It will, I hope, render available to the whole English-speaking world the gist and essence of the evidence taken before the Committee appointed by the Senate of the State of New York to inquire into the Police Department of the City. This Committee, presided over by Senator Lexow, held seventy sittings in the year 1894, and ultimately published the Report of their inquiry in five stout octavo volumes of 1100 pages each. All their proceedings were public, and the New York papers published ample reports from day to day. Outside New York nothing but brief telegrams or occasional letters informed the world of what was taking place, and the final Report was never published in the British or Colonial press. Yet the lesson of the state of things revealed by the Lexow Committee was one which every great city would do well to take to heart. What New York was, London, Glasgow, or Melbourne may--nay, will certainly--become, if the citizens lose interest in the good government of their city. When I was in New York in September, I tried in vain to purchase a copy of the Lexow Report. As for exhuming the files of the daily papers, one might as well try to resurrect Cheops. Fortunately, just as I was stepping on board the _Teutonic_, the five bulky volumes were handed over to me as a loan. Dr. Shaw had at the last moment succeeded in borrowing the office copy of the Report from the Society for the Prevention of Crime. It was apparently the only available set in the whole city. I deemed it well therefore to master the voluminous evidence in order to construct a readable and authentic narrative which would make this great object-lesson accessible to the world. W. T. STEAD. MOWBRAY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, LONDON, W.C. _November, 1897._ CONTENTS. PAGE. FRONTISPIECE: THE CITY HALL, NEW YORK 2 PREFACE 5 PART I.--THE GATEWAY OF THE NEW WORLD. CHAPTER. I. LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD 9 II. THE SECOND CITY IN THE WORLD 17 III. ST. TAMMANY AND THE DEVIL 27 IV. THE LEXOW SEARCHLIGHT 43 PART II.--“SATAN’S INVISIBLE WORLD.” I. THE POLICE BANDITS OF NEW YORK 57 II. THE POWERS AND THE IMPOTENCE OF THE POLICE 61 III. PROMOTION BY PULL AND PROMOTION BY PURCHASE 67 IV. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A POLICE CAPTAIN 79 V. “THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES” 87 VI. THE SLAUGHTER-HOUSES OF THE POLICE 95 VII. KING MCNALLY AND HIS POLICE 107 VIII. THE PANTATA OF THE POLICY SHOP AND POOL ROOM 119 IX. FARMERS-GENERAL OF THE WAGES OF SIN 125 X. “ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN” 135