The San Francisco call., 1898-12-01
WHITMAN IS
 NO LONGER
 THE "CzAR ;" Chief Lees Divides the Central District. BETTER HALF FOR EsOLA HE WILL BE IN CHARGE OF
 CHINATOWN. The Captain Must Be Satisfied With the "Fog Belt" or Resign.
 Two Stormy Inter-
BETTER HALF FOR EsoLA
HE WILL BE IN CHARGE ol
 CHINATOWN.

Captain Whitman is no longer Czar of Chinatown, and one of the choicest cuts of the "tehderloin'' has .een taken from the police platter and handed to Lieuten- ant of Police Fred Esola. This radical and unexpected change in the department Is the direct cause of two violent inter views between Chief Lees and the cap tain. -,s.
 During these "conferences"-one yes- terday afternoon and the other night be- fore last-the peace of the City Hall was rudely shattered and more torrid times about police headquarters are anticipated. Whether the Chief will compel Whitman to resign Is yet a matter of speculation, and the result of his effort Is awaited with keenest interest by the department and the public generally.
 Chief Lees has already secured one of Captain Wittman's shoulder straps The Central police district, which was the largest and most important division of the Police Department, has been divided. The principal portion has been taken from the captain and given to Lieutenant Esola, who has been acting prison-keeper at the California street station Esola, whose authority Is now equal to that of Captain Whitman, is placed in charge of the district bounded by Front, California and Larkin streets and the bay. This dis trict includes Chinatown, Barbary Coast and large section of the water front. More arrests are made in this district than in all the rest of the city, from daily to the California street station Chinatown alone keeps a large force of police and detectives on the qui vive day and night, and Captain Wittman's failure vicious elements In that plague spot has brought him into disgrace.
 Captain Whitman retains supervision of | the "fog belt which comprises the West H arhp View, the Richmond district and the Cliff House Lieutenant Esola has detail of amenable to Chief Lees directly and not to Captain Whitman, as heretofore.
 Chief Lees will not give his reasons for degrading Whitman and promoting Esoia further than to say it is for the good of the department. The Calls story yester> day morning of the row between the Chief and the captain was denied by all con- cerned; but the radical change in the Gen. tral district fully explains the cause of the violent quarrel and the loud words which reverberated through the corridors while the interview was in progress.
 Whitman objected to losing all but the quill of his yellow peacock feather, and u was extremely galling to think that Lieu tenant Esola was to be the recipient of authority and honor stripped from him. The motto, Love one another" which at one time adorned the wall at the old City Prison, seems to have been lost, and none of the officials of the department are searching for 1t nowadays. In fact; they have for. some months been laying in a supply of knives, hammers and axes, and open hostilities are now at hand.
 For some reason known only to them selves Lees and Whitman have been at. Whitman considers himself the heir ap- parent to the throne now occupied by Lees, and as the Albert Edward of the department he thinks the proper time has arrived for the old lady to abdicate. Chief Lees (who has been 45 years in the de- partmenp Is aware of wittman's aspira- that no man (who has not had 45 years experienced can i'll the void which would exist forever If he were to leave the. de- verely rebuked for daring to think he drum corps. Then, too. how would the big voice look in that nice new gold-be- spangled uniform. "Preposterous," sput- ters, the Chief.
 The strained relations between the Chief and the captain of the Central dis trict has been a matter of gossip with the patrolmen and about the City Hall for ago Whitman was placed in command of all the police parades and he came to be- lieye that no out-of-door celebration was complete without his austere and com came, and the men in the ranks wondered thereat. Instead of Whitman. Captain s{pillane of .h the Southern district was charge of escorts for martial and civic parades.. The wise men in the depart ment talked knowingly about Whitman top, and of the Chief kicking the ladder from under him. To-day these same wise acres are saying the .old mans kick was never equaled by a Government mule, and he not only tumbled whitman but he smashed the ladder all to pieces"
 As Lees fears Wittman, so Whitman fears Lieutenant Esola. On several occa- sions when Czar Wittman's official head was in danger of dropping into a basket Esola has been named as the next can Esolas probable promotion reached his immediate superior so often that the tenn perature of the latter's. extremities blood reached Wittman's. heart frost be- came king and he now has the warmth of an icicle for the young man from Califor- uia street. The air surrounding the cap fnir, h1,o oY,aa ao fHold nd Har f3od hat