The age-herald., 1901-08-14
Austin Carries Detective Agency
 Fight Before Board
COMMISSIONERS POWERLESS
Asserts That Looney Was Convicted of Larceny In Atlanta-Vlckery Ae- cused of Stealing Case of In-
 strumants In Savannah.

heads of the Southern Detective agency was ventilated last night before the Board of Police Commissioners. The mat ter was brought up by Chief Austin The managers of the agency are J. T. Vickery and Dave Looney.
 MT Austin said that Looney had been arrested and convicted in Atlanta on the charge of larceny after trust. Exhibits of certified copies of the bill of indict- ment, and the sentence were presented to the board and further statement made that Looney had been connected with several other affairs and that two indictments against him were pending at the present time. The record of the detective in the case of the attempt at bribing Juror Penn was also mentioned.
 The Vickery Affair.
 Letters from the Chief of Police of sa- vannah and from Detective Hewitt of that city were read regarding Vickery. It was stated that Vickery had lived with a woman known as Mrs. Vickery at two boarding houses and that surgical instru- ments had been stolen from the room of the two when they left the city. For this Vickery was arrested here, but man. aged to settle the case by payment of the value of the instruments.
 "We have had nunber of complaints' said Chief Austin. That in parts of the city where the men of the force worked more burglaries have been committed than ever before in the history of the city, and I want the board to instruct me what shall be donew with these men"
 The members of the board all stated that they knew of nothing they could do, but that Chief Austin should treat them as other characters that were suspected, and in case they violated the law he should arrest them.
 During the meeting charges were pre- ferred against Chief Austin for neglect of duty by Saloonkeeper Brock. The sa- loon man stated he had been arrested by order of Chief Austin for violation of the Sunday laws for which he was fined. He further stated that if he had violated laws in this instance he had been doing so for two years and wished to know why he had not been arrested long ago. The charges were dismissed
 Charges were DiSfnisSeo'
 The routine work of the meeting of the commissioners was characterized by the trials of several officers on minor charges, the reception of petitions and report from Chief Austin.
 Charges of sitting down while on duty were preferred by Chief Austin against Officers M c. Vandiver H. Fully. A. D.. Brown, J. D. Bryans and w. D. Thomp- son. When the trial of the cases was begun Chief Austin stated that consider ing the hot weather, and that 1t was their first offense the men should be ex- cused this time.
 Commissioner Norton moved that the charges be dismissed, which was carried.
 Officer J. M. Nix was then placed on trial for disobedience of Chief Austin's orders.
 The officer pleaded guilty, but asked consideration of extenuating circum- stances. He was charged with riding horse the property of the city while not on duty The charges were dismissed, Commissioner Rudolph strenuously ob- jecting.
 A petition for a special officer from W. H. Rogers was denied A bill pre- scented by E. E. Holcombe for special services was allowed
 A letter from the local W. c. T. IT., asking that the board recommend the employment of police matron was read. Commissioner Rudolph moved that the board ask Mayor and Board of Alder men to appoint such a matron.
 Several rewards and arresting fees were $50 to Officer Patton and a reward of $25 to Officers Cole and Shirley.
 It was decided to postpone the election of the ten new patrolmen until the next regular meeting or a called meeting.
 The report of Chief Austin for the month of July was read. It stated the amount of fines collected for July was $2156.52: amount of stolen goods recover ed, s4S5, and the number of arrests 9S1.