Chicago Tribune
FRANK BROTHERS SPURNED BY
JEWS
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Dr. E. G. Hirsch Says They Would Have Been Stoned to Death in Old Days.
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BITTER WORDS BY EDITOR
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Isreal Disgraced by Calvaria Congregation’s Elevation of Purveyor of Vice.
As an outcome of the conviction of Police Inspector Edward McCann and of the exposure of the west side vice, which was concomitant of the trial, there developed yesterday a Jewish movement against the Frank brothers, Louis and Julius, whose testimony essentially was the case of the state.
Dr. Emil G. Hirsch of Sinai temple, in Forward, a Jewish newspaper of Chicago and New York, excoriated without mercy the Franks and the congregation Anshe Calvaria, of which the Franks are members. The paper bore on its front page a cartoon showing the Frank brothers holding a sack into which a flood of money was pouring from a champagne glass in the hand of a dancing levee woman.
In an editorial the paper, which is printed in the Yiddish language, declared the exposures of the McCann trial were horrifying to the Jews, and called upon the respectable Jews of the west side to war against Jewish dive keepers.
Excoriation by Dr. Hirsch
Dr. Hirsch, in speaking of the Franks and their religious affiliations, had this to say:
"The testimony of the Frank brothers places them in a class which Jewish communities of a couple of generations ago were accustomed to put under ban. In ancient times the Jewish community would have stoned such men.
"In view of the fact that one of these brothers is the president of a Jewish orthodox congregation and that the officers of that congregation adopted resolutions of trust in him, it is almost difficult to say which deserves severer condemnation and despising.
"In my opinion the officers of the congregation and Frank stand on the same level. The sooner such creatures are cleaned out the better it will be for the Jews of the world in general and of America in particular.
"The action of the officers of the congregation Anshe Calvaria is shameful, shameful, shameful.."
The editorial, which attacked the Frank brothers, was headed, "Chicago Jews Must Clean Out Their Own Quarters." A translation of part of it follows:
"The facts which were uncovered at the trial of Inspector McCann are horrifying. Seventy-five percent of the white slave trade in Chicago is in Jewish hands. The owners of most of the immoral resorts on the west side are Jews. Even in gentile neighborhoods Jews stand out prominently in this nefarious business.
"The shame would not be so overwhelming if the thing stopped there. For after all we could say: ‘What can we do if such creatures persist in calling themselves Jews" But we could say this only if these outcasts had remained where they belong and had no standing in the Jewish community of this city. When these men, however, fill public offices in the Jewish community, when they parade and are designated as model citizens in certain quarters of the Jewish population, we no longer can remain on the defensive.
Admits His Degrading Business.
"One of these ‘prominent’ Jews is Julius Frank. Julius Frank confessed openly that he is the owner of a number of houses of ill fame. He confessed that he paid protection money to the police so that his houses might not be raided.
"This creature, this Julius Frank, is president of the Congregation Anshe Calvaria, Twelfth and Union streets.
"Julius Frank, self-confessed owner of houses of ill fame, is the head of a Jewish congregation !
"Can you, Jews of Chicago, conceive it fully ? A Jewish synagogue, a holy temple which should be the cleanest, the loftiest, the most beautiful place and institution in our lives, such an institution gives away its most honorable rank and post to a man who lives on the money earned by running houses of ill fame !
"Years ago we had such conditions and such a plague spot in New York. We are still suffering from its effects in the eyes of the civilized world. Chicago Jews must take warning from New York, and must clean out the vermin. They must cut out the ulcer which is spreading in their districts.
"Let every respectable Jew on the west side take a hand in this work ! Let me arouse the Jewish community to a war with these disreputables, to a war for decency and against the lowest kinds of corruption and degradation."
Jews Stirred to Indignation
Dr. E. A. Fishkin, president of the Chicago Hebrew Institute, announced that he will appoint a committee to visit all Jewish congregations in Chicago and have them express their official condemnation of any such man as Julius Frank being connected officially with any congregation.
It was stated at the institute that scores of men who attended services at the congregation Anshe Calvaria have gone to different synagogues since the Frank brothers have been exposed.
A prominent west side Jew said the entire Jewish community is incensed at the Frank brothers for the aspersion they cast upon the Jewish race. Julius Frank, he said, was the head of the congregation in name only. He was elected because he was a "good payer."
"As president of the Hebrew institute," said Dr. Fishkin, "I expressed my official condemnation of the Frank brothers last Sunday at a meeting of the institute directors. I reiterate this condemnation. We ask all Jews to see to it that Julius Frank be deposed from his official position as president of a congregation.
"There must be something wrong with the west side when large numbers of Jews are accused of the most shameful crimes of which a Jew has ever been guilty. And the shame of the west side is not that such people exist, but that the leader of this gang is the president of one of their congregations. We detest and abhor the Franks, for they are a curse upon us."
Movements for New Trial
In the meantime McCann’s attorneys conferred together in preparation for arguing for a new trial with the object of beating down the credibility of the Franks.
Despite rumors of "hints to quit," McCann remained an inspector pending the rendering of a written opinion on his status in the police department which is to be delivered to Chief of Police Steward by Assistant State’s Attorney Clyde L. Day.
