The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-29
EXECUTES BOLD STROKE
Will Not Stand for MOSely and
 Davis Pay.
Chief Has Right to Suspend Men Who Insulted Advertiser CorrespOn-
 dent and They Shall Not Draw Salaries.
Advertiser Bureau,


 The City Council and the entire city government of Selma today found It. | self 1t a mddue. So intricate is the position in which the city fathers are placed that attorneys with abundance of legal advice have been called to the | rescue.
 Mayor Atkins this morning notified Chief of Police Walters that he would not approve the police payroll with the names of Policemen Moseley and Davis on for the time policemen were suspended.
 | The Mayor challenges the contention of City Attorney Shafer that Chief of Police Walters had no authority to suspend the policemen. He believes that such power is vested in the chief and he holds that the suspension was valid and for that reason refuses to pay the officers for the time they were sus- pended.
 l The Mayors opinion Is shared by the majority of citizens. The mayor be- lieves that the City Council has the power to act in cases where policemen insult a citizen and he has sought legal advice in the matter If his opinion is sustained by law 1t is said that Mayor Atkins will immediately call another meeting of the Council and insist that the body take action.
 Mayor Atkins has not yet been legally advised by the prominent at- torneys who are making up their opinion for him as to the conflict be- tween Section 93 of the Code and Sec ton 48 of the city charter. Those sections govern the charges against the policemen, which come under the head of neglect of duty.
 Last night the City Conucil consum- ed nearly three hours in the investiga- ton of the charge preferred against Policemen Moseley and Davis of con- duct unbecoming officers in insulting and threatening the correspondent of The Advertiser on Monday. March 13. When the evidence was in, City Att ney Shafer, supposed to be represent ing the city, and Attorneys Quarles and Craig, representing the policemen, told the Council that under the charter Chief of Police Walters had no authori ty to suspend the policemen in the first place. and that in the second place if the policemen were guilty of insulting a citizen the Council could not, under the charter, depose them.
 The Council heard the attorney and | let it go at that. It adjourned and | some of the members went home. Mem bers of the Finance Committee were called into executive session by Mayor Atkins.
 If the charter of Selma Is as City Attorney Shafer contends. a Selma policemen is almost supreme. and in- formed persons say that 1t borders on unconstitutionality. If that is the case the chief of police has not the power to suspend a policeman for any cause. and the City Council has the power to depose a Selma policeman only when he is guilty in the strictest sense of the word of neglect of duty, malfeasance in office or drunkenness. The only provision made for suspen- sion of Selma policeman is when the Mayor and Council have sufficient specified cause. The Chief of Police of Selma has nothing to say about 1t. He is made a figurehead.
 The legal proposition and the evident legal flaw which confronts the city government has caused a great deal of lconsternation In political circles today, as the saddling of all the charges and accusations. ancient and recent. on the correspondent of The Montgomery Advertiser last night at the investiga- ton has created some indignation.
 Mayor Atkins appears to be the mainstay. and now everything looks to him. He appears to be energetic in behalf of the city to rid the city's sys- tenn of government of flaws and mis- carriages. He appears to be looking toward the welfare of the city in the future. He Is trying to save it from further blunders.
 T cannot see why the chief of police has not the power to suspend his own men, said the mayor to The Advertiser correspondent. That is what I want the opinion of the law yers for.
 Certainly a policeman is not given the right to insult citizens without fear of being deposed l intend find ing out who is running this city
 The City Council arrived at abso- lutely no conclusion as to the guilt or innocence of Policemen Moseley and Davis. President Peacock's ruling was that the Chief of Police had no author ity to suspend the two policemen, and that they were still members of the police force.
 Then the motion to adjourn prevailed. This morning Policemen Moseley and Davis swung their clubs as they walk ed the streets.
 The contention of City Attorney Sha- fer which is challenged by Mayor At kins. was that under the charter the City Council could not discharge the two policemen even if the Council be- lieved them guilty as the misdemeanor would not come under the heads of mal- feasance, neglect of duty or intoxica- tion. Under those three heads only, according to the City Attorneys con tention. can a policeman of Selma be Ideposed.
 That was also the argument in law made by the attorneys representing the two policemen.
 That makes the police supreme" de- clared Mayor Atkins this afternoon. and the chief executive illustrated his meaning.
 | Puts City In Bad Light.
 Such a state of affairs puts the city in an extremely bad light. and my in- vestigation is made for the purpose of ascertaining who is running the city the police or a municipal government continued Mayor Atkins.
 There certainly is a provision which will protect citizens from insults by the police. Then we arrive at the ques- tion of whether Gin case the police have