The New York herald., 1879-08-01


under direction of the chief clerk Adopted
The MAYOR SILENT
Mayor Cooper sat in his easy chair in his oihce
when HERALD reporter waited upon him to hoa'
what he had to in relation to the charges against
Mr. Wheeler. His Honor. however. would not COM
municate anything further on the subject he SAID,
soner He refused to answer any questions IN REFER
ence to the matter, and. in fact would not state
anything about what course he intended to pursue.
1t is known. however, that the Mayor made the
charges in accordance with section ~ OF the charter
OF 1878, which provides that
No officer city shall have receive or
appropriate to his own any fees pequisites or e9i
missions tpt every such 9ea s sa, come Uo
missions % received BY any such oes shall property
Of city, and e' ss or nsr
Which should be- paid over to the city shall before no
sna aaaed III r.arn to to the csmproo
o a ssn ss S hn snse hs
the person from whom reesscd ana tne n hhra
showing payment BY him 10 said officer OF the assre
gate amount thereof
WHAT MIR. sHEARaAN SAYS
Commissioner of Accounts Shearnan when APP
approached declined to commit himself to any
decided statement as to the affairs OF Mr. Wheeler
He would not enter any further details than
contained in his report to the Mayor. but stated
thar so far us he was able to see. the financial
affairs of the Police Department were managed in
entirely different manner from those OF other bu-
of the city government All other departments
were required to give vouchers on the Finance De-
partment for all moneys due. which are thereupon
paid by the latter bureau. The Police Department.,
relative to the finances under the sole control
of the treasurer. who is commissioner, and is
elected by his colleagues. The Board OF Estimate
and Apportionment apprepriates money every year
for the support or the police. and one-twefth of
this amount IS drawn by the treasurer every month.
and disbursed by him, through various agencies
1t may be stated in this connection that Il section
OF the charter OF 1873 exempts the Police Department
from the provision compelling all other departments
to keep their books open to taxpayers any other
person upon payment of certain legal charges for
making transcripts.
OF
The firm of Sullivan, Vail Co., on Broadway.
supplies the Police Department with woollens.
sioner Wheeler? Mr. Vail was asked.
.'Yes," tho reply. 1--WE have dealt with him in
his official capacity quite extensively"
"How were your bills paidy
"Weil. generally in cash. but sometimes payment
was taken in checks Of Mr. Wheeler"
"were they signed by him treasurer of the
Police Board e
THAT couldn't say. They Inay have been. and
then again it possible that they signed simply
in his private capacity. have looked my
check book, but the stubs do not show We took the
checks. however. whenever they offered to u.s."
''Did you ever experience any difficulty in getting
sometimes we did. Before Mr.. Wheeler had
charge of the Bureau OF Equipment our bills rarely
amounted to 81 500. Since he has had control,
however. the amount due has reached in some
$4,000. remember particularly one case
when large quantity of goods on hand at head
quarters. The men did not pay promptly for the
cloth purchased for uniforms and consequently the
department was short of funds Our payments were
very Slow.
"How have you found Mr.. Wheeler in your deal
II have always considered him to be an honorable
and upright business man. He has always, SO tar
as know, endeavored to do what is right and just.
and / have not the sligh doubt whatever but
that he will be able to disprove anything that may
be said against him.
'.Have you any claim against him at the present
timer
mot the slightest. Our accounts all balanced
and nothing is owed me by him..
TALK WITH MR. MOE
The reporter next sought Mr.. Isaac l.. Moe. who
was placed in charge OF the Equipment Bureau by
Mr.. Wheeler. Commissioner Sncarman having re-
ported the Mayor that there balance of $500
still due Messrs. Sullivan, Vail Co. the first ques
ton asked was ia relation to that statement.
1T is not so,' was Mr.. Noes reply, because be-
fore noon to-day / settled the whole account with
the firm, and not cent is due to theG. 1t is
my invariable custom to settle with tradesmen
the last day every month, before noon. In pursu-
ance OF that custom saw Messrs. Sullivan, Vail l.
Co., and liquidated all Indebtedness to them. The
amount $2O0-represents the value OF cloth
bought during the past month";
'What is your uniform system OF dealing with
merchants and tradesmenY
"Wel, we 30, say, 10 Mr.. Sullivan or to Mr. Vail,
quantity that we think viii be suffieient to last ms
some time. We often give cash ana sometimes wait
until money has been taken in from policemen who
want suits made We conduct strict &C. o. d. "
business with the officers, and have had no difficulty
in getting our money. AS said before on the last
day of every month settle up all claims held
agains. us, and thcn begin new
What about this alleged deficiency?"
elm relation to that, can only say that the news
of it perfectly astounded me. heard of 1t few
days since from Mr.. Shearman, and ut
municated the information to Mr.. Wheeler. 1
astonished. He did not know what to make of IL,
and he told me He said Moe, how is this? They
say my accounts are $4,000 short. There must be
some mistake. Hunt around and see it you can't
find out where ii is. did so, and after good deal
of trouble found that the true deficiency did not
amount to more than $4,000, it it amounted to any,
thing. The account which it is claimed is irregular
closed year ago last April. That was before
had charge OF this bureau 1t seems very queer that
q
matter
Fields & Co. of Fourteenth street who formerly
furnished all the gloves for the Police Department
corroborated Mr.. Wallis and also those OF
Mr.. Moe in relation to the methods of dealing with
tradesmcn by the Commissioners. They had had
quito extensive dealings with the Board, and had not
experienced any trouble in getting pay for their
goods All the other merchants who furnished
goods to the department also spoke in the same
strain. They had never experienced any difficulty
in getting pay from MIR. Wheeler.
INTERVIEW WITH MIR.
Mr. George Bliss said:-"rhe Mayor charges
not worth the paper they are written on In the
first place they not true, and If they
they worthless. The money not the city's
money and tile Mayor has nothing do With
it, There is deiaication or appropriation
moment any one who has the right to demand the
money does so it shall be forthcoming: 1t is not
police funds nor in any way connected with it.
fhe city is forbidden by law to engage
in any transactions for profit. and these
sold to the policemen. The sellers of clotn cannot
complain. they have been paid their bills. and the
receipts tncre 10 SNOW IL. Mr.. Wnceler hAu
nothing to do with the business tor year and
half. lie gave IL up by order OF the Board. 1t has
been in the hands of Moe. who has over
$1,000 He doesn't know what to do with it, There
are in addition TO that probably $500 ready on
call at the shortest notice. The examiner Of
accounts nrst found deficit of S12.OU Before
he lett the building he shown receipts
that reduced the amount to Ss.0o0 and II he had
had little patience he would have learned the truth.
The practice OF selling the cloth to policemen has
always existod 1t used to be in the hands door
and is now in charge OF man IN charge OF the
la fnr f.at of
officers"
Mr.. wHKELERs COLLEAGUES THINK.
About Police Headquarters slere was crowd all
day yesterday. Mr.. Wheeler put III appearance
early the day. but lett to attend meeting OF his
creditors before Register Little. Commissioners
Stcl hen Is. french was found by reporter late IN
the afternoon III his office in the Mulberry street
mansion.
what do you think of Mr.. wheeler's case,' asked
the reporter
'.He assured Inc that there nothing in it," was
the reply. .Mr. Wheeler came to me and told me
that there was not grain OF truth in anything thai
had been said about deficiency. lie denied IN the
most emphatic manner that there any money