The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-19
ENNIS IS FIRED BY POLICE COMMISSION Given Patrolman'S Beat But
 Will Not Serve EXECUTIVE SESSION HELD Desk Sergeant Claims Commissions Action Was Taken Because
 He Was the Friend of For
 mer Chief Wier.
EXECUTIVE SESSION HELD

The first man whom the police eommis- sion has fired since the famous dismissal of Chief Wler was the former chief s friend, ardent supporter and active officer, Desk Sergeant Glide Ennis He was not exactly fired, but reduced to the ranks cleared out of police headquarters and expected, as an expert stenographer and office man, to take a beat as patrolman.
 Mir. Ennis has been desk sergeant for number of years, has never been tried before the commission before. and has had the reputation of careful and deserving officer. There is no way to find out the actions for which MT. Ennis was reduced. as no evidence was heard before the com mission, and the judgment was taken on the defendants pleading guilty ito failure to make an arrest although l did not see the offense, and was not requested to make an arrest" After this plea of guilty the commis- sion went into executive session, and. ex- cept for what Mr Ennis tells. nothing is known of what transpired. The charges preferred were as follows:
 Honorable Board Police Commissioners,
 city:
 "Gentlemen-Upon information I hereby prefer charges against Assistant Desk Sergeant Clyde Ennis for neglect of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer This occurred at a chop suey joint on Second avenue, between Twentieth and Twenty first streets, between the hours of II and F o'clock the night of February B, 1908. MT. Ennis has been suspended pending an investigation by the board. Respectfully,
 GEORGE H. BoDEKER,
 Chief of Police"
 After the verdict MT. Ennis said: My attorney, MT. Abernathy, pied guilty for me to the fact that an offense was com mtted at the chop suey joint, and that I neglected to make an arrest for the of- fense, although I did not see the offense, nor was I requested directly or indirectly to make an arrest. No testimony was in troduced to show to what extent I was guilty. On the contrary the witnesses for the prosecution were immediately excused from further attendance. was called into the executive session and was told that I had been long ago slated to be dis missed from the service. simply because the loyalty that should exist between a chief and his sergeant did not exist since Mir Ward and his commissioners had been out of office, and that I did not give the same service to Bodeker that I did to Wier They said they wanted man who would go down the line for Bodeker,' whether in the coming primary or not, I do not know
 "To these various charges I replied that I was working for the city of Birming ham, and that l would give the same ser vice to the city under Bodeker that I did under Wier. I was then accused of saying that I had called Commissioner Parker a pin head and saying that he looked like 30 cents, all of which was too absurd and ridiculous to need denying.
 "The judgment was that should be put on a beat, inasmuch as jobs were hard to get, which showed that they loved me in the same old way. I was dealt this fruit stand without an iota of testi- mony when demanded that they intro- duce the same to convict me on, and was told that they knew all about 1t. My sur prise was complete when ulscoNereu Ho typewriter resolution" had been pre- pared.
 II will under no circumstances accept a position as patrolman, thereby confessing that I was wrong, when, as matter of fact. did what the oldest and most dis | erect officer would have done. | Commissioners Yielding and Brown, the ,;aor;+x, faction of the commission were 1 absent.