New-York tribune., 1911-04-18
CHIEF CROKER RESIGNS
Continued from Arst page.

Croker was asked 20 withhold Il until
yesterday. The Mayor. however. re-
fused TO make any comment on this or
lows:
Pursuant 10 the provisions ot Section
$40 OF the charter Of New York City, and
In compliance herewith, hereby respect, :,
fully make application 70 be retired and
dismissed from the uniformed force and
service, and placed on the roll OF the relief
OF pension fund. and awarded and granted
an annual pension OF onc-half OF my pres
ent salary for the Ter1a ainder OF my lifetime.
the same 10 take effect az S o'clock a m.
May /, 1911.
Tn accepting the resignation Commits
sioner Waldo wrote:
Ny dear Chief: / am in receipt Of your
letter Of April Il. making application 10 De
retired on half paw
regret tnat you should have decided 70
TAX. this STEP. You have served the city
fcr twenty seven years efficiently and non
estly ] feel that you merit every consiu-
eration that can Re shown you by the CITY,
have. therefore directed q, thas .his Sarp KSu pe
mtnt with annual pension Of s6.Ooo Ior t'S
remainder of vour life: 70 take effect at )
o'clock a m. May /. 1911.
! avail myself Of this opportunity 70 as
you every success.
For Chief Croker's benefit the pay or
the head of the uniformed force was
made $4,000 year. and as he mas had
twenty-seven years service the last
twelve as chief, the Commissioner was
empowered 10 retire him at any pension
he chose. so long as it was not less
than half of the annual pay. BY fixing
the pension at $4,000 Commissioners
Waldo makes Chief Croker receive about
half Of what ne had as chief. there nav
ing been some perquisites for member
shin on various boards. With the next
chief the pay will go back 10 5000 q
wear. which is 500 less than IS received
by the deputy chief In charge Of Brook
lyn and Queens Thomas Lally, who is
In a class by himself among the deputy
chiefs.
Immediately after the retirement OF
Chief Croker Commissioner Waldo an
nounced that Deputy Chief John kenlon,
in charge Of the marine service OF the
department. would he acting chief until
the vacancy was filed by the regular
Civil Service examination. There are
fifteen deputy chiefs who are eligible TO
compete for the place. They are Thomas
J. Ahesrn. John Binns, John J. Burns
Joseph 3. Martin James !. Mccartney
Richard ". Csllaghan. William T. Big
gin. Thomas R. Langford. John Kenlon,
Thomas Lally, J. 2 Murray. Frederick
" Gooierson. John O'Hara, Patrick
Maher and William Guerin.
Thought kenlon Would Succeed.
At lun 1heon a week ago Commis-
sioner Waldo said that Deputy Chief
Kenlon would be appointed acting chief
when Croker resigned and that he be-
lieved Kenlon would become chief Of the
department. This was recalled yester-
day when the announcement Of Crokers
retirement was made, 70 show that the
head of the department at least was not
greatly surprised. II was also said at
the City Hall that the Mayor had known
for some time that Chief Croker IA
tended 20 resign.
a friend Of the chiefs said that Croker
had talked Of resigning for several
rnonths-ever since the trouble over the
Washington street fire, in which two
hremen were killed and from which there
resulted an inquiry, in which the chief
was censured by three Of his deputies
Croker had told his friends that he was
being constantly harassed and that the
ground was being cut from under his
feet by department politics. II was well
known that for a long time he was not
on friendly terms with Commissioner
Waldo, and a year ago the two men did
not speak
In his Official statement issued after
the announcement Of his retirement
Chief Croker said
IL IS only after long and careful con-
slderauOE that ] have decided 10 tender
my Itsisnauon and retire az chief Of the
New YORK Fire Department. While sucn
action on ny part is accompanied by feel.
lngs of the keenest regret al separating
from the brave and splendid body OF ON
GERS and men forming the Fire DeDart-
ment of this city, which has been and al
ways VIII % my special pride fee that
nave = special duty 20 perform toward
the public, which has so long honored ne
Win It's support and confidence.
Ny long experience In The Fire Depart
ment or this city, covering q period Of
Nv Ventr-SeVeu years. twelve Of which have
been spent as the ranking officer OF the
uniformed force has led me steadily 10 the
irresistible conclusion that while fire fgnt-
Ing and 7re cXtinGuishing organizations Of
our great modern cities have reached a
high state Of efficiency and are keeping
well abreast OF the demands made upon
q H. cur citizens have been paving too
little attention 70 the vital matter % fire
prevention. of which have for years been
a consistent advocate.
The enormous annual FIRE waste In Tho
United States, exceeding 500 5000. ard
the vastly greater indirect losses that re-
suit, seriously affect our economic and civic
progress
The loss Of lives by fire is che whicn
cannot be measured IN dollars nor ex-
pressed IN words, and which cannot be
realized save by those unfortunstes whose
relatives and friends have succumbed in
many deplorable calanities
Y has been my Observa ton that 4 large
majority of fires arise from preventable
causes. and that II proper fire prevention
methods We're applied there would lie a tre-
mendous decrease IN the fire waste. q loss
20 the inexperienced most incomp prehensi-
bio.
We have no department Of our govern
meat devoted 70 the matter II IRE preven-
ton. our laws on the subject are not and
cannot be specialized 20 completely cover
any particular building or business. al
though they can De made broad enough IN
their general application % 20 a great way
toward partly solving ne problem II must
become either the duty or the opportunity
OF some other agency to complete that
Which statutes and legal regulations must
necessarily fail 20 accomplish completely,
and 10 that end my efforts viii be put forth.
"ADMIRAL" JOHN KENL0N
Head of Citys Fire Fleet Crok-
ers Temporary Successor.