The herald., 1898-08-17

moniously discharged after a trial before
the commission upon charge Of insubor-
dina tlon and threats to kill superior Of
| fcer. At the last meeting Of the board 1t
was officially brought to the attention of
| the members by Commissioner Gibbon that
on the 7th of last June clash occurred be-
tween Sergeant Gus Smith and Officer
Spencer, and that the facts in the case were
such as to necessitate an investigation by
the board. Accordingly, the officers were
summoned TO appear before the commits
sion at yesterdays session, together with
| witnesses OF the ARRAY. and explain the
why's and wherefores of the encounter.
The members were slow in gathering, and
at 10 O'Clock, the usual hour for converting.
| a quorum was not present, and the open
Ing of the session was postponed until II
| o'clock At that time all the commissioners
were present except Mr. McLain and Prest-
dent Silver raped for order shortly after
ward. After the disposal Of routine busi-
ness the Spencer-Smith matter was taken
up both the officers and Chief Glass. being
present, together with couple OF witnesses
who had been summoned. At the outset
Spencer interposed an objection to proceed
| Ing with the case at once, as he had not
board until he came on duty in the morn
| ing. He claimed that he had been given
no opportunity to summon witnesses In his
behalf and asked that the matter be laid
over for a week.
| Commissioner Gdbbon made the remark
that 1t was strange that the officer should
not have known that the matter was to be
taken up by the board. as it had been
widely published. to which Spencer replied
that he did not take his facts In case of
the kind at issue from newspapers or news
paper reporters, number Of whom had
logged his footsteps all of the past week
that he had only been notified by the chief
few moments before to appear before the
commission. 1t was nevertheless decided
to proceed with the taking of testimony so
far as could be done, and, IL necessary. to
carry the matter over for another week to
allow Spencer an opportunity to produce
witnesses in his own behalf.
Sergeant Smiths Statement
This being decided, Sergeant Smith was
first sworn and told the story Of his en-
counter with Spencer Substantially as fol-
lows:
ION the night Of the 9Th of June. or rather
between 1 and o'clock on the morning of
the 7th, met Officer Spencer. whose beat
was on South Spring street, coming out of
restaurant in company with a couple Of
men. / spoke to him and asked him where
he was going. to which he replied that he
had just taken his lunch, and would like
to see his friends at least portion of the
way home. So saying, he left me and
walked down the street about a block.
When he had reached the next corner I
blew my whistle, calling him to me. He
came back accompanied a portion Of the
way by one of his companions, and met me
at the corner Of Sixth and Spring streets.
had had occasion several days before to
criticise his work. and two mornings pre-
viously had inquired the reason why he did
not patrol his beat below Fourth street In
more regular manner. He had made an ex-
cuse, saying that he remained the greater
part Of the time on the upper portion of his
beat because Of the action OF certain hack
men. who had been complained Of by the
proprietors Of the Hollenbeck and Nadeau
hotels.
when he reached me told him that Il