The age-herald., 1899-07-12
PERDUE SUSPENDED
 FOR THIRTY DAYS The Officer Charged With Neg
 lect of Duty. OFF BEAT SEVERAL HOURS On Two Different Nights, Was the Tes- timony ot Night Captain Weir -Chief Wants Special Men
 to Catch Gamblers
OFF BEAT SEVERAL HOURS

1 laSt nlSnI ln the COuncll cHdIlDeT dl lilS
 city hall and besides the trial of Officer 1 Will Perdue on the charge of neglect of l duty little business was transacted. l The meeting was called to order promptly | at o'clock by Chairman c. c. Chiles, with l Commissioners Stradford Parker and Nor | ton present. During the meeting Commis- sioners Bridges. McCary and Mohley came
 in making a full attendance of the board | Quite a number of witnesses in the Per | due case were in attendance, the colored | contingent remaining on the outside. 1 After the reading of the minutes of the | previous meeting, the charges against Offi- 1 cer Perdue were read and motion of l Commissioner Parker, Officer Perdue was granted hearing.
 The defendant was represented by At torney Lee c. Bradley, who asked for l call of the witnesses, and in the absence
 of an important witness asked that the l trial be postponed until he could be gotten,
 in justice to the officer.
 | Trial Proceeded With It was suggested by Chief Austin that a | showing as to what the absent witness
 would swear might be admitted and the l trial was proceeded with The witnesses
 were sworn and were put under the rule. l The specific charges against Officer Per- | due were neglect of duty in viola ting arti- 1 cle 91 of the rules and regulations in not properly patrolling his beat. | The examination was conducted by Chief l Austin, who occupied a chair in the center
 of the room.
 l Night Captain Weir was the first witness | introduced, and he swore that on the nights 1 of July and Officer Perdue was absent | from his beat from until Il o'clock. On
 the night of the 4th of July, according to | Captain Weir's statement Officer Perdue 1 was detailed on Nineteenth street between 1 First and Third avenue, and that he found 1 him absent from the beat at o'clock and l patroled 1t himself until Il o'clock, making l frequent short trips on his wheel. At 1120 l o'clock he said he saw Officer Perdue com | ing out of a saloon at the corner of Fourth l avenue and Eighteenth street. He asked | him where he had been, and he replied | that he had been working around. Captain | Weir also stated that a fire alarm at 10 l o'clock failed to bring Officer Perdue to his l beat
 | On the night of the 7th Officer Perdue l was detailed on Second avenue between l Eighteenth and Twentieth streets, and
 First and Second alleys, and according to l Captain Weir's statement, again ab- | sent from his beat for several hours. l Quite a number of witnesses were ex- | amined, including the officers the cross
 beats, who testified that they had seen | nothing of Perdue during the hours named l Witness for Defense l The witnesses for the defense were slight | tp hav | ing seen Officer Perdue at several places on | his beat on both the 4th and 7th during the | hours named
 Officer Perdue took the stand and testified 1 that on the night of July he patrolled l Fourth avenue between Eighteenth and l Twentieth street and Fourth alley between 1 the same streets, and on the night of the 1 7th he was detailed and patroled Nineteenth 1 street between Second and Fourth avenues l He stated that he had been assigned to 1 these beats by his superior officers. 1 In answer to the questions of his attor-
 ney he stated that he had been elected to
 the force in September, 1895, and had.never before been tried on any charge. l MT. Bradley addressed the board briefly, l stating that there appeared to be misun- 1 derstanding of orders, which showed mere 1 ly 8 technical violation. if any. He held up | Officer Perdue's record and asked for yer | dict of mot guilty
 | Suspended for 30 Days The board went immediately into execu- | tive session, and after a lengthy delbera-
 tion announced its decision, finding Officer
 Perdue guilty and suspending him for thir-
 ty days.
 l During the executive session the rules were so amended that when charges were l preferred against an officer the chief could l suspend him pending trial J. l.. Thompson, special officer for the l Louisville and Nashville Railroad company was vested with police power.
 The hour being late, the reading of Chief l Austins report and other routine matters
 were dispensed with and the meeting ad- | journed.
 The report of Chief Austin for the month l which would have been read before the | meeting was as follows:
 | Chier Austin's Report l