The Evening critic., 1883-01-01
pEcApITATrNa DETECTIVES.
Two Official Heads Roll Into the
Rnskaf. TamnornriIY Al Least

Basket, Temporarily At Least.
on Saturday afternoon Commissioner West
closed, in part, the investigation OF the charges
againat the detectives. The evidence taken
was submitted by General West to Major
Lydecker, and both agreed that prima facle
case had been made out against two members
OF the detective force, and the following order
was drawn up, which was submitted to Major
Morgan, on his arrival and concurred In bv
him:
ordered, That the report made by Commits.
sioner West, OF the Investigation held by him,
of matters contained in memorandum No H.
submitted by John W. Thompson, chairman
citizens' committee, requires, In the judgment
Of the board, that George W. McElfresh and
force Metropolitan Police, should be held to
answer, under the laws governing the police
force, and the Major of Police is directed to
suspend them, tho said George W. McElfresh
and James A. McDevitt from duty, and to pro.
hibit them from any intercourse or communi-
cation with any other members of the police
force, OF whatever rank or grade, without the
permission of the Board of commissioners.
Major Brock was at once furnished with q
copy of this order, and that ofIlcer embodied
II in an order to Lieutenant Eckloff, who notl-
ned the two detectives of its contents, and
Messrs. McDevitt md McElfresh left the Of
nce.
They consider that the prohibition against
Intercourse with members of the force is
rather severe, but they nre not aware OF the
ramincations Of the investigation, nor how
important Is this special provision of the or.
sary for them to go to headquarters 10 exam
Inc records for their defense permission would,
no doubt, be granted by the Commissioners,
upon n written application, stating what Is
wanted.
Mr.. j. W. Thompson, chairman of tho com.
mittee of citizens, says that this is but the pc
ginning OF the inquiry, and that decidedly
startling developments may be expected
within few days. Ho ia constantly In receipt
of letters from citizens detailing cases OF rob
berry and tho employment Of detectives who
failed TO detect unless reward OF nearly the
value OF the property was offered, and then no
thief was ever arrested On Saturday the fol
lowing was received:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF
INDIAN AFFAIRS, WASHINGTON, Dec. %, 1882.
j. W. THOMPSON, ESQ.,. Dear Sir: am In
formed that you are making movement In
reform Of the Police Department Of this city,
and that you would be pleased to receive any
Information from citizens to aid you In secur-
ing that result.
About a year since, my sonlnlaw, T. j..
Smith, who resides near mo on Capitol Hill,
rented one OF the rooms In his house to two
females, mother and daughter. Soon there
aIter.the house was robbed Of large amount
Of pr9perty, clothing, bedding, etc. notified
Major Brock and he sent detective there. 1t
was perfectly evident that outside thieves
were assisted by thieves inside. Some days
intervcned, and an elderly woman called on
my daughter Mrs. Smith), told her that she
knew whore some Of the things had been found,
and that she could trace up and recover all,
but that IT. would require money to do 1t, etc.
My son-in.law thereupon called upon the de-
tective, told him what the woman had COM
municated to his wife, and the substance of
the detectives reply was that this woman was
very keen detective, and had worked up some
very important cases for them. This he
thought was an indication to him to follow the
advice Of this woman, and the next day gave
her some money (the amount forget. In a
day or two after she reported progress aud
pointed out the place where some of the cloth
ing had been found, but counseled him not to
reveal the matter until the whole case could
be worked up. He visited the place, and found
that her statement so far was true, but the
woman wanted moro money from him, and on
consulting me about tho matter, advised him
not to give her any-that l believed she was
only acting under tho direction of the de-
tective to get all tho money they could,
and that in the end he would have to pay
about what tho property was worth to recover
1t, and that the thieves and detectives were
operating together. AS he know where some
OF the things were, and had so informed the
detective, itwas clearly his duty to arrest some
OF the gang-that IL was a clear case, and an
honest officer would do his duty. on my ad.
vice he paid the woman no more money, but
went to the detective q number of times, told
him where some OF tho stolen property was
but he would mako no effort to recover 1t and
made no arrests.
Several houses on the Hill were robbed In
like manner about that time, but have never
heard that yigilant detectives, In the absence
of rewards, have over discovered the thieves
Very respectfully,
Il, L, STEVENS,