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girls, to come out and have a good
timeir He wanted to make, a bargairi
with this woman to run the flat
above his saloon.
"And from one of the department
stores, two girls have come and
talked to one of my men and said
'They wanted to get some ready
. money.' "
- . Williams did not produce the- affi
davit he says he has to back up these
charges. He did not give, the name
of the saloonkeeper, who, he says,
is in the business of procuring girls
from department stores.
v These .charges of Williams, are of
the gravest nature. If they be true,
the saloonkeeper ought to "be arrest
ed immediately an.d put on trial for
pandering. Also tfiey reflect on the
girls of the department stores.
Williams bught to be forced to
. prove his charges and to put the
name of the saloonkeeper in the
hands of the state's attorney. And! if
he should fail to prove them he
, should be forced to retract his state
ments .publicly.
"Have you ever read the Peach
' book?" asked Senator Beall, when
Williams had finished. . r '
"No," said Williams.
"Well,, I'd advise you to read it,"
'said Beall, and'satback in his.chair.
"""There was quite, a long silence.
The members of the commission
seemed at a loss as to how to pro-
ceed with the questioning" of Wil-'
liams. Williams decided to make a
speech himself. '
"I was trying to discover why vice
' seemed to flourish in our section of
the city," he said. "I tried to find the
center of the system. I discovered
that a certain man, who ran a gam
i bling den and .a saloon 'and a house
-of prostitution in one building, 'had
.gone through the neighborhood ad
vising other people to open up wide,
telling them he could get them pro
tections The keeper of this place said
that Joe Frees, Democratic precmct
committeeman in the Twenty-first
ward,- gave protection in the ward. 1
"1 charged this before the ' city
council. I was asked to make' good
I went before the mayor and sug-j
-gested the best, way to check up on
my statements:- -I went before the
civil service commission and - had?
them bring incertain individuals'.'
The), testimony was that one paid
$100 a month."
(Note; This -directly contradicts"
the testimony, of the woman, Mrs.
Sarah Mueller; whom Williams
brought in and on whose testimony'
he based his case. MrsrMueller did
no$ say she paid $100 a month pro-t
tection money., She said thatTduring
the nine or ten .years she was run-'
ning a dive on the North Side she'
only paid $100 protection moriey, and
.that "she paid this in a lump sum
Furthermore,. she swore that she paid'
this $100 to a man she did not know
at all, and who might not have been'
a politician' or anyone able to give
her the protection she said she-
.bought. This unknown man, she
said, said the money was for "a
Democrat attheCjty Hall.") 1
""I have heard all my life," said
Lieut-Gov. O'Hara, "that there is al
connection betwerr politics and vice,''
qut I never have been shown-thejcon-'
nection. , 1
"Can you get us any witnesses,1 (
men or women in the business AoP '
prostitution, who will swear, and pro
duce evidence to back their testi-1
mony, that they paid any precinct"
committeeman.ward committeeman
or official or police officer, protection'
money? Now l'don't want rumors; ,
I want facts." ' -i
Williams shifted about uncomfort-I
ably in his chair. His unhealthy face
showed a,. flash of'color. '
"I don't know if I can produce the!
affidavits here," he said at last,' un
easily. "I I shall try. I know where i -
one Is filed. I I do not want to em
barrass any man in public office. i
do not know if the person who' made
the affidavit" i
The "fighting parson's" voice trail
ed off miserably. He looked from
