The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-02-19

I am personally interested in These
charges roared the mayor
Mr.. SWendsOn demanded a roll call on
Mr.. GriIey's motion to have an investi-
cation of the Mcfarland charges be.
ginning Thursday night February "a
The motion was carried, the vote being
as follows. yes-Bergundtha1 Bios
som, GriIey, Snyder, Neil, Blanch, Web
er, Nichols and Tincher-9. Noes
Wolf, Howe, Swendson-3.
The new lot of charges filed by DR..
Mcfarland was then unsealed, and read
to the council, and was afterwards
placed on file.
The charges were as follows:
Topeka, kan, Feb. IT, 1903.
TO the Honorable, the Members of the
City Council, Topeka.
condemnation Sabbath evening, the
18th of January last, from the pulpit of
the First Methodist Episcopal church,
made certain charges against the police
department of this city, relating to a
careless and reprehensible lack of disci-
pine about the police station, and to the
character and conduct of some Of the
members of the force 1 made the
the charges with a full sense of their
serious character and anticipated that
I would be given an opportunity TO tur-
nish the evidence upon which the
charges were based.
But up to the present time no fair OPP
portunity has been given me to do this.
From the outset the mayor and the pc
lice committee, in a f1agrantly ex parte
way, have sought to discredit my word
and to avoid any real investigation,
was threatened, on the advice of the
mayor, with prosecution for libel, and
was informed that the only proper trt-
bunal before which the case could be
heard is the district court, and in which
should be made the defendant
Now, gentlemen of the council, 1 bring
the matter directly to you. 1 submit
that when a citizen brings serious
a
city government and states when he
makes the charges that he stands ready
to furnish proof in their support, that
he should not himself be treated as a
criminal, while the department which
he has arraigned is subjected to no in
veStgation
I now present the following charges
concerning the general management of
the police department and against the
conduct and character of certain mem
bers of the police force:
I. That unjust and malicious discrimi-
nation against Mrs Carrie Nation was
made in her detention in the city prison,
not only for the amount of her fne but
also for the costs of her trial; and ad
ditionally in not allowing her the sub
traction usually granted to prisoners
for good behavior.
? That two of the policemen swore
falsely in connection with the trial OF
Mrs. Nation on January 9, in that they
declared under oath that they did not
!
Quoted by Frank Raynor at 301 Kansas
avenue. in front of which place Mrs.
Nation was arrested BY them.
! 8. That profanity and obscenity on
/ the part Of many of the policemen aboua
the police station has been gross ana
! fiagrant, to the great offense of re-
/ spectacle people who have had occasion
/ to visit the station, and in Injustice to
and to the hurt of prisoners who have
4 been compelled to hear the language.
4. That card playing has been per
mitted and INDUCED in at the police sta
/ ton by officers to an extent that has
/ the police force and indicative of a lax
discipline and control.
:. That there have been instances at
/ the police station in which prisoners
/ have been treated with gross indignity
/ and cruelty.
6. That persons known. to be con-
nected with the law-breal1ing classes
! have been permitted to FREQUENT ana
remain about the police headquarters
i to an extent calculated to excite the
| suspicion that they were on familiar
| terms with the officers.
Z. That officers have been guilty of
| drinking intoxicating liquors at the po-
/ lice headquarters that members of the
| force have been seen in d state Of in
toxication both at the station and upon
the street and some of them have been
seen drinking at the bars of saloons III
this city.
8. That some Of the officers have ia
neil anu permitted indecent uDeIlleS
with disOrderly women who have been
/ brought under arrest to the station, and
| that in still other respects some of the
/ officers have been guilty of scandalous
conduct in relation to women of houses
OF i'll fame.
In addition to these specific charges
against the police department, permit
me to say gentlemen, that it will afford
me great pleasure, if you will open the
way for its consideration, to support by
an overwhelming mass of testimony the
charge that the mayor of this city has
used the police force for the practical
protection of certain classes of crimi-
nails and that by the fine system he has
during his term of office licensed saloons
in violation of his official oath.
I stand ready to lay the facts in my
possession before such a committee as
you may appoint, provided the mayor
and the members of the police commit
tee, whose administration win be in
volved in the investigation, are not in
I Guided in the committee of inquiry
Very respectfully yours
j. T. MFARLAND.