The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-17
THEY CONFIRM Police APPOINT
MENTS MADE IN DIRECT vIO-
LATTON OF 1T. ~
MFR. NEARBY MAY TAKE A HAND
Comptroller May Refuse to Approve
Payrolls Rearing the Names
of the Doubtful Ones.

SAAN ooio ~ oOoSuinS, Jnat these SIX as
semolymen laid themselves open to
impeachment proceedings. They have
the satisfaction of knowing, however,
that they abided by the caucus held
the previous day, also fulfilled the
u e's prediction, that they would
do the very thing they did
The performance was reserved last
night for the final feature of the show
Dill, the earlier portion of which is
puDllshed elsewhere in this issue, It
was ushered In In the guise of q re-
port from the committee on police rec
ommend1ng that all of the appoint
ments reconsidered be confirmed The
hist comprised the following patrolmen
and detectives and other police officers:
w. b. Ryan, promoted from patrol
man to sergeant of police; Joseph
Davis, same; Fred Martin, same; new
appointees to police force, Peter Lind
gren. James Werrick. w. H. Springer.
James Houska, Joseph MarkIe. Joseph
]. Klfma. Ross r.. Miller M F. Halo
well, John M. Ahern. August B. Sven
son, John O'Malleyej W W. Smith,
George w. Wells, W. II. Byrnes, Rob-
ert A. Mccall, Charles o. GILL; Alfred
Goodbout, John A. Shegren and Jacob
Startled; Thomas B. Maloney, license
inspector; John @. Adams, bailiff; John
Harris, jailer; III. H Gruber, promoted
to detective force; Louis Liverpool, APP
pointed janitor; Phil Pottgetser, pro-
noted to captaincyaD. c. Campbell,
appointed a detective ~
Mr.. Kirke moved that the report be
adopted as a whole and Mr.. Mabon
seconded the IN. ton 'r
But this course was not taken in
consequence of the objection of Mr..
Lewis, who asked that each name be
considered separately, as he wished
to vote affir'natively on some of them,
which ne could net do if all were
passed upon together. Accordingly
each appointment was, acted upon
separately. The first three appointees
on TIE list received C, unanimous vote.
The first name to occasion, a split was
that Of John M. Ahern, who served
under Mayor Wright, bur was re-
moved by Mayor Smith and reap
pointed by the present administration.
In the meantime. just before the
clerk began the, roll call on the ap-
pointees. President eArosin had called
Vice President. Craig to the chair,
while ne occupied a. chair on the floor,
and voted ffaye"d on every single aps
rointment tlss " n re 80
- When the clerk reached Mr.. Lewis
name on the roll call, in the case of
John M. Ahern,' Mr.. Lewis arose and
explained:
IT cannot vote to confirm Mr..
Alarms ir1fv e.
that he. was over thirty-five years Of
age when appointed patrelman and
therefore ineligible to fill the position
under the law. Consequently / vote
no."
Assemblyman Thompson and AS
semblyman Craig voted likewise, but
Mr.. Ahern was nevertheless confirmed
by a vote of six to three. In the other
cases of apointees who were over age
Assemblyman Reardon voted mo-
but he explained his affirmative vote
to confirm Ahern with the statement
that Ahern had previously served on
the force and was therefore simply re-
appointed. Consequently Mr.. Rear
don did not think THAT the age limit
ought to apply to Mr.. Ahern nor to
ooAAAA AAoAiiS' WIZ was dppOluteu
jailor.
Messrs. Lewis, Reardon and Thomp-
son voted aye. On 1all the appoint
mients save those of the following
men, to whom they objected because
their age rendered hthem ineligible
Thomas B. Maloneys license inspec-
tori, w. w. Smith, alfred Godbout.
Jacob Stadf1eld, Charles o. Gill, Ross
r. Miller and d. L. Campbell who was
appointed deteotiyel3 Messrs. Lewis
and Thompson voted against the con-
firmation of John Harris, the jailor, for
the same reason,
Mr.. Craig voted to confirm all of the
appointees save Ahern and Maloney,
the license inspector One more neg
alive vote In the latter case would
have hung up Mr.. Maloney's appoint
ment, for he received only five votes,
Messrs. Lewis, Thompson, Reardon and
Craig opposing his confirmation. Mr..
Craig occupying the chair, had the last
vote. Much to the surprise of~1yerv-
body Mr.. Craig holte5 ..ie caucus and
voted no lad this been expected.
D.-o result might have been very DIFF
ferent, as Assemblyman Daily was
much ayerse to voting. to confirm Ma
loney, and might have voted mo" had
he foreseen how Mr. Craig stood Some
think, however. that had Mr.. DAILY
bolted the caucus on Maloney, that Mr..
Craig would have stood by it. Had Mr..
DAILY changed his vote just before the
result was announced the situation
would have been embarrassing to Mr..
Craig.
In voting against the confirmation Of
Detective Campbell, Mr.. Lewis said
that in the opinion of lawyers who had
examined the section OF the charter
containing the age regulation, detec-
tiveS and other officers were affected Nv
the age restriction equally with patrol
men. Mr.. Lewis afterwards expressed
the opinion that every policeman. no
matter what his rank or office. must
be under IS years of age before the
mayor can legally appoint him to any
position on the force.
The assembly adjourned as soon as
the roll had been called on all the
foregoing names. Asked to explain his
votes againstsMaloney and Af1ern, MIR.
Craig said that inasmueh as they were
over age and had not been previously
confirmed he was Opposed to confirm
ing their appointments, but he was
also opposed to voting against the con-
firrnatfon of those policemen whose APP
pointments the assembly had previous
~ approved, and who had on the
strength of such confirmation already
been to some expense in equipping
themselves with uniforms
The understanding now is that in
the future the assembly will refuse to
confirm the appointment Of any man
unless he Is under the age of 35 when
appointed. In other words, no more
Illegal appointments will be permitted
But the question that now arises II
what win Comptroller McCardy do 2
VIII he audit the pay rolls of those