Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-10-15
SPEEDING CHAUFfEURS
Superintendent Beach Warns His Men
 to Rould.up Every Offender.

Whether it will amount to any
 thing or not, Superintendent Beach
 of the police department talked to the
 men yesterday regarding an order
 which was posted at the police sta
 ton last June with reference to the
 speed of troiiey cars and automobiles.
 Very little notice was taken of the
 order because most people who ride
 in autos stick out their chests and
 show by other ways that they don't
 care a snap of their finger for the
 officers. and the bluecoated guardians
 take the hint and give the machines
 and their occupants wide berth. MT
 Beach is not pleased with that way of doing business and wants the men to round up every violator and then let the court decide what shall De done with them. The accident of
 Saturday will have a tendency to prompt chauffeurs to drive slow for
 time, but thy will soon forget all
 about that and in week or so they
 will be shooting around corners and dashing about the crowded centers
 of the city at rate of speed that
 would come pretty close to winning . prize on the ptrack.
 When the owner of machine or any member of his family is in the car. the chauffeur is much more care self Probably this is not on account of any consideration for the public, but fearing that the jolts might inter- fere with the comforts of his precious freight and cost him his nice job. laughing at all sorts and conditions of human beings scurrying out of his way and footing his horn whenever he thinks of it. There is nothing new in this. and Superintendent Beach was quick to notice it long ago and .otified almost all the owners of automobiles in the city to have a quiet talk with their chauffeurs , about the reckless manner in which 2 they handle autos on the streets
 Another thing that should be re- membered is that Waterbury nor any part of it is town. The town was abolished some time ago and as the statute provides that automobiles shall not run at a higher rate of tPSNu thoh tWCiNC IuitCo hpui 0ith- in the limits of any city in this state. 1t is plain that the twenty miles head way permitted on country roads does not apply to any portion of the city of Waterbury, and yet 1t Is admitted even by owners of machines that at times they travel as fast as thirty miles an hour on West Main street, the Watertown road and other places.
 It would be interesting to see half dozen of the fast drivers pulled and fined just to see what effect it would have on them and others. but the police officers don't expect much of that sort of thing and some of them go so far as to declare that not withstanding all the talk about keep ing them down to the limit allowed by law. they intend to he looking the other way when the chauffeur whirls by, especially if the owner and his family are behind the driver. This is not fair way of looking at it. All the police officer has to do is make the arrest and get such evil dence as Is necessary. and then If the | courts let the accused of the officer can't help it. But 1t is only fair to conclude that in general way the courts will do the right thing if the officers produce the right kind of evi- dence. so that really the condition | that exists in Waterbury al the pres ent time cannot be charged against | the courts, since the offenders have l not been brought before them. The same thing might he said with refer | ence to shooting in Waterbury. The | statute forbids the discharging of | weapons in any part of Waterbury. l and yet certain people arc at the | business every day in the week, close | up to peoples houses. too. but when | have you heard of an arrest being made?
 The dogs of the town are confined. but they scare folks by barking at them from a distance How about the chauffeur and the fellow with the gun? Is there one law for the man of means and another for the unfor- tunate who has no money and cannot point to political pull? There Is something wrong somewhere and whether they are right or not most people trace the source of the trou- ble to the police officers, nearly all of whom are said to make no bones about insisting upon the letter of the law from some while even the spirit of 1t is not demanded from others. After all the more one thinks of the incident that occurred few days ago in another part of the state. when an oficer opened fire on an autoist who was trying to outstrip the wind. the more he becomes convinced that instead of being criticized the man with the gun should have been