The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-15
POLICE BRIBERY CHARGES.
BoLIER INsP FICTION BUREAU MEN
ID ER FRI BEFORE.

said to nave Issued n1any EsgineerS' Licenses
Tor q Consideraisn-Fheir Arrest the ne
suit Of . Trap laid for Them ~ the Cen
trail Orrasisntisa or Steam EnEipeeTs
Policemen J. II. Lilly and John G. Henderson
OF tho Bureau Of Steam Boiler Inspection al
Police Headquarters, who were arrested or
Thursday on q charge Of agreeing to accept q
bride Of S25, wero arraigned before Magistrate
Flammer in the Centre Street Police Court yes
terday.
In connection with the arrest of Lilly and
Henderson It Is said that IL has been impos
sible for sven competent engineers to get
licenses without paying for them. 1t is also
said that tho Central Organization of Steam
Engineers resolved. some time ago, to remedy
this evil, and that the arrest Of tho two police
men was the result of this determination. Won
Steinberg. q competent engineer. 10 10 de-
clared, deliberately failed in his examipation
for q license for the purpose Of having the two
policemen caught in tho act Of eXtorting money
from him.
The charge made against the policemen in the
Centre Street Court was violation Of section 4S
OF tho Penal Code. which provides against any
officer relieving money for an Unlawful act.
In the complaint Won Steinbcrg sets forth that
having failed to pass the examination for o TO
newal of his license, he gave the marked money
found on Lilly to that policeman to be equally
divided between him and H anderson.
Lilly's answer to the complaint was that he
was so shocked ut the attempt to bride him
that he resolved to punish the briber. So no
took the money and walked after Henderson, who
had gone ahead, meaning to toll him Of the
matter and consult with him as to what action
should be taken. He was undecided, he says,
whether to lake the money to Sergeant Mash-
then, or to nV wait until nth morning. Before or he could
do either. he says, he was arrested.
At the request OF their counsel the two men
They. furnished $1,000 bail each and were al.
lowed to go.
ma aen ID asss. AND and. t5a eeau wsT q sSd faot sha a0 hey
were engineers by trade, they, were assigned to
duty in the Bureau Of Steam Boiler Inspection.
of the bureau. and every applicant for a license
to run a steam engine OF any kind has been sent
s.59 she applic can't mos most Y whom W ReSp successfui
in obtaining licenses.
A. year ago an engineer named Wilson, who
worked for q manufacturing concern In this
and Henderson. Wilson, 1t seems, heard that
engineers license. and that, il he got one, he
was going to supersede him. Wilson wrote n
letter to Sergeant Mullin warning him that the
fireman was incompetent and adding that II he
got o license 1t must be for money. Tho fire
man was rejected. but later passed an exami-
forward and declared that the fireman had paid
Lilly and Henderson to allow another engineer
to pass an examination for him.
There was an investigation Of the matter, but
as 1t was believed that Wilson was jealous of
the fireman and had no ground for his charges,
It was dropped:
Sergeant Mullin said yesterday that he had
no means of knowing IL there had been bribery
going. on in the bureau. Lilly and Henderson
did all the examining, and reported fayorably
or unfavorably on candidates, he said. He had
nothing but the records of the office to go by.
Had there been wholesale bribery. he said. q lot
Of incompetent men would have received H.
senses. The fact that, despite the large number
of boilers In operation in the city. there have
been scarcely any. casualties from that source,
he said, would Indicate that Lilly and Hender-
son had not been granting licenses to incompe.
tent mon.
The Central Organization of Steam Engineers
has retained Charles W.. Dayton to look after
its interests. When seen at his office yesterday
Mr.. Dayton said that he knew nothing about
the Won Steinberg. case.
That has been placed In the hands OF o crimi-
nal lawyer" he said. who is attending to it as
he thinks best"
The criminal lawyer said that he couldn't
talk at the present time. He knew, he said,
that Lilly and Henderson had fallen into a trap.
but whether or not the engineers organization
set the trap he didn't know. Every effort. he
said. would be made to convict the two police
men.