Testimony before the Lexow Committee

By New York State Senate

"Testimony before the Lexow Committee" by New York State Senate. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Dec 8, 2020
• ISBN: 4064066425227

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New York State Senate

Testimony before the Lexow Committee

Published by Good Press, 2022

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EAN 4064066425227

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J. Lawrence Carney, called as a witness on behalf of the State, being duly sworn, testified as follows:

Direct examination by Mr. Goff:

Q. How long have you been in New York? A. About five years this time; I was here about — before that I was here about 10 years ago; I was here three years when I was younger.

Q. During the five years that you have been in New York what business have you been engaged in? A. The last two years I have been engaged in transacting business for some policy men in this city.

Q. In what capacity? A. Almost every capacity; writer —

Q. Give us the designations of the various positions? A. Oh, well, I have done writing for them.

Q. Writing? A. Yes; I have been to court with some of the men to help bail people out, and all such things as that; some confidential work.

Q. Well, have you been what is called a backer? A. No, sir.

Q. You are not fortunate enough? A. No, sir; never got that high.

By Chairman Lexow:

Q. Never had the bank-roll? A. No, sir.

By Mr. Goff:

Q. Now, we have heard something about policy here, and yet I think it would be interesting to the committee to hear and to have placed upon the record how the policy business is conducted as between the writers or the backers of the game, and the persons who play policy? A. Well, you want a description of how the game is run?

Q. I do? A. Well, in the first place these drawings are supposed to be drawn in Covington and Frankfort.

Q. Two lotteries? A. Yes; it is legalized there; two lotteries, one in Covington and one in Frankfort; this is supposed to come by cipher, by the Western Union Telegraph Company; that is the cipher it comes in; that is supposed to be 26 numbers at night, and 24 in the morning; that is 13 words (indicating paper); I do not understand them, and they do not, and only one man knows them, E. J. Conlon, in Jersey City, is the man.

Q. What is his right name? A. That is not his right name; nobody knows; I do not know that he does himself.

Q. Is he a distinguished man in the society? A. He is the secret man; there are three other secret men; they sell these drawings to the backers in New York, and these three men control the business only; this Conlon does all of their private confidential work; probably they do not know his name.

Q. Do you know the names of those three men? A. No, sir; I do not; and nobody else, I guess, but themselves; none of these people go under their right name; one of the names I think he went by, I think is by the name of Hughes, one of them.

Q. Hughes? A. Hughes.

Q. Now, you say that two messages come over the Western Union wires every day? A. One at one o'clock in the afternoon and one at six in the evening.

Q. And each letter represents a certain number? A. They probably represent more than one; there are two lotteries, and