Tammany Test

Just when Tammany Hall was bracing itself for a New York City-wide election this fall, a bloody body was last week plunked down upon its political doorstep. Frank Marlow, murdered Broadway gambler and racketeer, had hardly been settled in his coffin before a so-called Better City Government League nominated one-time (1918-25) Tammany Mayor John Francis ("Red Mike") Hylan to run as an independent candidate against Tammany Mayor James John Walker. The Hylan war-cry: Stamp out crime, vice, corruption.

Gambler Marlow had been a friend of Gambler Arnold Rothstein, whose murder last fall (still unsolved) created a cloud of stories about the underworld entanglements of Tammany leaders (TIME, Dec. 24). Many a New York voter had begun to forget the Rothstein murder when the Marlow murder occurred. Grover Aloysius Whalen, the fastidious police chief who was inducted to quiet the Rothstein uproar, squared his handsomely tailored shoulders, sat up late seeking clues. His detectives swarmed spectacularly through the Broadway brightlight district making raids, seeking witnesses. Other detectives chased a trail leading to Boston. Said the Commissioner: "Actions speak louder than words."

New York voters, waiting to see what Commissioner Whalen would do, recognized the Marlow murder as an exceedingly lucky break for Nominee Hylan, who had charged that the Rothstein case would remain a mystery so long as the present administration was in power because "too many politicians . . . were involved with Rothstein in his criminal enterprises." Nominee Hylan hinted that the Marlow case would join the Rothstein case as another unsolved murder with a political tinge. Before the week was out, Commissioner Whalen had eight persons under arrest, six as material witnesses, two as oldtime criminals, caught in a "fortified" apartment, to whom the actual murder might be charged.

Nominee Hylan hopes to gain Republican support as a fusion candidate. Against his hopes looms the short, swart figure of Manhattan Republican Congressman Fiorello H. La Guardia, who expects the Republican mayoral nomination. By way of preparation, Congressman La Guardia last week went to the U. S. Army hospital at Hot Springs. Ark., had his tonsils removed.