St. Paul daily globe., 1893-06-22

| denied all knowledge of stealing at
fires, it was proven by number of
witnesses that he bOaSted of wearing a
pair of shoes stolen at the North Star
| fire. and that he had told of seeing one
particular member of the department.
come down ladder with coat full of
! shoes, dropping one shoe at the very
feet OF the chief. This man should be
dismissed frop the department without
the loss Of single hour.
Assistant Chief Canterbury Is another
! official who Is disgrace to the depart
ment ana to the city. 1t was shown
clearly that he not only directed the
| theft of goods at fires. but that he actu-
ally enjoyed the fruits of these theftS.
The fact that witnesses swearing to
! these statements had to be promised
protection before the truth could be eX-
torted from them is the only thing that
prevented his indictment for larceny;
but we have faith to believe that the
city council! will hasten to remove this
man fr0ln the city's employ.
John Horton is veterinary surgeon
in charge Of the hospital for sick horses
belonging to the IRE department. Hor-
ton conceived the idea Of doing little
private professional business, despite
the fact that his time belonged to the
city, SO he took horses to doctor and
board, gave them city medicine and city
feed, and had city employees take care
| OF them, thereby increasing his income,
| as was sworn 10 on the stand, by $1,000
or $1,000 per year, without any outlay
on his part for feed, medicine or labor.
One witness said that he saw Charles
Craigie, captain of No. 10 engine, take a
sack of goods from the fire i'll the Castle
" CO
the goods in headquarters after the fire.
This witness also swore that Cap. Craig
saw the stolen goods at headquarters,
and was given some of them by the
thief. This jury submits that these are
not proper men to be officers of such an
important department, and that they
should be discharged al once.
Charles Loss was accused by witness
Of stealing a sack of goods from fire III
Sank Brothers store. He was seen to
throw tIe sack out of the window. The
testimony was convincing i2 4s, and his
discharge should be immediate: = ~.
The testimony also showed that Will
lam Schwartz. Capt. Fred Craig, Bob
Ehrenburg and Charley Loss brought
goods to headquarters by the armfui
from the Frank Bros. fire. These men
should be promptly dismissed.
1t was also Shown that a very large
number of shoes were taken from the
North Star Boot aud Shoe company tire
in sacks, and it was common thing at
headquarters when fireman was seen
wearing a new pair of shoes to ask him
how those North Stal shoes wore. 1t was
even sworn to on the stand tnat some
of these shoes have been only recently
seen at headquarters.
That all the foregoing were not IN
dicted by this grand jury was not due
to a lack OF conviction OF their guilt,
buJ rather to the fact that in some cases
the witnesses had been promised pro-
lection, and in some cases, where the
fact of completely in theft was clear to
US, the evidence was not such, unSup-
court trial. There was reluctance OH
the part of some of the owners of stolen
goods to prosecute, without which a
conviction would be difficult.
While asking pardon of the court for
this extremely lengthy report, we feel
that the Importance of the case has
fully warranted ali the time and space
given it.. The state of affairs in the de-
partment is almost beyond the belief of
the ordinary citizen, and was such a
revelation to this jury that we felt
called on, in the interests Of the pe0-
pie of the city and taxpayers. to do
what we could to correct the evil. The
indictments returned in this case do not
represent nearly ali the thieves in the
department, neither was there dis
position to make ScapegoatS or the men
indicted, but for the reasons given
above we reached the conclusion that
indictments in other cases were not
practicable.
With proper discipline in the depart
ment. and strict accountability for the
thefts at fires. the appliances in this
city and the majority of the firemen
could be made as efficient as those of
any fire department in the country; but
general 0verhauling of the depart
ment and the wedding out of the thieves
in the service, from the highest to the
lowest, must De mad before any relief will
come to the public, which is paying a
quarter of million dollars yearly
for the support of this department and
another quarter of million insurance
rates in excess of what they would be
called on to pay had we fire depart
ment as efficient as the money expended
on it would warrant. In this c0nnec-
ton, the jury does not wish to be un-
derstood as rejecting on all the tiremen
in the city. In only few instances
have thefts been detected in the outly-
ing engine houses, the greater portion
being in the center of the city. The
outside firemen feel the disgrace to the
department as keenly as any other class
of citizens.
AS means of correcting the evils in
the department we would recommend
the absolute divorce of the department
from politics, the immediate discharge
of all persons implicated in thefts or
breaches of discipline. closer watch
over the department affairs by the city
council and the committee on fire de-
partment. and that the city council re-
quest the mayor to instruct police Of
ticers to remain continuously at fires
and arrest all persons detected IN steal
ing, be they firenen Or others. Re
spectfully submitted, by order of the
grand jury.
WILLIAM DONALDSON, Foreman.
Attest: GEO. E. LEDGERwooD, Clerk.
The jury agreed to meet again at 10 a.
m. Monday, for the purpose of examin-
ing into the case of suspects now in the
county Jail.