The evening world., 1894-09-21
MCLAUGHLIN IS SAFE.
supt Byrnes Exonerates Him from
Civil-Service Beard Charges.
Says He Could Net Have Known
Of the Fraudulent Papers.
His Report Accepted by the Board
at To-Day's Meeting.

Superintendent Byrnes submitted re-
port this afternoon to the Police Com
missioners showing the result of his In
vestigation of the charge that fraud was
being perpetrated in the civil service eX-
animation of applicants for appointment
on the police force.
The charges were made by Daniel p.
Hays and Lemuel Skidmore, of the Civil
Service Supervisory Board, in a letter
addressed to Mayor Gilroy.
Chairman Hays letter said that there
is strong presumption, II not a GER
tainty of deliberate fraud" referring to
the examination papers of John Dolan
James Crowley and William Thompson.
each seeking appointment on the police
force.
The Superintendent report says that
in the cases of Dolan and Crowley the
examination was written on paper of
the kind supplied by the Civil-Service
Board for the purpose; the papers were
all in the handwriting Of the respective
candidates, and that II the papers on
Rules and Regulations Is better than the
others 1t is due to the fact that copies
of the rules were distributed to can
didates ten days prior to their examina-
ton, while the candidate could get no
inkling of the other questions till called
upon to answer them.
Dolan and Crowley, when questioned
by Supt. Byrnes, said they DEVOTED every
Aside from the careful preparatlon OF
Crowley's paper the superintendent
finds no ground. for suspicion. -.
Superintendent finds that his paper on
Rules and Regulations" is written in
different hand from that Of his other
papers. and IT is not written on the
kind of paper furnished by the Board.
II am convinced that there was an
attempt at fraud in the papers OF william
Thompson" says the report. when l
showed this paper to Thompson he said
he did not write it, never saw 1t before
and had no idea as to how 1t came to be
passed off as his work.
There is some reason to doubt the
truth of Thompson's statement, for the
paper bears on Its face that he has seen
1t before, and that he himself inserted
some letters that were omitted from
the paper, and that he. traced over the
letters, originally written so as to be
scarcely legible." .H.....
ence of handwriting could not possibly
be detect ed by the Police and Fire e.
partment expert examiners because they
had no other papers from the candidates
with which to compare this one.
The fraud was easily discovered
whether the papers were gathered to-
| gether again at the Civil Service rooms,
and Supt. Byrnes does not believe sue
| cessful fraud possible in this direction.
| He suggests that If there was substl-
tuition of bogus paper, IT must have
| been by some person unfamiliar with
the methods of the Civil Service ex-
amners.
As far as the police are concerned
Inspector Mclaughlin is the examiner.
| The report shows that while the ex-
] NtENst t.NV, hall flTn nd
the decentralization Office" the candi.
/ date might possibly get a copy Of the
questions in advance.
Lee Phillips notifies the Inspector OF
! Police, who Is the expert examiner OF
! the date of the next examination; the
Inspector prepares the questions, sends
them to Phillips, who makes requisi-
ton on the Board Of City Record for
printed copies; from the Board Of City
| Record the questions go to the public
printer who passes them out to his work
men.
After they are printed the papers re,
turn to the Ciyil-Service Board by the
same route. After the examination al
the paers are retained for ratings by the
rules. They go to the Police and Fire
| Departments experts for rating.
The papers have passed through man!
hands, and there are "a number o.
sources through watch 1t is possible fol
candidates to obtain before the examina
ton knowledge Of the questions, or Il
abstract or sub.titute examination pa
pers," says the report.
Inspector Mclaughlin reports that thu
four papers said to be missing from {
parcel when 1t was returned to the Civil
Service Board all that were sent to hin
were returned by him, and II any wer,
lost they were not lost by him.
Supt. Byrnes suggests that the Civil
Service Board mark each paper in
delibly when given out. with device
that cannot be counterfeted, so tina
fraud by abstraction or substitution
will be impossible.
The report was adopted. and on resolu
ton of President Martin copy of |
was ordered to be forwarded to tn
Mayor, to whom the original complain
had been made.
Commissioner Sheehan offered reso
luton to the effect that II II was neces
sary hereafter to have the Detective Blu
reau Represented in the civil servic
Commission, that instead of one maj
having control of the examination pa
pers, they should be given in the charg
OF the entire Board of Police Inspectors