The age-herald., 1900-12-23
THOS. !. M'DONALD
 ADDRESSES PUBLIC
Makes Statement About Issues in the Chief of Police
 Contest

To the Public:
 Great injustice has been done me by some of the best people of the city, who are cir eulating the report taet 1 am in league with the gamblers and whiskey men of Bir- mingham positively deny this charge. The element that I am accused of being in league with caused my defeat eighteen months ago. It is true that never paraded the streets on Sunday with an axe on my shoulder and crowd of newsboys and bootblacks at my heels, bursting open doors to arrest supposed gamblers against whom no evidence was found to convict and all to hoodwink the moral people of Birmingham, and to gain a little cheap notoriety. I was never sent to jail for insulting the court that I was sworn to respect and uphold. l consider the Criminal Court over which Judge Greene presides one of the most hon. oTable courts that ever sat in any county and while Chief of Police had hundreds of cases before it, and never had occasion to criticise any of its rulings in my cases, nor did I ever have to apologize for anything said or done with reference to the court never had under surveillance witness against a man who was arrested on sus- picion of committing one of the most hein- ous crimes known to the criminal code, and
 
 While Chief I never camored through the newspapers for a law that would allow me to turn up a gentleman's eoattail to see II he had a weapon, nor being protected by my stars and stripes and 45-calibre in my pocket, insulted citizen on the street with out any provocaton, who was not allowed to carry a weapon. I never had my picture In a paper-The Police Gazette-which Is outlawed and not allowed sent through the mails, advertising me as the handsomest Chief of Police in the United States. never insulted my desk sergeant without cause, and threatened to throw him out of the window just because I felt was physically able to do so. I was living here on Birm- ingham's birthday, December 19, 1871, and a great many citizens are still here who were here then, and have known me all these years and think every man of them would testify that l have always been on the side of morality.
 I reaffirm that for campaign purposes falsehoods about me are being circulated, which honest voters should investigate. IT is appalling to note the increase of mur- ders, burglaries, robberies and unmentiona- ble crimes, under the present admtnistra- tion, all out of proportion to the increase of population, and considering the increase of the police force and yet our present ln- cumbent says the way to protect our homes against f'debauchery'' is to re-elect him. If he is reelected and crime increases in the same proportion that 1t has in the past eighteen months God help our men to pro- tect their homes against debauchery. Some good people think that under the present police administration the number of gam bling houses has decreased, when really they have increased steadily; in some in stances consolidated and running on larger scale The present incumbent seems to think that gambling is the only crime m our criminal code, yet with this view this crime has steadily increased under his ad- ministration He will take six or eight of