Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-07-19

or authority of law. He said that when
Mr.. Furrey was removed from the Com
mission in order to turn the control Of
the Commission over to Mr.. Lindley
without any excuse or reason,
he had said that 1t meant
| the removal of Mr.. Burns, be-
cause Mr.. Burns has effectually sat down
on the corrupt practice that has prevailed
| in police circles in this city for years, and
within the knowledge of every one, but
Councilman Shafer had denied that it
meant any such thing. The Chief pre-
served discipline in the force under very
adverse circumstances. Finding that
there was no combination with
that element and that Mr. Burns admin
istration was to be a clean one, it
seemed that steps had to be taken now
| to remove him.
Commissioner Dexter refused tamo &c
statement just yet as to the reasons ior
the action taken in discharging Chief
Burns.
Commissioner Lindley admitted that
| one of the reasons for the action of the
| Triplet was the stand taken by Chief
the Chief had objected to the removal of
1
that he believed that it was only the
| cessor for him. This, Mr.. Lindley
thought, was insubordination.
Capt. G. @. Knox was interviewed
upon the question of Chief Burns re-
moval by HERALD reporter last night at
his residence, No. $50 Flower street. In
reply to the questions propounded by his
interviewer, Mr.. Knox said: 1t was not
decided to remove J. F. Burns from the
office of Chief of Police until after the
meeting of the Commissioners
on July 10Th last, when he
addressed the board about the dis
charge OF his deputy, F. E. Biles. was
sorry to hear him make such a speech,
as it was something which, in my
opinion, could not be overlooked. had
intended going away after that meeting
to the springs with my family; but when
Burns threw down the gauntlet, as it
were, by an act of insubordination 30
fragrant, there was no other alternative,
in my opinion, but for us to remove him.
Had we not done 30, and overlooked this
breach, the Council ought to have
"fired" the commission for imbecility.
| Of course, if Burns had been a good
Chief of Police, and conducted his Office
in harmony with the policy of the Com
missioners, we should have required
much more deliberation over his removal
than was the case on Wednesday; but we
were very much dissatisfied with his
method of running the department. For
instance, when the Commissioners re-
moved thirty eight men few weeks ago,
T. G. Metzler still continued to hold his
position on the force until the
morning of the next regular
meeting, when charges were pre-
ferred against him by L. Mesmer,
notwithstanding the fact that he was
among those dropped. believe that he
was only dropped then so that Burns
could truly state to the board that Metz
Ter was not on the force, when asked
about it. That was an act OF insubordi-
nation, and l could cite number of
others, which, however, would hardly
be proper at this time. At the time of
Major Furrey's removal from the board
l determined, as far as | was individu-
ally concerned, to stick to Burns,
and l told him so, but the first
thing he did was to try to en-.
trap us and cause our removal
by dealing falsely with us. He had the
full confidence of the board and knew its
policy; but he didn't act squarely with
us at all. AS to his having suppressed
gambling, l know that it in no way is
due to Burns's actions; and as l have
used every effort to keep posted on the
question, l can explain fully. The row
between the rival gamblers, Rickabaugh
and Wylie, was the cause of their clos
ing the games. Rickabaugh wanted to
open rooms south of First street, and
Wylie threatened him if he tried to do
SO; whereupon Rickabaugh retorted that
if that was 80, he would cause the closing
ef those games north of First street
also. Just about that time my gambling
resolution was introduced, and that and
the session of the grand jury had the ef-
feet of causing the gamblers to wait and
see whether L meant business or bun
combe. AS to the removal of Harris, ]
am not in position to state the causes
which led to our action; but know pos
itively that he is not the proper man to
be Captain of Police. One thing will
state, however, his alleged con.
nection with the Louisiana Lottery cuts
no figure in his discharge whatever.
There will be no change whatever in the
policy of the commission, and in spite OF
the rumors that the games will be in full
blast within thirty days, can assure you
that the change of Chief means quite the
contrary; and l am convinced that the
gamblers are aware that as long as l am
a Police Commissioner they will not be
allowed to open up. 1 may as we'll tell
you that both the Commissioners and
Mr.. Glass have taken legal advice upon
their respective positions, and acting
under that given to us. l addressed q
communication to the Council today in
forming them of our actions with regard
to Messrs. Burns and Glass, and the
latter has already filed good and suffi-
cient bond with the City Clerk, approved
by the City Attorney as to form, for the
approval of the Council and Mayor. II
the latter refuses to approve the docu-
meut, we will make him do SO although
it is just possible that he may cause a
delay of four or five days as he delayed
the commission for three hours on We'd
nesday.
THE REFORM SCHOOL.