St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-29
CHARGES OF THIEVING.
Firemen Said to he Given to APP
propriating Property.

propriating Property.
That portion of the report which re-
ferred to stealing in the department
caused the faces of the members of the
council to blanch with fear for their
own goods and chattels. Tie pine
stealing case was not sin it" with the
findings of the committee. Here is a
brief synopsis of the terrible report:
In the early part of the Investigation
it became apparent to Your committee
that there were men In the department
whose reputation for honesty required
looking into, and as the work of inquiry
progressed, although most of the wit
neSSes were reluctant TO make any dis
closures that would implicate any of
their fellow fremen. we have been able
to established beyond a question of
doubt that stealing by men in the depart
ment has been going on for number
of years. On the 24th of November,
1891. large quantity of boots and shoes
were taken from the North Star Boot
and Shoe fire, and while some were put
in cupbOards at headquarters, one man,
at least, carried home sackful next
morning. This supply was so large
that we are aware of one pair being sold
only few weeks ago. We find at the
Manhattan store fire Nov. %, 1891. that
there were number of fur caps stolen,
seven Of which we have been able
to trace back to the men who carried
them off: here again We find the stolen
goods went into the pants and under
the coats of men, stationed mostly at
headquarters, and we find them when
back at the house, putting the usual
question to each other: "What did
you get?' We find also a large guam
tity of bandkerchiefs, shirts and caps
were stolen at the Castle shirt fire Jan.
II, 1892, by men known to your commit
tee; also at the Frank Bros Shirt fac
tory fire Dec. Is, 1892, where we find, as
on similar occasions, considerable stolen
stuff in cupboards. and one man swip-
ing all he could from the others, fills
a sack, carries it up into the tower.
and the next morning when going
TO breakfast carries the Saekful
home. one Boosting that he was So in.
IL would take a long time and much
space to detail all the facts proven to
your committee where goods have been
stolen at fires; going back to the Nevins
Shirt factory fire on Oct. S, $780, during
Chief StetSOn'S time up to quite re-
Gently, and include, in addition 10 what
has already been mentioned:
Skoll furnishing store. July 26, 1891 :;
Reese fire, Hennepin and Second, March
IL. 1891; butcher shop, Hennepin ave-
nue., Feb. 4, 1891; Planning mill fire be-
tween Seventeenth and Eighteenth ave-
nueS northeast, near Central, when the
evidence shows that The supply wagon
was loaded with pine lumber two saws,
an ak and door clamps and drawn in the
night to engine house -
So customary has it become to steal at
fires, that one man, to aid him in carry
ing off the stuff, had large canvas
pocket made on the inside of his rubber
coat. Soon after the work of the in
veStigating committee began this coat
was removed, but the offender is an
old hand at the business and well known
to us. In view of these facts it
would seem that the officers, old,
wideawake, active men as they are, and
considering, too, that the building
known as headquarters was right along
a Yeritable headquarters of thieves as
we'll as the headquarters of the chief
engineer of the fire department at one
and the same time, impossible to believe
that such things could be and the chief
not know it.
He admits knowledge of thieving,
but who the men are and what they
did with the stuff is mystery
to him. Now the evidence shows
that at the NeYinS shirt factory fire on
Oct. s, 1890. a certain fireman took
off his rubber coat and deliberately
fitted himself with a cloth coat off the
counter, then threw the coat out of the
window. put it on the supply wagon
and took 1t off. At the time he was
picking out a coat to suit him, As
sistant Chief Runge stood at the head
of the stairs and saw the transaction.
And that at headquarters some of the
men wore stolen caps, and had stolen
North Star shoes on their feet, and some
of them have to this day, to our knOwl-
edge, and various other stolen articles