The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-09-11
Especial Correspondence.)
Denver, Colo,

remarkable for the number of hold
ups" and highway robberes committed
In this city. Several women have been
assaulted and badly beaten and
robbed, and in one case a team was
stopped a man and woman taken out
of the buggy, and both We're beaten
and robbed There have been no ar
rests at the time of writing this; and 1t
is not expected that any will be made.
The natural question, when such
things occur in a large and presum-
ably civilized city is, Where were the
police?"
The answer to that question may be
found in the Denver Republican of
last Thursday. Here 1t is:
There were only ten regular police
men on duty yesterday. All the rest
were doing political work preliminary
to the primaries next Tuesday. Both
were drawing pay. There might have
been a score of highway robberies in
broad daylight on Sixteenth street and
not an officer near enough to blow n
whistle or run around the corner and
come up after it was all over to ask
what had happened. The Sixteenth
street policemen were at the court
house So was nearly every other po-
liceman in the city.
president Il. w. Speer of the Fire
and Police Board is determined to roll
up a majority at the primaries which
will end, he hopes, the political career
of 7. j. Maloney, who has carried the
last three elections for the Democrats
of Arapahoe county. Governor Thom-
| as has left Denver for a short time and
has left the entire charge of the local
fight in the hands of Mr.. Speer."
All this is part of the present sys-
TEN of politics in Denver. BY the pres
ent charter, large part of the execu-
live power is taken away from the
mayor and other city officials and
lodged in the hands of the governor.
He 1t is who appoints the Fire and Po-
lice Board, and the firemen and police
men are, of course, expected to act as
his political henchmen and carry pri-
maries for him, and in other ways to
act as his personal agents. 1t is prob.
ably no exaggeratiOn TO say that very
much larger part of the time of the
present governor has been taken up by
the local affairs of the city of Denver
than by the affairs of the state at
large. With n different governor, this
l 1.
tered, but so long as part of the proper
| powers of the mayor of the city are
delegated to the governor, so long the
governor will be power If he chooses
to be, in Denver city politics, and SO
long the responsibility for the good
government of the city will be divided,
and the government will be compara-
lively inefficient and wasteful.
1t is not to be expected that IL the
governors appointees are hard at
work, the other city ,officials-those who
own allegiance to Mr.. Thomas j. Ma
loney, will be entirely idle. 1t comes
about, therefore, that nearly all the
city and county officers in Denver are
at work politically just now, and nee
essarily are paying but little attention
TO the regular duties of their offices.
Further details of the manner in
which the city and county officials are
kept busy these days are furnished by
the Republican as follows:
The police and the firemen have
both been assessed for the Thomas
campaign fund-voluntarily contribu-
tions is what the leaders call it. The
gamblers also have been assessed, but
on Il larger scale-voluntary contribu-
tions again.
James Maloney, head of the street
sprinkllng department; Felix O'Neil,
superintendent of street cleaning, and
William Ensminger, city boiler inspec-
tor, were all called into the mayors of
fee yesterday and We're told to stop
neglecting their offices to work for Mr..
Maloney in his tight-for the game is
played both ways and there are many
departments in which the officials of
city and county are made to work for
the Maloney faction while being paid
by the people. These three officials
said that their designations were ready
whenever they were demanded, but
that they would support Mr. Maloney
Sheriff Robert ]. Jones is abso-
lutely the only official of prominence
who has refused to use his office to aid
one side or the other in this fight. He
is using his personal influence for Mr..
Maloney. While few of his deputies