Morning journal and courier., 1886-09-01
NEW saAvEN,s POLICE FORGE

 ganizing the police force of New Haven, the same to be governed by commissioners ap-
 pointed by the legislature. The law makers
 then met in the old State house and the ses-
 sion was stormy one at which the bill was
 passed.
 The tWenty-hf anniversary of the organi-
 zation of the force has occurred this year and
 remarkable change has taken place in the
 force since June, 1881. Then there were
 few incumbents who were the first appointed
 as Regular policemen. Their names were
 William Grant, E. 0. Futile, Merritt Clark,
 Hiram N. Smith, William K. Schmidt, Thomas
 Kennedy, John F. S. Penfeld, Peter sheri-
 dan, Phillip Reilly, John Murphy, Darby
 Hanley, Joseph Keglemeyer. In the ssme year the watchmen for the city cemeteries were appointed. One each at St. Bernard's, City cemetery and the Evergreen. The regular police appointed in 1861 are now represented by the oldest officers of the present force. Thomas Kennedy now at the Union depot William K. Schmidt now sergeant at the | precinct, Phillip Reilly at present the detec- | tive of the force and Peter Sheridan who was ! removed a few years ago from the captain ship of the force. Nearly all the rest of the then new police force have since died or left ! the city.
 In 1862 by an act of the legislature the police were placed under board of commis- | sioners, who were appointed by the Com
 mon Council for the term of three years. ! The beard was constituted in 1861, and ! agreeable to the provision of the law the ! commissioners elected were divided into ! three classes, there being two in each class The terms of those of the first class expired [ in 1883, those of the second class in 1864, ' and those of the third class in 1865. The I members and officers of the police corps were elected for three years, but their term 1 of service all dated from the second Monday
 in June in the year in which they are ap- pointed. The Mayor of the city was ap- pointed by law ex-oficio superintendent | of police and president of the
 board of commissioners. The peo- 1862 were greatly pleased with the prospect ! of having well organized police ofice The officers of the police for 1862 were Chief ' Jonathan w. Pond, Captain Wales French,
 Lieutenant Owen A. Monson, policemen, Mi ! mott A. Clark, William Grant, Darbey Han ! ley, Treadwell Smith, Phillip Reilly, William NJ. Hyde, Phillip Roller, Luther P. Dawson, Peter Sheridan, George A. Baldwin, Jeffer- son B. Shaw, Henry s. Carlen, William D. Campbell, James Brady, James Stewart, Owen Kelly. There were appointed that year fourteen special supernumeraries and nearly hundred constables.
 The first year the force was organized there were 1, 177 arrests made for ofenses against the person, 139 against property, 1S9 miscel- laneous offenses and 39 violations of city or dinances.
 The old police office used to stand down near the corner of Church and Chapel streets, but when the new City Hall was built in hn ua1 for 9 &1oo& building. In 1863 Treadwell Smith was ap- pointed to be lieutenant of the force, Chief Pond and Captain Monson remaining in of flee, having done satisfactory duty. This year there were one hundred special consta-
 bles holding office. There were 2,294 arrests made that year, 907 of them being for intox-
 ication. The board of police commissioners
 that year were Mayor Lucien w. Sperry, ex-
 offcio, Charles Fabrique, Charles Peck,
 Rufus s. Pickett, Hosdley B. Ives and Pur-
 mont Bradley.
 Members of the Board now living, and in
 this city, are: Ex-Mayor Sperry, Hoadly B.
 Ives, Rufus s. Pickett now Judge Pickett,
 of the City court.
 In 1867, Major William A. Lincoln was ap-
 pointed chief, vice Chief Pond, resigned.
 Major Lincoln had just returned from the
 war, he having served in the First Connecti-
 cut heavy artillery with distinction. In this
 year Treadwell Smith was promoted to be
 captain of the force; and Francis Smith was
 appointed to lieutenant of the force. The
 police officers who served with good credit
 were: William H. Hyde, George A. Bald
 win, William Grant, Truman N. Wisle,
 Thomas Kennedy, Philip Roller, Peter Sheri-
 dan, Owen Kelley, William H. Miller, Samuel
 W. Stoddard, Leveritt A. Hem
 ingway, William H. Nichols, Hiram c.
 Davidson, Morris Newman, Smith T. Parker,
 Frederick A. Hanson, William H. Huntley,
 George F. Selleck, Charles B. Dyer, James
 Wrinn, William D. Campbell. The number
 of arrests made in that year were :, ,2S3, and
 there were fifteen jurors of inquest sum- moned, which at that time was an unpre- cedented number. This was the first year of service for James Wrinn, the now popu- lar lieutenant of the present force. About this time there was quite an increase of the | force was made to cover the outlying dis tricts of the city, which were fast filling up. ! Peter Sheridan, who was later appointed l lieutenant, distinguished himself in 1867 for | arrests made. At that time he was one of ! the most faithful officers on the force. Dur ing 1868 there were but Z, ,096 arrests made, l which was much less than for the preceding five years. In 1869 William B. Catlin was | appointed chief in place of Major Lincoln, who vacated the office shortly before. In 1870 William J. Bowen was elected chief of the force, which had now become quite an organization, there being forty regular men on it. There were large number of arrests made during 1870, principally for in- intoxication and ofenses against the person. There were a number of deaths among the | officers about this time. During 1870 the l force became much better organized under ! Chief Bowen's command, who was a special | officer himself and clever detective. In | his report to the board of commissioners for | his first years service he said: q have in- | troduced practice on the force whereby dil- ! igence and fidelity to trust are made in a | measure their own reward. It had been the | custom hitherto when officer discovered | the existence of 8 crime or the hiding place | of fugitive from justice to give the facts to 4 8 professional detective to use according to I his judgment. This Chief Bowen thought | caused great deal of jealousy | between the men. An officer thought him self in those days, we'll as now, as good man as any detective at that time on the force. The officers had an idea thst they could unearth mysteries as well as the detec ives, and the result of it was that informa- ion was often kept from them and criminals were allowed to escape from justice when police officers of the city knew facts which | would have put them behind the prison bars. Chief Bowen introduced the practice of hay ng an officer that had discovered facts of 7alue, to detail him to the duty required un- ess he preferred to be excused, when the | ,ase would be given to detective. By this practice, which was for 8 time very popular, l he officer of course if they were successful enjoyed the honors. While, as was very often the case then as well as now, an officer would give clear case to detective to have 1im enjoy the honor, while in reality the officer had worked the case to all but it's Jose.
 In those days as now, notwithstanding the ,are exercised by the commissioners in the election of policemen, there was great diff erence of capacity and character existing Imong 4hem, scarcely less marked than that which characterizes men in the ordinary pur- uits of life. The force grew and prospered lnder Bowen and he retired two years later md was superseded by Charles w. Allen, vho was very popular chief among the members of the force. About this time here was great dissatisfaction existing Imong the commissioners over the appoint nent of the men and considerable political 1 influence was brought to bear upon the ap- ,ointments of men to the force. Chief AL en was superseded in office by Charles Web ter, a man who probably did more for the 'uilding up of the force to it's present state f capacity than any other man vho ever was chief of the department. Ie held and managed the office very success