The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-16
PROPOSES A PENSION
FOR DISABLED
POLICEMEN
Bill So Framed to Secure
Means of Living for Men
Who Serve Twenty Years
on Force or Are Disabled
in the Line Of Duty.

"A bill has been introduced in the leg
islature to provide a pension of not
more than $40 month for policemen
who are permanently injured in The
discharge of their duties or who have
attained the age of fifty-five years af-
ter twenty years of service. This act
will apply to all cities in the state of
more than $4,000 inhabitants, and the
money is to come from a tax levied en-
is rampant.
There are 100 policemen, all told, in
st. Paul. Their life is varied. They are
divided into three watches. Perhaps
the hardest watch is the one which be-
gins at 8 o'clock at night and ends at z
in the morning.
1t is between these hours that crime
is rampant.
The thermometer registers Is de-
grees below zero. The officer is clad in
fur coat, heavy boots and thick un-
derWear - expensive garments. He
may be sent to the Rondo district,
where he has to patrol beat two and
One-half miles long; he may be sent to
the wholesale district, where he has to
feel his way into alleys; he may be
sent on Seventh street or the Seven
corners, where he. has to try hundreds
of doors and look at thousands of win
dows. If anything on his beat goes
wrong he is blamed for it.
The policeman must watch out for
burglaries and fires, according to the
rules laid down by Chief O'Connor. He
must fight odds to prevent crime.
Officer Meyers did this a short time
ago and he is dead. Burglars on Uni
Versity avenue killed him.
The policeman must imperil his life
at a fire to save the lives of others.
Some of them now go along the street
with a slight limp.
loa
limp saved a child in a fire on st. Peter
street. He broke his ankle in doing~so
and was laid up for a month in hos
pital.
Another officer has a scar on his face
and an occasional headache. St. Paul
policemen don't think much of that
They were caused by protecting a citi-
zen from highwayman.
The policeman is fifty-lve years old.
He has seen twenty years service. He
has raised family He feels he is too
old for active service and seeks retire
ment
What Other Cities Do.
Here is what other cities do for him:
In Chicago, under the same condi-
ton, he draws from the pension fund
from $500 to $4,000 a year, dependent
upon his rank in the department
In New York he draws the same
In Boston he draws half the highest
pay he has ever received.
In Indianapolis he draws $40 a
month.
The pay of the St. Paul patrolman-
$40 a months the smallest paid by
any city. In Boston and New York
the patrolmen get as much as the lieu
tenants do here.
The actual work of the police here is
considered by Billy Pinkerton to be
the hardest.
Records show that the actual neces-
Bary expenses of the st. Paul police
man for clothing, fuel, etc, are greater
than those Of policeman in any city
In the country.
Il have served on the police force for
more than twenty years." said a police
lieutenant yesterday when / went
on the force 1 had $50; now 1 haven't
60 cents which l can really call my
own. 1 have brought up and educated
family of nine children. I have done
that much for the state even if l am
poor. 1 am getting old now, but my
police experience has untitled me for
other work"
The bill before the legislature is
safeguarded with every provision
against fraud. The pensioners may
at any time be called into active serv-
Ice when the occasion requires. The
main features of the bill are as fol-
lows:
Terms of the Bill.
I. Any member of the police force Of
such city having been disabled perma-
nently, physically or mentally, because
of any injury received, or disease con
tracted while in the performance of hi: