The morning call., 1892-01-28
a LESSON FROM THE BROAD CASE

The rutLc take no interest in the rein
statement aE Charles 3 road rs clerk of the
Corporation Yard lie seems to have been
one Of Backey's henehmen. and lost his
job when 2 became FESTIVE in harness, but
ai- trial throws on the management of one
OF the most important departments Of the
CITY government a side hight. which con-
veIts sladoTy rUm0r into substantial fact
ana thus tie proceedings deserve attentive
perusal from citizens at large.
Tae Fire Department Of this city, upon
which We rely for protection from fires, was
uJminaly ran, at the time Of the trausac-
tons which led TO tie recent suit, by five
Commits toner's, Samuel Newman, A. j.
Martin, T. j. Parsons, Fisher Am5s and
Maurice Schmitt These men had the ex-
elusive power Of appointment and removal
Of members of the department. But they
pear, ID effect, to have been dummies,
who took their orders from some one who
stood to them in such a relation that they
dared not dis0bey his commands. Mr..
Martin, who is one Of them, testified that
when two good fremen were dismissed
from the department, apparently without
cause, by Maurice Schmitt. he demonstrated,
whereupon Schmitt replied that he could
not help il. that he was Obeying orders from
Buckley, the Democratic boss, aud Raiuey,
Buckley'5 lieutenant, who was Supern-
teaient Of Engines. This Raiuey not only
controlled the Fire Department, but WAS
equally potent in the County Clerks Office.
lie threatened a member Of the Leg stature
that if h did not vote for the Daily Fire BIZ
lie would have a friend Of his dismissed
from the County Clerks Office. The AS
IA Ia !.
friend was accordingly dismissed. Rainey
was not COY in eXerting his power. When
Broad was on trial Maurice Schmitt who
| as Commissioner was one Of his judges,
crossed the room and defeTentially inquired
of the superintendent of Engines. "Nhat
do you think" to which Rliney replied,
"Oh, suspend hin" and suspended he was.
After a time Rainey seems to have acQui-
esced in triumyirate. His associate in power
was Dennis Sullivan, Assistant Chief En-
gineer, Ia the case of the truckman Mat
thews, who was dismissed Schntt took
his orders from Rainey aud Sullivan. A
kindly observer would be inclined to com
miseTate Schmitt who had so many masters.
and was bound to do so much dirty work for
them; but, according to Newman's evidence,
he knew what he was about. As he re-
marked: There is a good deal of dust in
this business and l am here for what is in
IT," After time George I. Maxwell, the
clerk Of the board. appears to have been
associated in the government of the depart
ment, which thus became a trumyirate-
with Raney Sullivan and Maxwell az CO.
rulers, and Schmitt the executive TO whom
they transmitted their orders.
/ These facts are noteworthy, because they
! show how one of the most important depart
ments Of the city government has been de-
mOTalZad by corrupt politicians, and because
they help to explain the uprising against
| corruption Of which the first fruit was the
impaueling of the Grand Jury which the
Supreme Court knocked out. The members
/ Of that jury, the elisOr who chose half Of
them, and the Judge who swOre them to do
their duty, We're coguizaut OF the facts which
were brought out in the testimony in the
Broad case; they knew that the Fire De-
partmaut hal become house Of refuge for
! impecun0us heuchmen Of Buckley; that no
| fireman could be appointed without his in
/ dorsement; that a fireman who was not &C
! ceDtablc to him was dismissed without cause,
! and that under bis regime the first duty OF
a fireman was to work for the boss. The
/ eXtnguisbing Of fires came aferward. There
/ IS no reason 10 suppose L'at TIE 3 Ire De-
! parJment was more or less rotten than the
/ other municipal departments it stood on the
same level as the Street Department and
! the County Clerks office. Nearly all were
! stepped in corruption, Yileness aud rascal
/ ity. II was the knowledge of this fact that
| prompted honest citizens to applaud the ap-
poinIment of an elisOr by Judge Wallace.
| and TO give moral support to the Grand Jury
which undertook to probe municipal wrong
! donEs to inaict punishment Oh the guilty,
and to try TO inaugurate a better state Of
! things in the future. Their well-meant eff
! forts were defeated, as every one knows, by
the intervention of the highest court in the
State. 1t must be pleasant for the Supreme
! Court Justices, who threw a shield over the
boOdlers, to read the evidence in the Broad
case, aud to note the character OF the trans
actions which they have screened from in
| vestigatiOn.