Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-03-19
Fisk VS.. Sullivan.

cial session at 10 A. NJ. yesterday ioi INC
purpose of investigating the charges pre-
ferred some weeks since by X A FISK
against Con. Sullivan, Chief Engineer OF
the Paid Fire Department He alleged
that the Chief was incompetent to take
| charge of the fire alarm system ana was
drawing two salaries for his services one
| as Chief Engineer, the other as Stperin-
| tendent OF the Fire Alarm. When the
| cbarges were first presented to the Trustees
| they informed Mr. Fisk that it was mat
ter the consideration of which properly
belonged to the Board of Fire COMMISSION
| ers. The matter was referred to the iatter
Board, who upon an investigation decldea
| that the charges were not foundeu upon
facts. In their opinion the system worked
well under the management OF the Chlei,
| and was managed economically
| Mr.. Fisk not being satisfied Win llie s.I re-
port of the Fire Commissioners, again meg
| his complaint with the City Trustees, anu;
at the request of Mr.. Sullivan, the BOARD
appointed yesterday as time 70 ail1 i MI
| Mayor Brown read the charges preferred
against Mr.. Sullivan, which have been re-
| ferred to in these columns before. lie
specified three instances where alarms had
been turned in, and which failed to sound
| the :" big bell' on Fifth street. he also
| alleged that Mr. Sullivan was monthly
drawing SIS, in addition to his salary
as Chief, which was in contrayentlon OF law.
| Mayor Brown also read the following
answer to the charges, which had peeh
placed on file by Mr.. Sullivan;
| To the Honorable Board Of Trustees -GESTI4E-
| MEN: Some weeks since R. A. Fisk appeared be-
| fore YOUR honorable body and preferred charges
against the management of the nre alarm sys-
| TEN. You very properly referred them 70 tne
Board of Fire Commissioners, VINO tS,a
| an evening for the purpose OF investigating tne
| charges All the parties interested were invited
| to be present. Mr. Fisk was notified by letter,
and personally by the Secretary OF me Board, OF
| the time and place of meeting. The meeting,
| although called for o'clock, was delayed Until
s, in order to give Mr.. Fisk an opportunity to he
present at the taking. of all the testimony;
| Should it happen that he came In late. &c did
| not come however, and the Commissioners pro-
ceeded to investigate. The result of that meet
| ing was published very fully in the RECORD
| UNION the next morning and the Commits
| sioners being thoroughly satisfied that the
| charges were without foundation, malicious, SO
| far as they referred to me, the outgroWth of a
jealous ambition, and preferred by man who.
| himself totally incompetent for the position and
an expensive luxury for the city, 1t is not my
intention in replying at this time to the charges
made by this man-Who pretends to be an cleo
trician, but whose every act shows us that it is
| only pretense, and not a matter of fact-to de-
| tail to you the many improvements made in the
system since the city got rid of him, and to in
| form you of the increased value of the.system
| since that lucky day for the city. As you are
aware, by their official notice, the Commits
sionerS came TO that conclusion at their meet
| ing when, although repeatedly asked to be
| present, Mr.. Fisk was conspicuous by his alb
sence
1.-THE efficiency of man, or a machine, or
| fire alarm system, is known by the work it
| does" l quote from the charges In that we
| all agree. The Fire Commissioners tried Mr..
| Fisk for four years. and had ample opportunity
| to pass upon him in that matter, and what was
| their recorded judgment? Just turn to their re-
port of that Investigating Committee and see.
He questions the exporting ability of men
whose entire lives have been devoted to a study
| of electricity, who were educated to the bust
| ness, and who did not spring up, as did he from
| common line repairer of the Western Union.
To him would say knowledge is one thing
| and cheek another, and of the latter commodity
| he has an immense stock, saying nothing OF a
slight mixture of gall. AS to the condition of
the system ut present, that speaks for itself. 1t
was never in as good condition as to-day. The
gongs since their repairing have been given
| to man competent to repair them, give us but
| little trouble. The mechanic who now repairs
them will come before this Board, if you so de-
| sire, and prove to you concluslyely that the
same man, now preferring charges, which are
| as malicious as untrue almost ruined some of
| the gongs, simply because he was assuming too
| much, or, in other words he was trying 10 do
| something he could not.
AS to the salary, that is something am glad
| to speak OF, for am sure the Board of Trustees
viii approve of the act ofthe Commissioners, act
| ing in the interest of economy, if for no other
| reason. As it is now, SO per month covers all
| the expense of maintaining the system, and
| thorough and eXaCt memorandum is kept of
| each and every outlay. What was it during Mr..
| Fisks term? have for your perusal brought
| with me lot Of figures, showing you what the
| expense of maintaining the system was while
| this pretended electrician, r. a Fisk, was in
charge. For IS months he received a salary of
$50 per month-Sl 400-and the extras for that
| time were 81, S53 So, making total for the IS
months of -, 1913 So; an average per month of
SOS 30, or about 30 per cent. more than it costs
under the present management. For the last
twenty months of his service he received sal
airy of SO per month, and his item of expense
| for extras amounted TO $40 %, making aver
age of $50 per month, or 1215 per cent. more
than it costs. And this is not all, for during
that time the service was not one-half as efficient
as now.
1t is a little remarkable that Mr.. Fisk, in all
his misstatementS of facts, should really say
| something, the truth of which no one viii deny,
| when he says = confess to my ignorance" 1t
was a lucky day for the city Of Sacramento es
! pecially the Fire Department. when they got rid
of this wholly incompetent individual, whose
| only apparent desire was to. each mouth. thrust
his arm up to the elbow into the city treasury.
| hope you will give him every opportunity TO air
| his self-eXated vanity before you, and vent his
| spleen upon my hapless head, simply because,
/ through my exertiOns, this much-aggrieved in
| dividual is no longer allowed to fatten at the
public crib. Very respectfully.
| c. SULLIVAN,
Chief Engineer s. p. F. D.
Mr. Fisk introduced three gentlemen to
testify regarding the failure of certain boxes
to record the alarms he alleged had failed
to turn in, but their evidence was far from
being conclusive, and was confuted by
members of the department, who said that
! in one instance the alarm was recorded and
responded to by the department In
another the difficulty was caused by two
| boxes being turned in simultaneously, and
the other was a case where some malicious
person had disconnected the ground wire
| from the box.
L. B. Smart, the electrician who put up
the boxes and has had more or less of the
care of the system since its construction,
| testified that Fisk left the system in bad
repair. Since that time Smart has been in
charge, and though Sullivan draws the
salary, every dollar of it not used in main
tanning the battery, and for repairs of gongs
and line goes to Smart for his services II
! the expenses of any one month should ex-
coed the S75, Smart would get nothing, and
the overcharge would come out of the 575
allowance for the succeeding month.
The correctness of Smars statement was
| testified to by Chief Sullivan, Secretary
| Fred kim Commissioner Griffitts, and also
tDiiSuIItu III bf IIuSlet Jones, VINO Is an
| ex-Fire Commissioner and well acquainted
with all the facts in the case
Owing TO the fact that the report of the
Fire Commissioners is now in the hands of
the printer, and Mr.. Sullivan desiring TO
place it III evidence in order to subStantiate
his statement regarding expense, the Board
decided 20 take the matter under advise
| ment until their regular meeting on Mon
dav next.
1t is understood that the Board will
unanimously concur in the conclusion ar
rived at by the Fire Commissioners at their
investigation.
HIS ANTEcEDEYrs-The Chico Chronicle
referring to Joseph Woods, who few days
since was sentenced with Campbell to a
term of four years in the State Prison at
Folsom for participating with Alice Costello
in a robbery 4 few months ago, has the fol-
lowing to say relative to his family antece-
dents: Joe Woods is known to nearly