Omaha daily bee., 1897-08-06
CHIEF SICWART STEPS OUT
His Unconditional Resignation rendered to
the Police Beard and Accepted,
GETS TWENTY DAYS vACATIcN WITH PAY
Captain Haze Designated to Act as
chief In the Intcrim-Cuptuin
King oHcrs His Resignntion,
Which is Accepted.


the acceptance of the unconditional rcsig-
nation of Chief Sigwart, to take effect Sep
tember 1, the acceptance of the resignation
Of Captain King for a senior sergeancy, to
take effect September L; the granting to
Chief Sigwart of twenty days leave of
| absence without pay Just prior to his re-
| tirement; the designation of Captain Haze
as acting chief during Sgwarts vacation,
and an order of an investigation into the
charges that money had been offered for
| the vote of one Of the members of the COM
| mission.
This apparently unexpected outcome of the
| meeting seems to have been worked out
by number of caucuses and consultations
during the day. cce
At the meeting of the board last Monday
night Chief Siwart had replied to the
request for his resignation with the following
| communication:
| OMAHA, Aug. 2.-ro the Honorable Board
of Fire. and Police commissioners Gentle
| men: In reply to your communication of
July %. 1897, permit me to say after full
and due consideration, of the same that |
to tender my resignation as chief of police
of the city of omaha In this | am con
sense of consistent duty TO the service,
| to which l have given fifteen years of faith
| full effort. That no cause exists for such
request or resignation is evident by the
| fact that not later than July 26 your honor
| able body saw fit to tender me the position
of captain of police, which in dignity and
| of police. This you would not have done
if the real good Of the service necessitated
| my removal or dismissal
l am, therefore, constrained to say that in
justice to myself and friends and the good
| of the service and the worthy citizens who
| have given me their support and confidence,
| | cannot in the manner desired retire from
the force. 1 am, gentlemen, your obedent
| servant, a. 7. SlGWARl,
| Chief of Police.
| Upon receipt of this document the board
| had ordered the mayor and the city attorney
! to formulate and present charges against
Chief of Police Sigwart at the adjourned
meeting last night. City Attorney Connell
| is away on his vacation, but charges were
drawn up by Acting City attorney Edgar H.
| Scott.
HEADS OFF THE CHARGES.
| To head off these charges, however, Chief
| Sigwart seems to have concluded that the
| wisest course for him to pursue was to re-
| tire as gracefully as possible under the cir
| cumstances. Before any action was taken
! with reference to the proposed charges, he
| sent in the following letter:
| OMAHA. Aug 5.--To the Honorable Board
| of Fire and Police Commissioners; l hereby
| desire to withdraw my declination of the
request of your honored body, to tender my
| resignation chief of police of Omaha.
| have no wish to embarrass and hinder your
| honorable body in choosing the chief eNecu-
| tive of the police department and take this
| course to allow you to come to agree
| ment. ! therefore respectfully tender my
September j. 1897. 1 am, gentlemen. your
obedient servant A. T. SIGWART,
Chief of Police.
| This letter, as originally written by Sig
wart was conditioned on his appointment
| to a captaincy, but the condition was
| stricken out previous to its presentation to
| the board Accompanying Sigwart's resig-
nation, and evidently intended to assist in
| carrying out his design to remain on the
| force as a captain, was a letter written in
Sigwart's hand and signed by Captain King,
| rendering his resignation captain, and
asking to be made senior sergeant, the change
| to take effect at the same time with Sig
warts resignation, September l.
| Both of these designations were promptly
accepted by the board, and the result will
! be vacancies September l in the positions
of chief and of junior captain. In com
pliance with Chief Sigyart's request, it wcc
ordered that he should be on active duty
cnly for one week more, and should have
the last twenty days of August for leave o.
absence with pay, Captain Haze acting in
| the capacity of acting chief of police during
that time.
CALLS FOR THE PROOFS.
The only other matter of interest transacted
in the meeting was the adoption of a resolu-
tion calling upon the World-Herald to sub
stantiate the charges of attempted corrup-
| ton made by 1t against some unknown mem
ber OF the board. The resolution passed is
az follows:
Whereas charges affecting the reputation
and integrity of members of this board have
been published alleging that large sum of
money, said to be 5000 has been, offered
for the vote of a member of this body in
| the selection of chief of police in the fol-
lowing extract from an article in the World
cone of Tom Dennson's silent partners
the one who is known as the silent partner
last week went to S man who Is supposed
to buy his influence The silent partner
said: We want one more vote to make
5000 for the Vote
BE it resolved by the Board of Fire and
Police Commissioners of the city of Omaha
that an investigation be instituted at its
next meeting into the truth or falsity Of this
charge and that the parties making such
charge be subpoenaed to substantiate the
same.
All members of the commission were pres
ent and the entire proceedings held behind
closed doors. What the program will be
with reference TO the choice of a chief to sue
coed Sgwart WAS not given out.
The frierds of eX-Chief OF Police White
are still firm in the support of his candi-
dacy and are confident that he will be made
chief of police They take no stock what
ever in the sensational fakes which the
World Herald has been launching against
him. The attack upon Chief White appear
ing in that paper this morning bears the
ear marks of fake plainly that it has
fallen fiat, even in that part Of the fusion
camp that has been fighting him.
Bee reporter asked eN-Chief White this
morning If there was anything in the story
printed under a Chicago date line, about an
impending indictment, and Mr.. White re-
piled;
WHITE STATES THE FACTS.
"As | said before, do not want to go
into any newspaper controversy"
But the Word-Herald says you are about
to be indicted for conspiracy to send
negro girl to the penitentiary?"
1T says that Lawyer Plummer OF Chicago
says so, but / do not believe Mr. Plummer
ever said anything of the kind"
what are the facts in that case?"
THAT case grew out of the old Dunham-
Allyn divorce suit, In which the principal
testimony on which the divorce was granted
was that of colored woman. That divorce
was granted four or iye years ago and had
nothing to do with the case Later the col
ored woman admitted to various parties that
her testimony was perjured and offered to
give Major Allyn an affidayit to that effect
for 5000 Instead the Allyns hired a lawyer
to prosecute her for perjury and l was em-
ployed by the lawyer to locate the woman
and detail a man TO 90 with the constable
to make the arrest. That was my only con-
nection with the matter and / had nothing
| hat