The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-14
CoUert Attack NolD
 Aimed at Fire Chief

ward the hose, which. 1t was claimed was purchased over his protect, he fa- voring another brand of Ire hose.
 Seven members of the joint commit tee were present, Chairman Sullivan and. Aldermen Virgin, Tooie. Hinds Lowe, Thompson and Jones. Each oi these presented questions covering every phase of the complaints.
 Tie complaint regarding the defec tive ire plug was preached. Chief Browder declared that ne had notined plug on Coosa and Jefferson did not work. The same evening the cotton wareh ouse, burned. The North Mont gomery company. responding to the alarm. anixed its hose to the plug. which was out of order, as tine testi- mony showed.
 Captain Grimm of the North Mont gonery station, testified, in reply to the questions of the councilmen, that he had not received warning from 1. Chief Browder. It is likely that the imicsl to Chief Browder. will embody in it's report statement of the con- fiictfng testimony.
 Although not in line with the inves- tigation as authorized. the matter of ire on Buford Street, which occurred Tuesday night, was brought up by AL derman Virgin. The Alderman wanted to know of Chief Browder why no ef- fort was made to extinguish the fire. The chief declared that 1t was too far from a fire plug to stretch hose. AL declaring that he had measured 1t yesterday morning, finding that the distance from the house which burned to the nearest fire plug was $40 feet. t
 Mir. Clarke of Cleveland. O.. an agent of the company which sold the fire nose in question, was on the stand as a witness as was Captain Grimth, assist ant fire chief: Captain Grimm of the North Montgomery station. Captain Company, w. T. Perry of the Water works Department. A. C.. Wallace and T. c. Payne. engineer at the pumping station of the waterworks.
 MT. Payne and MT. Perry was called to vouch for the auth enticity of indi- cator cards upon which the water pressure in the city Is recorded. Chief Browder. in his testimony, according to the Councilmen, had declared that the pressure at the fire was about eighty pounds. The cards showed 10i pounSe. There was a possibility. was his inference. that the records had been tempered with
 The testimony of Hose Expert Clarke was elecited for the purpose of ascer- taining whether the holes In the fire nose were caused by cutting. rubbing, or by a burst because of undue water pressure through poor fabric. His be- lief was that rubbing caused the holes,
 The sections of the hose were brought into the committee chamber; they were examined through a power full microscope to ascertain the nature of the incisions. None of the commit tee was of the opinion that water pres sure or defect in the hose. brought about the abrasions. but that they came from outside interference,' or negligence" as Alderman Toole put it.
 Alderman Jones, at the conclusion of the examination, declared that the complaint on the hose seemed to him an attempt to decry the judgment of the Council committee which author ized its purchase over that of the Flu reka hose. favored by Chief Browder Through every question of the com mittee put to the witnesses, the enmity toward Chief Browder was evident | One member of the committee, Alder. man Thompson. was obviously favor ] able. to the chief. but the others seem ed opposed to his re-appointment. I | is likely that an attempt will be mad i to defeat his reappointment next Mon | day at the first meeting of the new 1 Council, on the grounds of negligenc, 1 and incompetency.