The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-14
IILgARBURGERSOUDERBAD
,,v,s CaSE CITED AS AN EII-
nr\CE or ITS WORkING.

Police and Other tOronsrs ~" ~ -.
,,a,sd In,n a Coroner Ii Called
-Icrl,clu suggests Change.
r,rus Harburger, Tammany district
L. and president Of the Board OF Coro-
70 WIS busy yesterday defending the
"a, he issued come time ago regarding
U.on,oyal # the bodies Of persons who
L ss a,ddonly in public places. This order
uo an Wednesday night in the police
~, the BODY Of Theodore B. Mills, a
SUI as,,,c broker. TO lie on the sidewalk in
1, ~ Carnegie Hall, covered with a
ar.s blanket. for half m hour while a
"oroo,an was ~tclpphoning to Coroner
Llcr,eln 10 get permission to remove II.
Coronor hamburger, whose modest dis
-..,,op is So well known. some time ago
IiEarad 10 run the Police Der artment as a
al. sbov 10 Tho Coroner's Office, ard to
PA m that total the duties Of the resi-
I..ov ~ Dr. parkhurst's anti-Vice society.
'Tis oninion Of the police has not changed,
= has hi. estimate Of himself altered in
any particular
His arraignment Of the police yesterday
ras polysyllabic. II appears that they are
carable Of the application Of no discretion
sy intelligence 10 the problems that con-
front them in dealing with rrecipitate lethal
,jsitations or something like that. In such
ooses they have so ~"arrogated and usurped"
,ha rreroEatives of the Coroner's Office
,ba, il il no longer safe to do anything but
Mold them TO the letter Of a law which has
heretofore been b~enevolently and decently
construed.
They do not appear to have a realizing
sense of the rock bottom fundamental fact
that the fabric Of justice rears its proud
head on the foundation Of the Coroner's
oaSce They forget that il a body Is moved
or even touched before a Coroner gets to
the spot the man might just as we'll not
have died az all. Such, at least, was the
impression produced by Harburger's state
ment.
Coroner Acritelli expressed a view which
~ il we're adopted by the Coroner's Office
might do something to stem the growing
torrent Of public criticism and condemna-
tion Of the activities Of the Coroner's office.
He would allow the police to remove the
body Of any person who had not plainly
died Of violence TO a firehouse or police
station or other public place. Especially
. should this discretion be allowed, Coroner
Acriteli holds, if the death occurs at a
place where the continued presence of the
body Is likely 10 give offence, particularly
10 WOTlltl, hlldN TIC ElICUuOuEiy OuJeCtb
10 is not 60 much the police incapability Of
the application Of discretionary intelli-
gence.' which Coroner Hamburger 90
laments, as their p~roneness to dangerous
delay in notifying the C~oroner's Office hat
a death requiring investigation has &C.
CURED. II the body may not be moved
until the Coroner's Office hears of the death,
then the Coroner's office is going to hear
about il pretty quick and some Coroner
car hasten 10 the spot with all speed.
But If the police a move a body as soon
as they please they will take their time
about making a report and the spot is
often tardily reached.
Such occurrences az the Mills case have
o. various times started movements aimed
Ut the total abolition Of the Office OF Coroner
In this city. A man might be crushed
under a street car and his mangled body
wedged in beneath the wheels. Il made
no difference that traffic was held I'D and
the street blocked by a crowd. Nothing
could be don toward extracting the body
Until the Coroner's office gave permission.
Two years ago a bill passed the Legis-
lature abollshing the Office OF Coroner
Mayor Mcclellan d~isapproved il, not deny
ing that there were abuses in connection
with the system but holding that it had
mot been proved that the city would be
better on without it. Other movements
10 squelch the CoroneTs and adopt more
upto date means Of attending to the spots"
have been headed on by the politicians.
Theofice Of Coroner is a good job. There
are four Of them in Manhattan and each
gets 1900 a year. The secretary Of
the board gets t2,75O. Then there In a
bunch Of Coronens' physicians who pull
down 5000 a year each, not to mention
numerous clerks, stenographers, meseen-
gems and other employees, none Of whom
works for fun.
As to the individual Coroners, the
Governor Is the only official who has any
control over them. He can remove any
coroner on charges IN after a hearing.