New-York tribune., 1904-10-07
HAL BELL SUES MAYOR.
ASKS 100000 FOR LIBEL.
McCooey Says Murphy Threatened
to Dust Whole Board.

| Mavor Mcclellan, asking for damages OF SluO'-
! OOO The reason for the suit Is fouhd III 'he
| Mayors letter of Wednesday telling MI Den
that as his resignation as Civil Service CoHi-
| missioner had been accepted, request TOT mn
resirnation was out of order but. Mr.. Bell had
been a participant in all the acts complaiHeu
Of bv the Civil Service Reform Association the
NIavor chose to send him a copy of his findings
in the case. The libeous part Of the letter. ac'
cording to Mr. Bells counsel, is the closing para
graph.
AT the time did not suppose that the matter
would assume the serious aspect which 1t mas
the Mayor wrote, otherwise would have re-
Trained from acting upon your resignation at
that time. that each commissioner would
have been accorded the same treatment
After the papers in the suit had been served
on the Mayor yesterday. he said: Il have abso-
lutely nothing to say regarding the matter
Mr. Bell talked with newspaper men about his
suit, saying in reply to inquiries:
consider Mayor Mcclellan a weak and dangerous
custodian of authority. who enjoys rushlilg INTO
mayor @Pd Mc5ean Is '9 on the witness stand viii
present far different spectacle than the man
If Commissioner Schmltt chose to subvert and
his own bailiwck for the of his political fol
lowers II does not by any means sls4g tb ' 10
gerf9rm am unlawful act or refer ee vas
passed by the entire civil Service Commssion ana
we based IT upon tho precedent and findings oi
previous Civl Service commissions and also upon i}o
opinions that had been rendered by Corporate"
Counsel Rives
OTHERS TO BRING SIMILAR ACTIONS
This action Of the Mayor entirely unexpected
that a man Of broad Judgment and good common mon
sense would hl it, bui insteao we hhvf 1 certaD
commits actions to which ne att5lpulFs g IL Ii.jtn
reason. when in reality they are done foT poMtiGi
pubic when he makes any removals in Office that
are for political purposes. frankly that ne mas
am alone in bringing this action. but am
bring Similar actions We do not intend to sit
still and allow characters to be attacked In
I do not believe that the Mayor will have leg
to stand on 10 Justify himself for wiring Suth tbt
letter 10 me. value my good name SO hiEhly tnat M
no other left open for me-, except an
pTyae RPg 'S citizen iS 'Ra Ras to Justify himself not
believe that my side OF the case would get talr
hearing IN the newspapers.
Eugene f. O'Connor. who Mr. Bells Re
publican associate ir the Municipal Civil Ser
vice Commission. and who sent his resignation
to Mayor Mcclellan in July, is in Saratoga. His
son. Eugene +. O'Connor, jr said last evening
10 a Tribune reporter.
expect that when my father returns 70 thi'
city. soon. he win begin suit against the Mayor
because he viii not want to rest under the sian, ian,
derous accusation which the Mayor cast upon him
in letter pretending 10 accept his reslgnatlon.
signing his ofFcc as ClvlI Service Commissioner
sent late IN July, and early IN august ne re, re-
Mayors regret, and stating that the city would
lose the service OF valuable oommssionea h, pre-
It viii show that his resignation was accepted
months ago
rCOOEY NOT SURE ABOUT SUING.
John II. McCooey. who was displaced by Bird
S Coler as president OF the Municipal civil Ser
vice Commission. said yesterday that. while he
had not determined 20 bring libel suit against
the Mayor. he felt that he and the other Demo
cratic members OF the commission who wer"
removed would be justified in such suits because
Of the slaudcr Of which tho Mayor had been
guilty. IF the Mayor was an honorable man."
he added. he would admit that there was no
ground for the charges OF collusion. and that
his action ~ removing the members Of the com
mission was from political motives"
Mr. McCooey said that on August % when
the McCarren and Murphy forces in Brooklyn
were lining up for the primaries fight he was
visited I'm his Office by John J. Murphy brother
Of the Tammany leader, who said IT was the
desire Of Charles F. Murphy that Mr. McCooey
declare himself I'm favor cf the Tammany effort
70 get control Of the Kings County Democracy
Mr. McCooey replied. he says. that his useful
ness as a Civil Service Commissioners would be
destroyed by such course. The conversation.
Mr. McCooey soys. continued about as fol-
lows;
Mecooey-What would be tho effect of my
refusal?
Murphy-You will have TO take the oonse-
quences. Charlie is firm in this matter and
the Mayor is ready TO back him up
Mccooey-coud | be removed upon any pre-
text and nv colleagues In the commission be
permitted TO remain2
Murphy-In tho event Of your refusal II is
possibIe that every member Of tho commits
sion will be removed in order TO get at you.
John / Murphy when the statement of his
alleged conversation was shown 10 him at his
home. No. 300 East Seventeenth-st. last even
ing. said:
! NcCooev Whenever / went 10 Mr.. McCooey
n was to talk about the interests OF my own CON
! The deht in brooklyn ! don't know anything
about the reason for the removal of the Civi ser
| vice Commissioners
Elliot II. Goodwin. secretary OF the Civil Ser
| vice Reform Association. said yesterday that
the association was preparing TO lay before the
new Municipal Civil Service Commission some
| complaints about violations of tho Civil Service
| regulations in the Department of Correction
and the Department OF Water Supply. Gas and
Electricity and by Park Commissioner Pallas.
The complaints had been referred to the old
commission. he said but had not been acted on,
as the commission had not held any meetings
| for about two months before IL was Ousted by
| the Mayor.
| II understand Mr.. Goodwin said that Mr..
McCooey took the ground that the law provided
that not more than twO-thirds of the commits
| sion should consist OF members of political
| party and as Mr.. OConnOr had resigned, there
| were left four Democrats and only one RepubN-
| can I'm the commission The complaints
mainly in regard to transfers, and they not
| serious enough to be called to the attention of