The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-08-17

Daniel w. Vaughan, select council
man from the Nineteenth ward and
the chairman of the special committee
appointed to investigate the circum-
stances attending the sale Of six of the
eleven horses recently put out of SER.
vice in the fire department, announced
two weeks ago that when the COM
mittee reported It would have some
sensations to spring. Be 1t said that
few of these sensations were sprung
at last nights meeting of select coun-
cll
The first one came when the follow
ing report of the committee, recon-
mending among other things the re-
moval of Veterinarian Sitterly, was
read:
TO the Select Council
Gentlemen: Your special committee, appoint
ed to ascertain what disposition was made OF
the fire department horses, respectfully beg
leave to report that councils have not authorized
the sale or disposal Of the horses in question.
We have ascertained that the eX.chief Of the
fire department, the veterinary surgeon and the
chairman Of the fire department committee of
the common council have assumed authority and
illegally sold six of the eleven horses.
We therefore recommend that the city solicit
or Immediately proceed to recover said horses,
conjunction with the city solicitor in the said
proceedings.
We further recommend that the mayor cause
the immediate removal discharge Of DR.. C. NJ.
Sitterly veterinary surgeon
Daniel W. Vaughan, Chairman.
When this report had been read Mr..
Oliver was the first to break the silence
which reigned for several moments. He
said:
MR.. OLIVER DEFENDS.
'I notice that the ex-chief of the fire
department is included in this report.
/ am satisfied that any dealing he had
in this matter was an honorable one,
and l am not willing to allow this re-
port to be adopted without defending
| him." Mr.. Oliver then started in at
the beginning to trace the whole his
| tory of the case, but was interrupted
| by Mr. Vaughan, who said:
IF the gentleman from the Fif-
| teenth wants proof, we can give him
all he wants. All we want is to get
those six horses back, and when we do
that Wen call the thing square. The
| ex-chief Of the fire department sold the
| two old Franklin horses for 800 and
| turned the money over to Frank Cobb,
the horse dealer, to be credited to the
city. That's what Mr., Cobb says, and
| I'm inclined to believe him."
Mr.. Oliver denied this straight up
and down, and insisted that ex-Chief
| Walker did not make the sale. Mr.
Finn was the next speaker, and said:
For the benefit of Mr.. Vaughan,
would say that Mr.. Walker did not sell
any horses himself. They were sold,
as they have been sold for years, by
| the purchasing committee of the fire
| department"
Mr.. Vaughan was beginning to get
excited now, and when Mr.. Finn had
| finished, he said:
WHAT MR.. COBB SAYS.
There's no evidence in the city
| treasurers office to show that any
| horses were sold. Cobb says he doesn't
| know the man that bought the two
| Franklin horses. All he knows is that
| Walker came to him and handed him
| 800, saying that he sold them. He
| further says that NJ. V. Morris gave
him another $780, saying that he had
| sold three horses, one to Wade Finn
| for $780, one to himself for $25 and one
to Dave Nichols for $25. Sitterly came
to him another day, he says, and gave
him $50, saying that he had bought one
| OF the Eagle horses himself for that
| amount.
What did Sitterly do then? Afte:
| selling to himself one of the horses
| that he himself had condemned, for $50,
he went down to the Eagle hose house
| the next day and Dragged about the
bargain he had struck, saying that the
horse was easily worth $l25. The
gentlemen will remember that when
the veterinarian sent in his communi-
| cation, recommending the purchase Of
! the new horses, he said that some OF
the horses in the department were
! twenty-five years old.
Were any of these six horses sold
the twenty-five year old animals? No,
they weren't The twenty-five year
Old horses are still in the department,
drawing the General Phinney engine
and they're doing excellent work.
These people didn't sell themselves any
twenty-five year old horses, though,
you can bet. I want to say that the
purchase of these new horses was
forced on us so that some people
could have an easy thing of it,"
When Mr.. Vaughan had finished,
Mr.. Finn said:
MIR. FINN'S REMARKS.
II got one of those horses, but /
want to tell the gentleman from the
Nineteenth that If he ever gets II
back it will be at the tail end of a
lawsuit"
wen get 1t back all right, don't
you worry" replied Mr.. Vaughan.
Mr.. Mccain remarked that as a
| member of the fire dena artfnent conn.,