The herald., 1898-10-05

two or three times Invariably answered
with curses and told my trusty they
would not STOP
I ordered the tank unlocked and the
trusty (Robinson, colored,) to go In and
bring them out and put them In the
dark CELL On entering, followed and
assisted him to make the change,
Brown fighting the best he could. He
was handled the only way possible
by force-to make the removal. Yours
truly, SAMUEL N. BAKER.
The documents were all submitted and
read. Up to this point In the proceedings
the complainant had been given no op-
portunity for hearing and the particulars
of his charge against Officer Baker had
never been made known, any further than
as set forth in the formal complaint. He
had been present with witness the week
before and at that time his bruised face
spoke volumes. But yesterday he was at
the meeting alone his witness having gone
to Yuma to work. His bruises were still
visible, but did not present the appearance
they did last week. Mayor Snyder was the
first to give the man chance, asking him
If he desired to make a statement.
"Yes, your HONOR answered the COM
plainant, my friend and 1 were arrested
about 10 o'clock on the night In question and
after midnight were talking In our cell
when the officer came in and struck Lynch.
1 told him not to do that and he turned on
me, striking me in the face while I was
lying down and kicking me twice in the
side. The blood ran from my cheek al
most In a stream. l am boilermaker by
trade, but am now working as assistant
cook at the Hoffman house. When l got
out of the Jail 1 asked somebody where 1
should go to complain against Baker and
was told 10 go to the chief. A captain
told me, however, that If l went to the
chief I would get worse black eye than
l had them
Commissioner McLain made a motion to
approve the chief report and recommen-
dations, and Commissioner Preuss sec
onded the notion But Commissioner Wy
man demurred.
Gentlemen" he said, there is too much
difference In the reports. I don't believe
IN this letter business. would like to see
Officer Baker come up here and stand be-
fore this commission and Mr.. Brown-and
tell his side of the story. All want is to
see justice done. and don't believe we can
do justice In. the affair as 1t stands now.
The question is this man went into jail
without bruises and came out all bruised
up. How did he get into such a condition,
want to know"
AS matter of fact, Officer Bakers re-
port in no way makes this point clear, un-
less the phrase, "he was handled by force"
be taken as an acknowledgement that the
alleged blow was struck.
Commissioners McLain. and Preuss with
drew their motion to approve the chief /,
report and the matter was continued until
next Tuesday as before stated. At the
after discussion several conspicu-
Gus features to the matter were commented
on. Attention was called to the fact that
while Brown appears alone and unsup-
ported, he is the only one who has thus far
filed sworn statement and that while his
charge is unsubstantiated, Officer Bakers
statemenc Isl also in that condition, the
other statements submitted having abso-
lutely no bearing on the points at issue.
Another interesting suggestion was made
with reference to Bakers statement that
when the prisoners were turned over to
him he was Ordered to separate them" In
the next sentence he states that he put
two in the lower tank"