The San Francisco call., 1899-01-02

the Police Department. must slNe ~ up i've ~
Dan Burns the means by "hIci I'S my - 80
This compact of knaVe' DIaChleS s. S.iS, atiT
q Sentle ChleI Oh OAlNS We"
a month ago. .,,o hoe
zach of the parties to the scheme mas
q nowerflll personal motive tor nis a.
ton Dan Burns neeus HotFS fTo,,o ~ his own
6nTsCter what an impulse cuplulty
gives to action. be believes @ thaI ne ne Inv Inv
6ribe public officers and ne 1nLehuS e. ~ ~ ~
1,o+ss nv giving legislators the po"SL W
eo.Ir;rT men 10 positions on the local
n6iice force The market value u is
nnIaca as patrolman on the ponce lot 40
$500 at the present time. I1Ie,,15 InlS az.
taE1 II for a vote for United states otla- I
~ The price varies from time 10 liiiek
a a person closely conhectea tts+ ~ Places
the commissioners may attest. .so a."
onn.,(It he given as a matter or course,
when there are no vacancies, ana buIllS II :
has demanded the terrible sacrllice oI
mems living. ,, -
Moses Gunst is a party to the plot be be.
cause he owes his present pohucal r NE
and the hope of its contlnuance 10 a- Ian
Burns. Gunst, as PoIice ooIliF1beoifHt Tbev are
not the interests that are good Ior lne
city but they are the interests oL GuLa'
and his friends, OF CAMPERS anu i,,b foTo-
legs. Gunst therefore did NOT Weish loIIS
the balance between his interests anu
those of twenty-one men ana thelr uNIns
Some of these men are Ill from Lhe eleCtS ieSo
a
con7Dletelv dependent upon them, IdlHt-
lies without other means OF suppoIt
More than one of them has been nero 2, IN IN
the performance of his duty. buI
CzI1ns+ Gamblers friend and associate,
creature and tool of Burns, counts these
considerations for nothing. lie mas
promised to make twentyLone Is Vaos',0,e9 ,,,e y
offer bait to twenty-one members OF tHe
State Legislature and Gunst may protect
the immoral agencies of the town
Chief of Police Lees is party to the
scheme because he is lustful for the con-
tinual possession of power. When Gunst
sought to take from the OLD man inns
power Lees, in fretful fuming ana the
f,lrv of old age, rebelled. Now that there
ise for him the greedy hope that he Will
not be molested in his sham OF greatness
he agrees heartily to the demand OF tne
corfspirators. He cares nothing 1or tne
eficiencv of the Police Department nor
for The existence of its members. Some
Of the men that have been selected Tor
retirement are among the most efnclent III
the service. Others are i'll and friendless
ga o+hers without power. 1t is easy for
nan Burns Nose GunSt and Cme1 Lees
to destroy such men.
Tho soheme was readily formed. Lees
has made the Palace Hotel ms heao,
Quarters for a month When ne shoulo
have been, in the performance of his duty
af the City Hall he was at the Palace
Hotel in consultation with Dan Burns.
The Chief OF Police was Wiling TO obey
I3iirns and. eager to propitiate Gunst. 1t
was thought feasible at hrst TO lncIease
+he police force by twenty-five members,
hut this would require an approprlsliIplnl ~ !
from the Board of Supervisors, ana Ihe
Man was abandoned. 1t was then decldeu
70 create as many vacancies as possible.
Vacancies have been made in the Ponce
DEPARTMENT before for the benert Oh .s osaes
legislators by manufacturing charges
AGAINST unprotected patrolmen ano dis-
missing them from the service. Such
nIan was no sooner discussed Lnah
,s-fr- fOTl lfoA
&c offensive enough without the confession
Of the old man himself. Charges OF COT
ruption would be an admission OF gullti
and the scheme was dismissed with very
little discussion.
Burns then determined that those mem
bars of the department who are eligible
for retirement under the pension law ano
those that have met misfortune and are
Of once accepted. Chief Clerk Wright OF
fhe Police Department was at once IN
structed to prepare list OF those that
bx, the provisions of the scheme, could
he retired from the department and their
rIaces filled by the selections of State leg
islators Clerk Wright was not SLOW IN
obeying The pension law PROVIDES that
oil members of the department that have
had a continuous service of twenty years
and have reached the age of 60 years may
be retired on pension OF half pay
Retirement is not compulsory, but IS
81 The discretion Of the Police Commits
sion sitting as a Board of Police PEN
sion Commissioners. 1t would be absurd
10 retire efficient officers simply because
+bev had reached a certain age. Such
oction has never been taken honestly. 1t
&c only i'm an emergency, such as Burns
has presented, that the Police Commits
sioners, compliant or worse, lend them
selves TO a scheme that works mischief
TO the service and grave injustice to un-
protected officers.
When Wright had finished his list and
discovered all of the men in the depart
rnent who were either III or more than
So years of age copies of the list were
sent to the different captains in whose di-
visions are the men who are to be re-
tired. Through these sources the victims
learned Of their coming fate. They knew
that their time is short. as the Police
Commissioners will meet tomorrow
morning as Pension Commissioners unless
the illness Of Commissioner Tobin pre-
vents. Mr. Tobin has been seriously but
not dangerously Ill, and IL he cannot at
tend tomorrow the other Commissioners