Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-24
OWHITEWASH THERE
Allegheny Common Council Cuts
Loose From the Select Branch.
TO INVESTIGATE CHIEF MURPHY,
Ring, Rottenness and Ruination the Pet
Names Given to Councils.
AN AUDITING COMMITTEE OF INDIANS

Allegheny Common Council made des-
perate effort last night to dispose of the
whitewash bucket introduced by the Select
branch and succeeded to the extent of hav-
ing a committee appointed that will pro-
ceed with the investigation of Chief
Murphy. 1t was an evident spat between
the two bodies of Northside states
men, and was, besides, a bitter re-
buke against the Auditing Committee,
which has sought by diplomatic means to
shift its own responsibility on the shoulders
of an already overworked City Solicitor.
The meeting of Common Council was
called for the purpose Of considering the
resolution from the Auditing Committee
instructing the City Solicitor to investigate
the charges against Chief Murphy and COM
mence whatever proceedings he thought
proper. The resolution was passed in the Sc
lect branch unanimously, but with ludicrous
protests by some of the members, and came
before common pleading for the same
farce Endorsement. Mr.. Knox led the
charge against it with an apology of a state
ment that the Auditing Committee had
done good work, but still he thought that
they had made a great big mistake in pre-
pairing such resolution. He didn't believe
in councilmen unloading their work on the
City Solicitor, but. as all the rest seemed
anxious to do so, he indicated will
ingness to join in the funeral proce-
sion that was bearing the charges against
Chief Murphy to their last resting place
AS matter of form, however, he thought
it would be well to hear an anti-burial
oration from the City Solicitor.
Solicitor Elphlnstone Declares Himself.
"Just what I want" said Mr. Elphin-
stone, coming to the front in manner that
clearly contradicted the statement that he
has fallen in with the Wyman-M Murphy ele-
ment. 'The proper course for Councils is
to face its duty and to do it. 1t is
not only your duty to investigate
Chief Murphy, but it is your best
policy. 1t may be your duty to order a
prosecution in court, or it may not, but it
is clear that you should do something
Legal proceedings cannot possibly be
carried through before January, 1893. An
appeal to the Supreme Court will delay a
hearing until next October, and other
things will keep it back still longer. In
the meantime, if Chief Murphy is guilty,
he would be holding his official position
without protest. 1 think it is your
duty to act at once by appointing a
small committee of your most brainy
and honest men to act at once.
OF course, you are all honest" he added
apologetically, and everyone nodded wisely
and whispered "here, here" Continuing,
Council would not have to wait on Select,
but could appoint q committee at once. In
the meantime, he stated, if any of the other
parties who have SO many pages of printed
testimony against Chief Murphy wants to
acts independently they can bring suit as
private citizens
Very Remarkable Paper.
Referring to the part of the Auditing
Committees resolution which provided
that the City Solicitor, besides invest!gat-
ing stated chages, should include all other
matters charged or appearing against Chief
Murphy, Mr.. Elphinstone said rather sar-
castically that it was paper drawn in
wise, shrewd way, wide as the earth, as
high as the air and as deep as-down below.
He called upon the Common branch, at least,
to do its duty, and response came in the
shape of a resolution from Mr.. Lewis pro-
viding for the appointment of a committee
of five to act in conjunction with the City
Solicitor in investigating the charges against
Chief Murphy, and to report at the next
meeting OF Councils. 1t was agreed that
this will relieve the City Solicitor of all re-
sponsibility and will at the same time show
that Councils is not afraid to face the music
The resolution was passed unanimously.
Ring, Rottenness and Ruination.
During the debate, Councilman w. W.
Nesbit made use of an expression that is
likely to become as famous on the North
side as was Dr. Burchards Rum. Roman
ism and Rebellion" in the Cleveland
Blaine campaign. He was speaking of the
opinion of disgust which Allegheny
at the height of flow of
oratory closed the speech with the state
ment that they we're generally credited with
being combination Of "Ring, Rottenness
and Ruination.' Everybody smiled a
moment and then they fell to thinking.
Another hard dash at the city's rulers
came from Councilman Knox, who, in
speaking of the Auditing Committee,
said it reminded him of a band of
wild Indians he used to see when he
was living in the woody West. The red
men had been driven out with the march of |
civilization and left only the graves of their
dead warriors behind. Once year, he |
stated, they returned to their former hunt |
ing grounds, and while communing with the |
ghosts OF their departed chiefs, held pow
WOW that made every pale face within four
miles fasten his scalp to his head with !
piece of sheet iron. The parallel,
Mr.. Knox was kind enough to state, lay |
in the fact that about once every two weeks |
the Auditing Committee, like wild red men,
come out of their reserv alton, and, with a |
yell that reaches from City Hall to the |
County Jail, hold a pow-wow in their own
peculiar way over the charges against Chief |
Murphy-evidently dead, but kept alive by |
the reformers' bluffs and promises.