The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-11-15

phat Donovan gave away any :lllege
secret, Aren't you" Mr. Varian con
tlnued, speaking to the commissioners
getting beneath the dignity of
board like this 10 entertain a rharg
of this character, The man Smitl
is in town; why was he not brought il
TO testify by the prosecution?
The charge as to the Mount Pleasan
muddle is the only one deserving an!
consideration. There is no rule making
1t obligatory for q. captain to turn owe
anonymous letters to the chief The
prosecution was simply grasping a
strawS to make such charge The
complaint is made that the trip tc
Mount Pleasant was made to blacker
Fords character. There is no ground
for this charge. Captain Donovan had
heard that his photograph was in &
house Of prostitution and he immedi-
ately took steps to have it removed
Had he been a man of the braZen
stripe Of Gillespie, he would not have
! worried about it. But he is a man
with record behind him and a future
! before him and knowing what his duty
was he performed it. 1t is true that
he did not report the affair to the
chief. But it is natural for men en-
gagged in work of this kind to keep
things to themselves and be non-com-
! municative.
HIS letters prove That he had no in
tention of blackening Ford's character
Inc prosecution has simply been pull
ling out string here and a string
there. with which it hopes to make a
rope to drag down the captain of the
police They should stop the prosecu-
ton right here in all candor and fair
ness.
1t is charged that Donovan broke the
rules of the department in sending Nc
Donald out of the city. There was no
formulated regulation to that effect.
Even if this were SO, the breach Of
police regulations was not nearly as
bad as the one recently made by the
chief. He took nearly all of them out
of the city on an Illegal errand and if
one of them had been shot the respon-
sibility for the murder would have
rested with the head of the depart
ment.
No such charges as these should ever
have been brought before the board.
The law does not contemplate any
spiteful or personal prosecution of this
kind. The board was established in
order to keep UP harmony and not to
engender bitterness.
The nature of these charges show
the utter unfitness of Chief Pratt to
bring charges against any man. He
see anything but the ultimate end of
conviction. His mind is closed to any
new light that may be shed in the
trial; he cannot see: he does not want
to see
Judge Powers Wakes Warm.
At the conclusion of Attorney Va
rams speech, which lasted forty-five
minutes, Judge Powers made the final
6pfa hi
was a case in which the character and
record Of man was at stake. The
question before the board is whether
man. without any proof against him,
shall be stripped of the reputation and
good name he has been years in &C
quiring.
There has been much comment, he
said. on the police department since
these charges were instituted. The
criticism of the public has not been as
to the bravery of the men, but it has
been that the department has spent too
much time with their ear at the knot
hole and eye at the key hole.
At the bottom of this case there is
a Woman-not a virgin. but a woman
clothed in the scarlet robes of sim She
is the beginning and end of this dis
turbance, and clinging on her skirts is
Sergeant Ford. looking like an over
grown child; and that other man who
made a statement under oath which
ought to make the statue after which
he was named get down from its high
pedestal and weep. Clinging to her
skirts is Ford; clinging to her skirts
is Gillespie.
An idolize6 attachment all through
the charges is shown for Ford-the
poor, innocent creature who has spent
half his time telling tales to the chief.
Why was the woman dragged into the
case and then not brought on the
stand? If there was any attempt to
hlacken Ford's character none could !
know it better than she and no one
would have been more willing to tell |
It. Ford and Gillespie conspired to |
have Captain Donovan removed and |
finally succeeded in procuring the |
services of the chief. How he can
look into the faces of these men and |
then choose them before Donovan is
TO see.
The name of Ford goes Through all |
the prosecution. He is the root and !
,atness of it. No witness has been |
on to show his connection !
With the woman. He. the mouthpiece |
IF Pratt. has been the martyr. The |
charge about the anonymous letter is |
!, mere farce An anonymous letter is
stab in the back. Chief Pratt did |
lot desire to see the letter; he simply
seized on the circumstance to make
he charge that Donovan was trying
% down Ford. In reality the letters
show that he was not seeking to in
ure Sergeant Ford; he was seeking to
ave himself; he was seeking to save
he department.
Why should he not try to
hield himself. A man with a good
lame to preserve, with a wife he
owes. should have the privilege of
yuarding his interests without being
focused of malicious intent.
If Donovan has performed his duty
t is the duty of the board to dismiss
hese charges. When a man is on
rial where his liberty is at stake. he
hould be defended to the last, even
guarded in his rights, even if there
las to be a new chief of police.
Attorney Sutherland Closes.
Attorney Sutherland then made ,ne
losing argument for the prosecution.
lie reviewed the charge of the defense
hat he had been trying to mislead
witnesses and distort the facts, claim
ne that none but the fairest methods
ad been employed in the prosecution.
lie also went over the evidence in The
affair muddle stating that there
7as an irreconcilable conflict between |
he testimony of Clayton and Greene
Tald It was apparent that Clayton
ad reference to another day entirely,
ecause he claims to have seen him
/ the afternoon, when the fact of
he matter was that he did not arrive
ntil evening. Greenewald might not
ave seen the drunkenness nor heard |