The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-30
NEW YoRK's NEW CHIEF or PoLIcE.
John McCuglagh's Appointment a
Boon to the Great Department.

New York Letter in Philadelphia Press.
John McCulagh, acting inspector of po-
lice, although a captains pay yesterday
morning, and to his surprise, chief of police
last evening, measures very nearly to the
standard of the ideal public officer and to
that of the ideal executive authority over
the police department. His promotion was
as unexpected to him as, in one sense, It
was to the Police Board. In the new office
in which he is placed he is likely to ac-
complish more for that great department
than any or all Of his predecessors, and
it will be his opportunity and probably his
lot to bring the department up to that
high condition which L was expected II
would attain when the revolution of 1894
threw all the old influences out of power
and put an end to the traditions by which
the department had been governed.
,, MicCgIla2gh L. is good type Of the best
mental strength equal to his physical pow
er. He is clean morally, and the atmos-
phere and influence which he has been able
to create have been felt in every subor-
dinate office he has held since first he be-
came policeman twenty-seven years ago.
He is now in the prime of life, for he be-
came q. member of the force when very
young. 1t has been said of McCulagh that
he has the ability which would make him
a competent president of the police board,
as well as the experience which will serve
him admirably as chief Although he has
been associated with the New York police
nearly thirty years, he has made 1t plain
that a man may have such association even
under Tammany rule and retain all of the
characteristics of a true gentleman. fHe
may have been q patrolman, and as a de-
tective insinuated himself into all of the
mysteries of Mulberry Bend and Chinatown,
and yet when he resumed his real condi-
ton be recognized as man of refinement,
of courtesy and Of real intellectual culture.
He may have been powerful enough to
scatter and then destroy the Whyo gang,
legitimate descendants of the old Plug
Uglies," employing all of the courage, per-
sistency and determination that dangerous
achievement required, and yet, when in the
companionshp of men Of intelligence and
of the gentle habits Of true cultivation, may
HOY va fol h Taln a ( a
These things John McCullagh has done
Besides that, he is man Of piety without
ostentatious cant on the one hand, or any
conduct or sly insinuations or cynical sug-
gestons such as would bring reproach
upon one who had made public confession
of religious faith. He has been for many
years a member of the Fifth-avenue Pres
byterian Church. of which the Rev. Dr.
John Hall is pastor. He is a man of some
in manner even which the salary of chief
of police would not permit. His wealth
came to him partly by inheritance, partly
by prudence in the expenditure of his sab
airy and partly by marriage -
1t would be natural to presume that a
man of these qualities and associations
was sure to be identified with the Repub-
lican party. and McCullagh has been Re
publican enthusiastic and aggressive ever
since he attained his majority. AS captain
of a police precinct he had no politics. In
his hours off duty he did, 50 far as it was
proper for him to Go, meet with republican
leaders and many times give great assist
ance to those who were determined that
there should be no fraudulent registration
or dishonest balloting.
This somewhat extended description OF
the policeman who was summoned sudden-
~ from his desk to the office Of the Board
of Police Commissioners yesterday and
went in response to the summons. not Know
ing why he had been called, is justified be-
cause this appointment places i'm command
of the department an executive who Will be
sure to bring IL to that high level of efii-
cheney and integrity to which the Street
Cleaning Department has been brought by
Colonel Waring. Besides that, McCullaghs
appointment breaks the deadlock in which
the police department has stagnated for
many months. and puts an end to the seam
DIAL which this condition occasioned.< 1t
makes il possible to reorganize the police
department from top to bottom: II puts
an end TO those plottings and Vaccinations
bv which certain ambitious public officers
attempted to make use Of the department.
to advance their personal interests. IL Will
make the detective department no longer
the secret ally of a commissioner whose
ambition Is as boundless as his audacity,
and who while commissioner seems to have
given the lie to all his professions or de-
Sire TO establish reform and an administra-
ton of the city by officers whose wish TO
do their duty we'll is greater than their
ambition to hold office.