Daily Republican., 1883-11-12
I aIRD EDITION,
An Ofiic ey's 6aaleInent.


An Ofiiees's 6laaement
MEssRs. EDITORS -Pl ase allow De
to statr, through the: columns of your
valuable paper, that Innch un ust crit
cism prevails At the present time, from
certain newspapers published T. ihis
city, in order to prejndice the pnhIic
mind against the pre- sent police force.
That IL Is only done to accomplish Ger
tain points is apparent TO all, but to the
unpreju iiced it will be remembered
that the hieving propensities of pro-
fessiouaIs have been INDUCED in this
ci y through former administrations as
we'll as at the present time.
A. member Of the present police
force, | will endeavor to impress the
public with a truthful statement OF
facts ~ they really are. Do those jour.
nalists, " no criticise the police OF thiscity
who are swo n To do their duty, notice
in the dali es published in Philadelphia,
the robberies committed IN that city
every "a hours, with patrolmen 80 num-
erous AZ to be within sound OF each
others, whistle all the time? do they
for moment realize the numerical
strength of the police force Of this city,
which consists of 80 active patrolmen
aud : ksergeants, of which only one hall,
or ID patrolmen and sergeants, are on
duty at any one time, to protect the in
terests of a city with population OF
nearly $4,000 Inhabitants and millions
Of dollars of treasure
So far as territorial limit is concerned
l will state that the Third district,
which I, as one Of the four officers,
represent, embraces that portion of the
city from the Railroad north to F. fth
street, which is five squares, and from
Market street west to Union street,
twenty squares total of one hundred
squares, with the short streets between
the same; and over the causeway from
Market street bridge to oGarashee's lane,
which is the city limit, and all the
above mentioned territory, under the
IafrOl of two office at one time, and
yet if a petty theft is committed those
officers are supposed to be omnlpresent.
If reporter was capable of telling
foregoing events 1t would be useless for
him to leave the editorial sanctum in
search of news just so with police
officer; if he possessed that power he
would know exactly when and where TO
meet the midnight marander
A prominent physician in this place,
who has a controlling interest in Il
weekly paper, delights in holding up
the police force to ridicule, and fire.
quently, in summing up the events OF
the week, reports so many rohberies
and no police. If perchance he should
lose patient by the hand Of death,
which Is the case sometimes, would he
announce through the medium of his
paper that death had robbed another
household of its victim and no physician
about. l rather think not we may do
alltn our power to protect our citizens
in regard to life and property, aud
neither of us succeed in every case.
A word to business men and house
keepers might not hP auiss III ihl'
article. There is not a night whilr uu
duty but what we find it necess lry 70
arouse some family to th" important
fact that they have retired and he.
elected 10 tasren their dwellings. On
last Saturday night, after one O'Clock,
on Madison street above SerOnu, !
found a man asleep on the front steps
with the front door wide open; ! found
he was a boarder and sent him IN. A
few nights ago | found the out cellar
doors of a grocery store that bad been
neglect d. The robbery on Tatnail
street, above Second, about week ago,
was through neglecting 70 fasten the
cellar window. | went TO the residence
Of Mr.. Vallandigham, of the Every
Evening, on one occasion at night to
inform that gentleman that the office
door of that building, then located at
Fifth and Market, was left unlocked.
He went with me and expressed
thanks: and such is the case through
ont the city every night where induce
ments are thrown out and petty thieving
encouraged, and the otticcls receive the
censure.
We sometimes hear of robberies in
this city, where business men pay
special watclmen for the better pro-
teciion of their property. A member
of the old force said few days ago he
caught one thief in a period OF nine
years of police life, and that was only
by mere acciIent. He stated that one
night while on duty he saw bundle
drop from transOm over store
door. He kept out of sight little
while, and finally the man craw led out,
ben he hurried up and arrested him.
In conclusion, Jet US insist upon house.
keepers eilheavoring to protect ,hei'
homes by securely fastening their doors
and windows, whereby much incon
venience and expense may be avoided
JOSEPH Osborne