The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1910-05-19
Lengthy Hearing of Charges
Preferred Against
Policemen.
CASE OF INTEREST THRESHED
OUT BY SAFETY BOARD IN
WHICH COUPLE OF OFFICERS
FIGURED-FAILED TO STOP
FIGHT UNTIL CITIZENS MADE
SUCH REQUEST.

Two policemen were dismissed from
the service and two officers were
given suspension Of ten DAYS each
as result of long drawn out hearings
which were conducted by the board OF
safety at a regular session held at the
city hall last night.
William House and James March
were the officers whose services were
dispensed with. c. r. Barter and A.
Booske were the officers given a ten
day suspension.
All the officers were charged with
neglect of duty, but specifications In
each case We're different In the case
of House and March, it was alleged
that had they failed to stop a fight
they were witnesses to. In the case
OF Officer Barter, the specification was
that he had left his beat without
authority, and about the same specisi-
cation was lodged against Officer
Booske. The latter, however, seemed
to have been the victim of bad advice.
He had a complaint to make and was
advised to go with it to the board, not
making the complaint to and through
the chief as the regulations directed.
On account of the nine-year service OF
Officer Booske, the board favored
leniency with his case. In the case Of
Officer Barter, whose services covered
a period of upward of twenty years
and whose record was good, leniency
was also considered. The two officers
dismissed were members of the force
for less than one year. Supernumer-
airy Officer Chestnut, who was on
duty the night the fight occurred, but
who was not on the beat at the time
on active service, will not be allowed
to work. Had he have been a men,
ber Of the force, he would have been
similarly charged with the other two
cops. He was used as witness in
their cases.
The board was called to order at
7:30 o'clock by Chairman Johnson.
Messrs. Villar and Williams attended,
| for three hours adjudging the cases,
THE CHARGES.
Neglect of duty in violation of rule
| 7, Police Rules and Regulations" was
the charge against March and House.
The specification was worded as fol-
lows: That on the night of May 10,
1910, he did see and separate fight
between soldiers and citizens and not
before he was asked by the officer on
the beat did he render any assistance
toward making an arrest, and this was
only to bring one of the parties to the
station as he (the off1cer) was on his
way there at the time. The warrant
for this party shows it was made out
in the name Of another officer who
was not present at the time of the
fight"
One witness after another was
heard in testimony of the most dam
aging character against the two dis
lr11t 1I AH Ill
conducted a shooting gallery near the
scene of the fight, brought out a
serious aspect of the fight which did
not figure in the trial when he said
that one man grabbed a rifle from the
guns on his counter and fired one shot
before he could be disarmed. The
same witness testified that House and
Chestnut, both of them officers, left
the scene Immediately following the
fight. A witness named Simmons tes-
titled that March had taken pistol
from "a party who was in the mix-up
and had placed it in his (March's)
| pocket. When demand was later
made upon the now ex-officer Tor that
gun. he said that someone else had
| taken it from him. There was no
record in the case In the recorders
court where anyone had been arrested
/ for carrying concealed weapons.
Neither was there record in the city
| court where anyone had been fined or
tried for discharging firearms In the
city limits, or for the reckless use Of
firearms, as testified to by the wit
ness, Puhtell.
The fight was between a citizen, it
appeared, and soldiers, the question Of
a stolen dog figuring in: the case. A
soldier, it seems, was charged with
stealing the dog, the implication being
made against him by the young man.
That started the fight, which ragged
fast and furious for a short time, in
which a soldier was cut cn the back
Of the neck.
CONTRACT ILLEGAL
| Frankfort Nv Nav J2-Tho Knn.