New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1901-10-02
MURPHY PROUD OF DEvERY
IN HIS REPLY TO THE MERCHANTS AS
ISOLATION THE COMMISSIONER EVEN
DEFENDS HIS DEPUTY'S
FOUL TONGUE.

| Into large pail Of whitewash of the finest
| quality that he could obtain, not however, war
| ranted to wear Police Commissioner Murphy
| dipped the biggest brush at hand yesterday
and went all over the burly form of First Dep
| uty Commissioner William S. Devery. That Is
| what the letter of Mr.. Murphy, addressed to the
| Merchants Association, amounts to. In the
| letter Mr. Murphy fatty refuses to call on Mr..
| Devery for any answer TO the charges made by
| the association. He admits. by inference that
| as to some of the specifications he could hardly
| afford to do so, because he says, many or
| Devery's decisions, which carried with them q
| large part of policemen's pay, were ratifed py
| himself. He fails. not unnaturally, TO see any
! injustice in decisions that were upheld by him.
| self.
| Concerning the failure of Devery to hear both
| sides of a case. Murphy dscreetly renamed
| silent. The language of Devery, according 10
| the Commissioner, is perfectly proper ana ex-
acty such should be used toward policemen
| because it is the language they understand.
| After acknowledging the receipt OF the charges
! Mr.. Murphy's answer continues
Putting these into sinss "a Ss
Police Sh 'Sls IRAN a There be
conduct such trials and to recommend penalties
! to be inflicted upon those whom he finds guilty
provided only that in far as the imposition OF
fines is concerned the penalty shall not exceed
Upon Careful examination of the records Of the
trials presided oyer by the Deputy
has been the least infraction of the provisions OF
the paragraph.
Then the Commissioner proceeds to tie him
self and Devery together in the bond of brother
hood, thus:
In Of the charges presented by you there there
and find tha numbers one to fourteen have seen
| used by said Deputy Commissioner at the trials,
and are claimed to constitute 'coHduct un6ecom
raised to the legal right Of the Deputy cGmmls
sioner 10 conGuG1 SHSm xcended the
and It does not seem to me that the charges pre- e.
| sented can for moment be considered as acts or
The First Deputy Commissioner was assigned by
| me to hear evidence forth In trials and to re-
port the same TO me with his Iecommendation on,
| after examination of the testimony, and beg to
| say that in each instance render Judgment only
sponsibity to be discharsed and that findings are
| liable to review by the courts
Mr.. Murphy then lauds Devery as follows
need not say that expression of private opin-
| that he may have used in disposng of cases has
nSeneed my final final tndsment raised IN either
charges or specifications as to the efficiency Of the
police force of many years standing. and Of wide
experience. and he understands. in my opinion, the
characters of the various members of the force and
the means to be adopted for discipline The The eiii,
only be maintained by the enforcement Of such dis
cipline.
As to the charge OF excessive n1es. beg to state
that this was final judgment rendered by me. and
| that. do not think without authority. However
this Judgment Is susceptible OF review by the courts
| Mr. Murphy pats the Merchants Association
| on the back in closing follows:
| thank you for your communication. and beg tc
state that while your honorable body. composed OF
worthy citizens, IS actuated by the best motives tn
| presenting the same to me. careful inquiry into
| and pcrronal knowledge of the referred 10
| and careful consideration thereof force me 10
the conclusion that cannot find sufficient reason tC
| call upon the First Deputy Commissioner to answer
the alleged charges and that | must therefore re-
specially decline to take further action in respect
! to same.
| Neither Murphy nor Devery would talk about
| the answer yesterday. and all about Headquar-
| ters, after the answer had been sent to the as
| ISOLATION there a silence that eloquent
| Somebody said that Corporation Counsel Whaler
| wrote the reply and Murphy signed it, but this
! was not confirmed.
| The answer will be submitted to the counsel
| of the Merchants Association to-day.