The herald., 1897-10-06
The Herald's Charges Are
Acknowledged
THE BOARDS INCONSISTENCY
INTERESTING SECRET SESSION
OF THE POLICE COMMISSION
The Police Surgeon Ordered to Report
on the Qualifications Of the
New officers

That the members of the board Of po-
sistent in their repeated declarations of
the removal Of the police department
from politics and that political favorit-
ism has been shown in the selection of
police force, as was charged by The Her.
aid, has been admitted, very unwillingly,
by more than one member of that body.
The facts as presented in The Herald
yesterday, when it was hown that men
over age, men under size and men phys
ically disqualified for service as police
men according to the standard pre-
scrbed by the commission itself, had
been appointed, created decided stir,
not only among the members of the COM
mission and of the police department,
but among the city officials generally.
The knowledge that the public had been
informed of the commissioners having
openly violated their own rules when
some of them at least were from time to
time giving out the idea that there was
no politics in the police department, was
not comfortable, and the result was
rather interesting secret meeting or con-
ference of the commissioners before the
hour for their regular meeting yesterday
morning. The trouble was that the shoe
fitted some of them and they desired to
shift it to others.
The members of the commission ar
rived early at the city hall. The regular
meeting was to have been called to or
der at 10 o'clock, but before that hour
they went into the mayors office, where,
behind closed doors the charges contained
in The Herald were discussed. The truth
of the charges had to be admitted among
themselves There was an interesting
incident in this connection. Mr.. Wyman
asserted in the hearing of the other
members that he had not been aware of
the fact that Officer Loomis, one of the
recent appointees, was over age. He had
probably forgotten that on former oc-
cason in that same place he had been
informed of the facts in the matter, and
of this he was rather forcibly reminded
by another member of the commission
He said no more on the subject, but the
effect of his having been reminded of the
matter led him to introduce at the open
meeting Of the board a resolution in
structing the police surgeon to report the
reSNlt of the physical examination of all
members of the police department since
he had been in office. just what will be
done with this report was not stated,
but it is supposed that if any of the po
licemen are found to fall below the phys
ical requirements established by the
commission there may be an effort to
either adjust the deficiencies or to re-
move the officers who are found to be de-
ficient.
The disclosures made by The Herald
did not seem to trouble Comm ssioner
McLain, who, while he did not deny the
truth of what was charged, assumed a
what-are-you going-to- do-about-it atti-
tude and said little. Mr.. Gibbon was not
present at the time the infractions of the
rules of the comm ission by the commits
sion itself were made and therefore did
not enter as much into the discussion of
the charges as the others, since they did
not apply to any of the men whose ap-
pointment he had secured Mr.. Preuss
thought that as the matter had been
made public there was nothing more to
do about it. Mayor Snyder did not mince
matters, but stated that The Herald ar
ticle was practically true in all respects
No mention whatever was made of the
matter when the commission met in reg
ular session, and it is probable that
nothing will be done until the reports
of the city surgeon are examined. What
may transpire then remains to be seen.
One Of the members of the commissions,
who asked that his name be not men,
toned, spoke his mind in unmistakab,e
terms yesterday afternoon when he
A | ia X a hpI "a
mission being non-political is mere bosh.
1t would NOT even be swallowed by a
person unfamiliar with all public offices
and who knew nothing of such matters
Show me man who will take position
on such board and patiently bear the
abuse and criticism we get and attend to
the unpleasant business that frequently
needs attention, and who will do all this
simply for love of the city and the de-
partment, and I will show you perfect
man. OF course it may not be notorious
ly political in its action, and politics
may only exist under the surface but
politics is there all the same Why,
am willing to bet that at the next cleo
ton two, three or perhaps four of the
present board will go before the people
as candidates for Office or course there
is no direct catering to acknowledged
politicians in the appointment of police
men, but the commissioners are careful
to give such men positions as would, in
their opinion, possibly be useful in event
of their services being required in a po-
litical fight"
In this connection it may be of interest
to know just what men the several COM
mis'sioners had appointed. All of them
secured three appointments except Mr..
Preuss. The list follows:
Mayor Snyder-T. Fl. Zeigler, Ran
dolph and Edwards.
Mr.. Gibbon-Moore (who was later re-
moved and Wilson substituted by the
same commissioner A. w. Murray and
White.
Mr.. Wyman--Green (who was left off
the final list and Briest's name substi
tuted by the same commissioner,
Broadhead and Fowler.
Mr.. McLain--Baker, Rosso and
Loomis.
Mr.. Preuss-P. Fl. Murray and T. J.
Roller.
Roller, who was reported to be over
age, gave his age on his application,
which was sworn to, as 49, On the great
register his age is given as 81 and his
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