Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1897-01-23

sioners. 1 brought this matter up several
times, but the games continued to run
This brought the mayor to the discharge
of the sixteen police officers last August.
He gave an account of Commissioner
Fykes actions at that time and told of
the proposed reduction of the pay of the
members of the force, the understanding
being that while salaries were to be cut
no officer was to be dropped.
Il charge" said Mayor Jones, "tnat
these sixteen men were dismissed for poit-
ical purposes and for political purposes
these sixteen officers, all Republicans, and
retained men who had violated the rules
OF the department. and who had been sus-
pended for it. These sixteen men stood as
high as any men on the police force. One
man, Sergeant Whitsett, had the highest
record of any man on the force. i took up
at the board meeting the name of each man
dismissed and asked the other commission
ers to state the charges against him; |
nothing 10 say. And as TO Sergeant Camp
bell. and so on down the list. 1t was then
Fykc asked me If I thought he was going
to let out any of his friends. / charged
that the action was directed by political
motives and political motives only, and
that Fyl1e broke faith with me in reducing
the number of men instead of the pay. l
spoke of the officers they had not touched
who had been suspended from the. .lqrce
temporarily for violating the rules, and of
one officer who had allowed q man to- muir
der another in his presence.
The officer the mayor had reference to
was Simon Glynn.
Just before carnival week last fall" he
continued, "a resolution waS passed .ap@
prupriating $500 to hire ilfty extra police
men to serve during the carnival. The Sat~
urday before carnival there was meeting
Of the board and, when 1 arrived a+type-
written list of the fifty men to be appointed
was presented. had not been consulted
about them. j objected to some Of the men
appointed. On the following Monday sign
ed. as president of the board. the commits
sions of forty of the men appointed. refus-
ed to sign the other ten because l did not
think the men tit 10 serve. Then Fyke
made q inotion that Johnson sign these ten
commissions as president pro TEN. FYke
and johnson voted for II and it was car
ried: | was asked to detail my charges
against some of the nlen and 1 did
signed the commissions of one or two to
whom first objected. One, l remember, 1
objected to because he had been a drunk
board. said he had taken the keeley cure,
aud on his promise to keep sober, l signed
his commission. | refused To sign the COM
mission of Matt Lynch, OF the Sixth ward
took me TO task while Fyke was sitting
there. I objected 10 Herbert Levers. He
had been on the police force and had been
dismissed by Fyke and Johnson. I believe
L objected TO Richard Noland but don't
remember whether l signed his commis-
sion. know refused 90 sign Jim Keen
ans commission. / didn't sign Lee Frost's
because he was a person OF unsaYory repu-
tation. Another Of the men commissioned
by Fyllc and johnson had been suspected
Of killing a man mp here at Eighth and
Walnut. They took the position that as
long as ne had not been convicted he was
lot unfit TO serve"
The mayor related at length the Christie
incident which took place not long ago.
"A month or so ago" he said, Il found in
this boards boxes n report from Sergeant
Weber about Sandy Edwards saloon on
East Twelfth street. There was an assig-
nation house above the place. The saloon
had electrical apparatus. Craps was
played in a rear room and there was an
alarm bell under one of the tables. which
was sounded by touching n button at the
bar. Fyke offered a resolution that Ed
wards be summoned before the board TO
shew cause why his license should not be
revoked. / was in accord with it. but
thought that W. H. Christie. who keeps n
place at l2QS Walnut street, should appear
too TO show cause for not revolzing his Ii
cense- 1 charged that a gambling house
was run I'm connection with his place
Fyke and Johnson demurred TO this hut
finally acquiesced. Edwards appeared and
on the plea that he had been away we put
his case of a week. Christie appeared
and after routine business I told Christie
that he was charged with keeping q disor-