dobbins PIERRE, S. D.—Farm mechani zation has threatened the existence of old dobbin in South Dakota, a 1951 state assessment survey re veals. The new survey figures show that state’s farmers have more tractors and combines than horses. There are about 98,600 in South Dakota now, a decrease of 21,000 in one year. There are 85,800 tractors, an in crease of 3,000 in one year, and 20,800 combines, an increase of 2,000. Holiday Favorites STEAMED PUDDINGS and fruit cakes are age-old menu traditions that belong to Christmas and New Year feasts. As all of the more ex perienced home-makers know, these are bpth things which may be done, in fact, should be done before the holi days actually ar rive. Like most culi nary heirlooms from other centu ries, old-fashioned- puddings and cakes would not please modern tastes. Many of them would ba con sidered too heavy, lumpy and sog gy. Modern cakes and puddings are neither too heavy nor over-rich, and they combine all of the best and none of the bad features of the tra ditional concoctions. Make them now, before you get too involved in shopping, making gifts and other decorations. Give them an oppbrtunity to mellow. • • • HERE’S A PUDDING that’s plump with goodness of fruits and nuts, fragrant with flavors and yet light enough to serve after ham, roast beef or turkey, whatever the choice for the holidays. Steamed Date-Nirt Pudding (Serves 8) % cup butter or substitute 1H cups dates, chopped fine 94 cup chopped nuts 3H cups soft bread crumbs 3 teaspoons baking powder 94 teaspoon salt 94 cup milk 3 eggs 94 cup sugar 94 cup apple juice Cream butter; add dates and nuts and mix well. Combine bread crumbs, baking powder and salt and stir in milk. Add to date-nut mixture. Beat eggs, add sugar and beat until light Add to batter. Finally, stir in % cup of the apple juice. Turn into one-quart pudding mold which has been well greased or oiled. Pour remaining apple juice over the pudding. Cover and steam for 2 to 3 hours. • • • HERE’S AN UNUSUAL fruit cake which is rich and delicious. It will keep well for several months, pro vided you have enough left to keep after the festivities. Rich Fruit Cake (Makes 1 Cake) 1 pound dates 94 cup candled cherries 1 slice candied green pinapple 1 slice red candied pineapple 2 slices white candied pineapple 94 cup candied orange peel 94 cup candied lemon peel 94 cup candied citron 1 cup chopped pecans 1 can moist coconut 1 can sweetened condensed milk Cut dates and cherries into thirds. Cut remaining fruits about the same size. Mix all in gredients togeth er thorough- ly and press into a small, greased loaf pan lined with greased brown paper or an 8-inch tube pan greased and lined with greased brown paper. LYNN SAYS: Try these Short-Cuts On your Busy Days Want .some colored sugar? Add somo food coloring to granulated sugar, and rub with fingertips to spread color. Sprinkle this on plain cookies before baking. Need to speed measuring tech nique? Keep a set of graduated measuring cups or spoons, which ever are used most often, in the canisters or cans containing your dry ingredients. LYNN CHAMBERS’ MENU Onion Soup Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Cheese Tossed Green Salad Olives Crusty Rolls or Bread Baked Caramel Custard Cookies Beverage Bake in a slow (300°F.) oven for 2 hours. Turn out on cake .cooler. Decorate with blanched almonds, candied cherries v and leaves from green candied pineapple, if de sired. Cover with waxed paper and store in refrigerator. Miniature Fruit Cakes (Serves 10) 2 cups brown sugar 2 cups hot water 94 cup shortening 1 cup raisins 2 cups sifted flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 94 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 94 teaspoon cloves 94 teaspoon nutmeg 1 cup chopped candled cherries 1 cup chopped dates 94 cup chopped nutmeats 1 cup oats, uncooked (quick or old-fashioned) . Combine brown sugar, hot water, shortening and raisins in saucepan and bring to a boil; cook 5 minutes. Cool. Sift together flour, soda, salt and spices into a bowl. Add chopped fruit, nutmeats and rolled oats. Add brown sugar mixture, mixing thoroughly. Fill greased custard cups, 94 full Bake in a slow (325 e F.) oven about 1 hour. Cool for 10 min utes before removing from custard cups. Serve warm or cold with hard sauce. • • • IF YOU DON’T like to make your cake sev eral weeks ahead of time, here’s one that can be made during the last week before festivities. The cake has a rich, luscious texture a n d a flavorful combination of of citrus and nuts. Santa’s Prize Cake (Makes 1 Cake) 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons grated orange peel 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel 2 eggs, slightly beaten 294 cups sifted flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 94 teaspoon salt , 1 cup sour milk 1 cup chopped walnuts Cream together butter and sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add orange and lemon peel, then blend in slightly beaten eggs; beat thoroughly. Sift together dry in gredients and mix into slightly creamed mixture alternately with milk. (To sour milk, add 1 table spoon lemon juice to 1 'cup sweet milk and allow to stand.) Fold in walnuts. Pour into greased ring mold pan and bake in. a moderate (350°F.) oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly pressed. Like some soup for supper? Use a bouillon cube plus juices from canned vegetables and heat. Add leftover tomato juice and leftover vegetables, if desired while heating for variety. Need some melted chocolate? Wrap the squares of chocolate in a square of aluminum foil, and fit over the top of your open teakettle so it doesn’t slip. Heat the water in the kettle and chocolate will melt, then pour off chocolate and throw away the foil. There’s nothing to wash! SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 29-34. DEVOTIONAL READING: Deuteron omy 30:11-20. Hero's Farewell Dr. Foreman Lesson for December 9, 1951 A moving picture company once conceived the idea of recording and putting on the screen all over the country what two opposing can didates were saying on various prob lems. It was en- /joyable, or madden ing, according to your political views, to observe the con trast. Both men read what they had to say, but their reading was entire ly different. One man kept his eyes on his little desk, never made a gesture, never looked at the audience. It was not inspiring,—just a middle- aged man reading to himself. Can didate B on the other hand never let his script come between him and his listeners; he kept his eye on them and unless one observed him carefully one would not notice that he was reading. (He won in a walk, too.) Now the way to get the true flavor of Deuteronomy, especially the chapters selected for this week, is to listen to some one read it who can read like Candidate B. For Deuteronomy is not a desk-book; it is mostly out-of-doors oratory. It was not meant for the eye first, but for the ear. • • • After the Great Man, What? K great hero, Moses, was taking leave of his people. In spite of all the grumblings and the rebel lions, it is no exaggeration to say that for those people he stood in the place of God. He not only tow ered above his own generation, but he cast a light far into the centuries, so that to this day we Are indebted to the inspired greatness of Moses, the man of God. Yet the greatest of men most die. When it came time for Him to say farewell it Is hard to im agine the sinking of heart that all his people felt. Before them lay the unknown; their whole course of life was about to change, in ways they could not foresee; with Moses gone, how could they face the future? Was he to leave after him (as some “great” men have done) only a vacuum? • • • A Challenge TN the closing days of his life, * Moses focussed his people’s eyes on two things. First was the Law. Life is not lived by impulse and inspiration only. Life, tb have power .and meaning, must be a patterned life, clear and definite lines, a sense of direction. So Moses left behind him—not full details, these were for others to work out—the main lines of civic and social; as well as in dividual life, in the Law which God had made clear to him as the true “design for living.” But Moses does not simply pound It into people’s ears: You shall, you must, these are the orders! He sets it out as a clear choice. He shows the people the alternatives: Life and Good on the one hand. Death and Evil on the other. Make up your mind, he says: Choose. The Law of God does not force you. It is not an arbitrary thing. The reason for the Law is never “just because.” The reason for the Law is that it is the way to live. You don’t have to keep it, Moses says in ef fect; but if you choose to reject it, the end of the other road is Death. This is true for individuals, it is true for nations. It is a terrific mistake to think of God as ordering us about for his own amusement, or to tie us down. He gives us orders for our own sakes. • * • A Song ICNOTHER legacy Moses Leaves behind is a Song. We do not usually think of Moses as a poet, but Deut. 32 is ascribed to him. He knew people might forget the Law, but a Song they would not forget. “I care not who writes a nation’s laws,” said a philosopher, “if only I can vrite its songs.” What Moses gave his people was no mere tuneful trash, but a grand hymn of faith. What Moses most of all wants his peo ple to do, is not to remember him but to remember God. So after all the law is on the books, and all the speeches have been made, at the last he gives his people a Song, to remember God by. Is it not so always? What are the parts of the Bible that mean most to all generations? Always the sing ing words of Psalm and prophet and gospel, the rhythm of Paul’s chapter on Love, the majestic choruses of the Revelation. Though great men pass, though the mind forget the Law, the heart will not forget the Song. (Copyright 1951 by the Division of Christian Edacation, National CoaneU of the Chnrehes of Christ In the United States ef America. Released by WNU Featnres.) Get Well QUICKER Fram Yovr Caersh Due to a Cold with the Sensationa l A-C Factor in the New Intensified FOLEY’S asz&SUe AMAZINGLY QUICKR ACTING INCA1DIALY MORI IFFICTIVI r ioo ^ f tablets i 1 ONLY 490^ St.Joseph ASPIRIN eat anything WITH FALSE TEETH I If yon have trouble with plafM xi iiv- that«lip,rock.canse sore»umr“* try Britnms PIssti-Lioer Goe application makes plates fit smugly untbeut£ud*r erpost* because Brimms Plaati-Liner ———— - ;— neatly to your piste. 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