The San Francisco call., 1906-07-02
PRETTY GIRL POLICE
OFFICER is OUT. OF JOB
Miss Madge WoOlmingtOn
Deprived Of Star
and Salary.
Town Auditor Holds She
Cannot Be Paid for
Services.

BERKELEY, July l.-Crue1 fate in
the form % a hard-hearted. unsenti-
mental Town Auditor hss operated to
deprive Berkeley az one or its unique
possessions, = feminine deputy marshal,
the only woman police officer in all the
length and breadth of this broad land.
Miss Msdge Woolmington, hithertQ
the chief assistant of Marshal August
Nollmer, is no longer monarch Of all
she surveys at police headquarters. She
has been swept from power and place
and reduced TO the rank OF just plain
girl" by Town Auditor HanscOms die
tum that the town has no right TO be
paying her salary.
Auditor ,-BanseOm, in this instance.
a appears TO be the doctor, as the street
vernacular has it, and Miss Madge
WoolmingtOn, after nearly a year S
service IN Chief Vollmer's force, has re-
tired TO her home in obedience TO the
Auditors ruling.
The girl achieved fsme when she
stepped into the Police Department out
Of a quiet family circle, from which
she had never before emerged TO serve
the public. She is but slip Of a girl,
dainty young woman, clever at detail
work and she was able TO master
readily the complex affairs Of a Police
Department which attended to law and
order in a town Of $4,000 souls.
Marshal Vollner had known of her
sterling worth for years, and when the
Town Trustees gave him an extra dep
uty or assistant & year ago he in
stalled Miss Woolmington to look after
things IN his Office. She handled police
business almost from the first with the
skill OF q veteran. and through all the
panorama OF strange and unusual
scenes that every police department
observes and is part of Miss WOolming-
ton kept. her nerve. was always equal
10 the situation, and still retained her
perfect femininity through it ell.
Recently Town Auditor Hanscom,
nosing around through the statutes,
discovered that in engaging Miss Wool
mingtOn and several. other assistants
in various municipal departments the
Town Trustees had acted in violation
Of the law. He declared that the law
says no official shall have his salary
increased while in office. and he be-
heved that the giving Of assistants to
town officers was taRtamount TO in
creasing their own salaries.
He refused to audit the salary war
rants OF such assistants, and named
Miss Woolmington IN the Town Mar
shal's Office. Joseph Koford in the Town
Clerks Office and Map Clerk J. Smith in
the Town Assessors s Office as assistants
who could not be paid under his con-
structi0n OF the statute. Tie Trustees
StIONe IN van 70 ihdace aim &c. cnans &c
his ruling He was adamant His die
tum stands.
Kofor6 has brought suit to compel
the Auditor 10 approve his salary war
rant but pretty Miss Woolmington,
disdaining legal struggles. shook the
dust of the Police Department from her
skirts, gathered up her things and left
the Town Nsrshais once 10 its fate.
And thus IL is that Berkeley has lost
its woman Deputy Marshal Incidental
ly.- the police journals of the world,
nearly all OF which devoted space and
pictures 20 the Original appointment of
Miss Wocimington to:s place in. a po-
lice department.. now have the oppor-
tunity OF writing "hnis.' across the last
page of the. story. Of Miss Woolming
tons. nArticipation In police Affairs.