The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-20
FRAUD IN THE POLICE EXAMS.
ONE EXAMINER, SUMMONED TO
EXPLAIN, RESIGNS.
Notoriously nliterate Sergeant Believed
to Have Worked in Substituted Papers
. After the ExamInatlOn-Story That
Seven S~ergeants Put UP S3 900 Each.

Ascheme whereby seven illiterate police
sergeants were to have passed the exami-
nation making them eligible to a captainoy
has been blocked, n one story is that
somebody who was to have received SCI 900
for helping them get through has missed 1t
as a result of the investigation that has
been going on for the last week in the Office
Of the Civil Service Commission.
Just who was to have got this large prize
was not to be ascertained yesterday, for
neither President William F. Baker nor
any other person connected with the COM
mission would tell if he knew
An examination of sergeants was held
on December %. There were 500 com
p%etitors. Because Of the discovered frauds
the Civil Service Compassion threw the
whole list out, and it will be necessary for
all hands to try over again il they still seek
promotion. On the day Of the examination
President Baker received an anonymous
letter which said that seven sergeants had
put up 5000 each and that the money was
to go TO a man who was connected with the
commission and who was to see to it that
this bunch got through. The letter writer
didn't know who this man was, but he gave
the names Of the seven sergeants and sure
enough all Of them passed the examination
with flying colors.
A%mongithis batch was q sergeant who was
VIGOROUSLY illiterate. His work has been
SO bad that for years 1t has been a standing
joke in the department that a man 80 ig-
norant could pass any kind Of an examina-
ton. He has been a member Of the force
for seventeen years. In the last examina-
ton his average was .95, which is a remarka-
bly, high one, and he headed the list on which
were the names of lot of bright men.
%. President Baker had heard OF this sergeant
and had resolved to watch him. The ex-
animation consisted of four different papers.
One paper was on the rules and regula-
tions Of the department; another on avs
and ordinances; a third on police power
and privileges; while the fourth was on
making out reports. A fifth paper that
man has to do only with his record Of SER
vice and is simply consulted by the Com
mission in making up his average.
The four papers the sergeant had to study
carefully and to the questions on which
he had to make written replies
were long ones and contained many
queries. Ordinarily it takes a man
the greater part OF a day to get through
The sergeant b a VIGOROUSLY wretched
penman and It takes him q long time to
write even the shortest sentence. How
ever he spent less than five hours In the
examination room. According to a hand
writing expert, who has been called into the
case, any mar who wrote so stiff q hand az
is shown by thiss ergeantls papers could not
possibly have written all Of the answers at
the length they were written in ten hours.
The papers ans wered tho questions at length
in exceptionally correct English In this poor
handwriting.
President Baker was satisfied that some
crooked work had been done somewhere,
but he was at a loss to see how.
Before MIR. Baker became head Of the
commission the examination papers were
made out the day before the examination;
the examiners employed in the department
were consulted about the questions and the
papers we're put in a vault to be used the
following morning. Mr.. Baker put a stop
to this because he was informed that on the
night prior to a certain examination tn
questions could be bought at a certain
saloon uptown for 500 a set. So he had the
COIHtIllbSlOu ulcOb ~ Oh WIG ulOT OF
the examination, decide on the questions
to be put to the candidates and had the
papers copied by m~imeograph.
In the rooms Of the examiners there ia a
vault, which is called the tank In this
all the papers from an examination are
placedto await the action Of the examiners.
The latter sometimes take six weeks before
they get the papers an examined, checked
of and ready to be submitted to the mem
bers Of the commission. It was so in this
case. The papers for the examination Of
December rs were ready for the action of
the Commissioners in the middle Of Febru-
airy. When they reached President Baker
and he saw the high averages Of all the men
whom he had received letters about he had
the matter shelved and began his ~investi-
cation.
Mr.. Baker wouldn't state yesterday just
what progress had been made in the investi-
CATION, and who were under suspicion. He
did give out the information that Ernest l..
Crandall, one of the examiners, had been
summoned to appear before the Commission
yesterday morning and explain certain
thinas. Among the things he was called
upon to do, Mr.. Baker said, was to show
cause why he shouldn't be dismissed from
the service.
Crandall didn't explain. In answer TO the
summons sent him he sent his resignation;
and 1t was accepted Immediately. Crandall
is IS years old and is college graduate. He
was one of the per diem examiners who get
$40 a day. He had been in the service Of
the Commission since March, 1898. His adj
dress in the City Record is given as 27s Null
berry street.
Mr.. Baker said yesterday that he was con-
WINGED that papers had been taken from
the vault after the examinations, and that
some of the candidates had the opportunity
of devoting a whole night, with assistance,
to the preparation Of substitute papers.
Mr.. Baker wouldn't state just how he came
to be convinced Of this fact. He said that
tampering with civil service examinations
was a misdemeanor.
Police Commissions Bingham is greatly
interested.
President Baker said that the present dis
coveries could not affect results OF the past.
When the members Of the Commission once
certify to a mans right Of appointment he
In legally entitled to hold the lob he gets.