The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-03-15

SlldISeS against the SUSPENDED OIncers
that the board shall proceed to exam
inc the charges, giving the officer
charged an opportunity to be heard in
his defense. After hearing the matter
! the board shall determine whether the
| charges are sustained. If the charges
| be not sustained by the board, the Off
Ger shall be Immediately reinstated. If
the board shall decide that the charges
are sustained. it shall at once deter
mine whether the good of the public
! requires that the suspended officer
shall be removed from Office or sus-
pended from Office without pay for
! fixed period. This decision shall be
/ final and conclusive in all cases. Three
Affirmative votes only. by section 20 of
the act, are sufficient to render this
final and conclusive decision.
CAUSE FOR THE MAYORS ACTION.
Now what have we here? a de-
murrer was filed to the charges, which
was overruled. This Judgment of the
board settled that the charges, in it's
opinion. constituted cause" for the
mayors action.
Now at this point we enter upon the
investigation of a phase Of this case
that becomes of controlling Importance
TO this board, as we'll as to the public.
have shown that the ultimate re-
sponsihiiity for the efficiency of the
department rests upon this board; l
have shown that four members con-
curing, the board has a power OF re-
noval intended to be commensurate
with the responsibility that rests upon
them; ] have said that when proceed
ing under section 10. as you are now,
your power is equally as adequate, it
only requiring the concurrence Of three
members of the board to pronounce
Judgment
proceed to prove this last PROPOSE
ton: The mayor may suspend for
cause. and this cause" he must put
in the shape of written charges for
this board to try.
Now at the very threshold Of the
trial this board must decide whether
these charges" contain any matter
which is sufficient cause" for sus-
pension by the mayor. A negative de-
cision at once puts an end to the trial;
and an affirmative decision puts the
charged officer upon his defense: so
that not the mayor. but this board,
must decide as to what is a sufficient
cause for suspension. and the officer
cannot be put to his defense until that
question is settled.
Now what is the guide or rule by
which this board is to decide as TO the
suficiency or insuff1ciency of the
cause" Search the act of the legis-
lature from beginning to end. and you
will find no enactment of what shall,
or shall not be sufficient cause for
suspension or removal; and yet, be-
yond question, the law does clearly and
unequivocally indicate it, and it is the
efficiency of the service, or, in other
words, the public good. of which uais
board is the ultimate Judge; and that
is what it comes to at last, view II as
YOU may So that it results that the
cause for removal when formulated
BIZ the mayor into a charge or charges,
must. in the opinion Of this board, be
such conduct on the part of the officer
as is detrimental to the efficiency OF
the service and the public good, or the
officer cannot be put upon his trial
This board has decided upon de
murrer that the charges in this case
do contain matter sufficiently deroga-
tory TO the conduct of the officer as TO
endanger the good of the service, and
the only remaining questions TO pc
discussed are:
First-Are the charges proven? and,
if so.
Second-What shall be the judgment
of the board if it shall decide that the
mayor has sustained his charges?
Now let us go to the proof:
THE PROOFS.
AS to the first charge with five speci- !
fications. being the only one now under
consideration, ] believe 1T is fair to
say that it is not only sustained by
the preponderance of proof, but beyond
any reasonable doubt.
The first specification, which charg-
ed that the chief failed to respond
promptly to an alarm of fire on the 9th
day of January being the fire on Ninth
East and Fifth South streets, he prac-
tically confeSSeS, but undertakes to
avoid by defense that to the practical
mind is little less than childish. Take
the witness McCarty, the first one call
ed by the defense in its effort to eX-
cuse his derelictiOn of duty, and if he
is to be believed there is just about
as much scientific thought and action
in the head of the fire department and
in it's mana cement as there would be
in an old woman building hen-coop
or setting a turkey hen on slanting
ground. This man actually undertook
to convey the impression, that the cleo
trical apparatus belonging to the fire
department. was in such fix and kept
in such bad condition that it so fire.
quently registered false alarms that the
department hardly knew when to turn
out. That on this occasion after some !
if not much hesitation. he went up
stairs to see the chief, (who, it seems, !
although having heard the alarm, |
moved not from his seat). to inquire
what he should do; and the chief told
him that he had better take a hose |
wagon and go out on the hunt to see if !
there really was any fire, and in the |
meantime the chief sat quietly down to |
eat his dinner, while the house was
burning down.
This same witness, when asked who !
took charge of fire in the absence of |
the chief and the first assistant. re-
piled, the man or crew who happened |
to get there first
The witness Chalmers, who l believe !
is the secretary. made things even |
worse in some respects than McCarty. |
According to his evidence there was /
very little reliability to be placed in |
the ordinary alarms that came in; in |
deed he said that the effect of the wind !
causing the telephone wires to hit the !
wires of the fire system would register
a false alarm.
1t was not a little amusing to witness |
Mr. Stephens, the attorney for the de- |
Tense, when examining this witness, |
go through the funny performance of |
making the wind register Il. He asked |
the witness l'if the wind would blow I
the telephone wire against your wire. |
would that not register L? And then. /
il the wind should wait a few seconds |
and then blow the telephone wire |
against your wire two times in /
quick succession, would that not |
register ?? TO all of which the
witness answered yes" being of |
course Just the reply that he thought |
the attorney wanted When aSI-ad ~,