St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-10
REFORM POLICE WORK
A Case Which Shows Up the
"Spotter" System in a
Strong Light.
After Many Days the Cross
ings Case Bids Fair to
Be Settled.
Flags Unfurled From Mime
apolis SchoolS--Interest-
ing Exercises.
Another May and December
Divorce Case--The Church
Squabble.

The captain, the sergeant and three
of the patrolmen who report for duty at
South Minneapolis police station are de-
PENDANTS in an action in the district
court which, if the evidence SO far sub
mitted be true, and it certainly bears
the stamp Of truth, is likely to result in
q judgment against the bluecoats. The
complainantS, there being in reality two
suits. are Nels White and Josephine
White. his wife. The former asks for
$1,000 damages and the latter for S10,
900.
They live at 80 Tenth street south.
and on the 30th of last May, Memorial
day, they were entertaining Mr.. and
Mrs. lie MeHeX and AIr. and Mrs. La
Belle. friends of theirs, at their home.
Mrs. White had recently been confined.
and had not recovered sufficiently to be
able TO sit up, and about O'Clock in the
evening of that day, according to the
story which Nels White told on the
stand in response to the gneries of j.
NJ. Rees, his attorney, three
men entered his house. One
of them proved to be Patrolman
MIR. Mcleod. in citizens dress. and he
was accompanied by two young men
whose names are unknown. These
three men Immediately began to take
liberties with the ladies who were pres
ent and. in response TO Whites orders
to them to leave the house, Mcleod re-
piled with an insulting expression.
White is large, pOWerful-loOking fell
low, with the shoulders of a giant, and
it did not take him long to hustle these
men out of doors.
Mcleod then blew police whistle, and
in response to his signal Capt. Louis
WesS, Sergeant James Allen and Pa
trolmen Brady, Stable and johnson
came to his assistance. All of these
men are made defendants in the suit
except johnson, who, it is alleged,
took no part III the subsequent pro-
ceedingS. When these other officers
came, White says, they forcibly entered
his house and, IN the presence OF
his wife, pounded him with their clubs,
cursed and swore at the other ladies.
ended by dragging White and lie
Meuex TO the lookup. Both were dis
charged when brought before Judge
Emery in the morning. That is, IN
ubstance, what White told on the
stand.
The defense set up by Mcleod is that
he saw two suspicious-looking men
going into the rear of Whites
house, that he followed and met them
being rushed out by White. He ordered
White to cease making disturbance,
whereupon White assaulted him. He
then Whistled for help, and the other
officers came. He asserts that he did
nothing not strictly in line with his
duty, although no allegation is made
that " hite went off his own premises
or that he was dong anything but pro-
tecting his home from intrusion.
The other officers deny that they
used profane language or that
they did anything beyond their duty
when summoned to the assistance Of
Mcleod.
Mrs. White was called to the stand,
and corrOborated the evidence Of her
husband. She is weak little woman,
and her nervous system is evidently
still in battered condition from the
effects of the shock which she eX-
perienced OH last Memorial day. 1t is
nervousness that she cannot
even meet uniformed police
officer on the street without being over
come by nervousness.
Mrs. LIE MeueX, pretty little French
woman. one of the ladies who was in
the house on the night of the 30tn of
May. 1889, was called, and she corrob-
Grated the evidence of both Mir. amt
Mrs. White. When, in the course of
her testimony, she had to re-
peat the Infamous names which.
She said, mad been applied to
her by the police officers, her
eyes blazed and her fingers seemed to
Jingle with desire to tear the faces OF
her offenders.
James LIE Meuex, her husband, was
the next witness. He speaks English
imperfectly, and whenever his language
was not wholly grammatical A. II. Hall,
who appeared for the defense, would
shake his rhinocerO5-like folds Of facial
covering and laugh as though he were
listening to the funniest joke that ever
emanated from Bill Nye's brain. But
despite Halls merriment, LIE Meuex
told straight story, and bore out the
truth Of everything that has been said
about the profanity and vulgar express
sions used by the officers.
The evidence so far Is certainly strong
against the policeman. Mcleod, it
seems. looked upon Whites house as an
immoral establishment. He went in
there in citizens dress, and if the four
witnesses SO far sworn have told half
the truth, and their stories certainly do
not differ, he acted toward Mrs. White
and the other ladies as if they were
women of ill-fame. The evidence OF
these four witnesses also agrees that
the other officers called the ladies pros
titutes and told the men that they were
in house of ill-fame. Sergeant Allen,
the testimony says, went so far
as to return, after White and
lie Meux had been overpowered. and
to enter the bed room where Mrs. White
lay i'll, i'll search of more men. This
affair seems to be another phase of the
working of the spotter system employed
by the present pure and holy admins
tration.
White is employed as a city sales
man from the bottling works of
c. j. Bracket. 1t will be remembered
that this is the case which has attracted
some attention by reason of certain
threats said TO have been made by the
police officers concerned against Mr..
Bracket if he did not discharge White
or force him to abandon the damage
suit.