The San Francisco call., 1913-07-21
COMPLAINT 7 To
ROLPH BLAMED
IN JONES CASE
Chinatown Gambling Raider
Removed When Owner of
Club Property Pro-
tested, Is Report
CUSTER CURB TO
REFORM PLANS
Corporal Will Meet Fire
Board Today, but Will
Urge No Change

Urge No Change
The removal of Corporal Jones from
the Chinatown squad was the subject
of much conjecture yesterday.
One Chinese gambler asserted that
Chief Whites move came as a COM
plete though welcome, surprise to him.
THAT man Jones' he said, was too
stlict. All the time he laid our places;
all the time send men in with search
warrants, and they sit down and stay
all day. or come in every ten or twenty
minutes.
Corporal Jones. he make too much
tlouble for us He make us take down
doors and windows. and tell us we
must remove our screens and bars.
Chinese no like him yelly much. He
make too much tlouble, lie too stltct.
This new man, what you call EN-, Cor
poral O'Blien. we no know him; but we
think maybe he more better than
Co'poal Jones. Anyway, we hope So"
LETTER BLAMED FOR RECALL
The same Chinese tells curious
story of a letter written to Mayor
Rolph, which. he thinks, may account
for the summary removal of Jones.
This letter. he says, was written
by the attorney for a man who. owns
building in Waverley Place that Is
leased to a gambling club. Corporal
Jones rsided this place several times,
doing considerable damage to doors
and fixtures. and he intended to COM
plain TO the fire commissioners that
the place did not conform to the fire
regulations and was unsafe.
According to the Chinese the owner
Of the place, through his attorney,
wrote to Mayor Rolph, protesting
against the activities Of Jones, maxi
ing accusations against him and ask
ing that he be. removed. The Chinese
continued that Mapor Rolph referred
the letter TO one of the police commits
sioners. who in turn passed it on to
Chief White.
The attorney mentioned was James
Hanley. Mr.. Hanley denies ever hav-
ing written such letter or having
heard of it. Police Commissioner Kuhl
says he knows nothing about 1t, Mayor
Rolph not having referred it to him.
The mayor is out of town. Chief of
Police White. as usual on Sunday, could
not be found. But the Chinese insists
that the letter was written and be-
lieves that 1t was the cause of Cor
poral Jones being relieved
MEETING WITH FIRE BOARD
Corporal Jones himself says he has
not heard of any such letter. At the
same time, he says he has absolutely
~ idea why he was relieved from duty
in Chinatown, but is glad to get out
OF a hard and thankless job. Jones
was careful to say nothing that could
he construed as criticism of Chief
White. But he says that he has done
his duty and has put an end to gam
bling in Chinatown. Nor. he says, has
he confined his activities to suppressing
gambling. He has paid much atten-
tion to the conditions of buildings as
regards their safety.
During the last week" said Jones,
Il spent considerab BILE time with Fire
Commissioners Laden and Cook exam
lining buildings in Chinatown. I had
an appointment to meet them tomor-
row morning and make a report to
them.
The idea was to make the Chinese
turn over to us the original plans of
the building and then to compare those
plans with the present condition of the
buildings You know, when a building
is rented or sold to a Chinese, he turns
it inside out. SO that by the time he
gets through, there is generally moth
ing of the original structure left but
the walls and floors.
''Of course I shall keep my appoint
ment with the fire commissioners. but
I shall be obliged to tell them
cannot do the work, as I have been re-
lieved from command of the China =
town squad
JONES MEASURES BUILDINGS
Corporal Jones was on the China
town detail only three weeks when he
was relieved, but in that time he
earned for himself the nickname OF
'Tapemeasure Jones" on account of his
activities in going through the build
ings of the district under his charge
with a tape measure and measuring 6
walls. partitions and other parts OF the
buildings to find out whether the fire
ordinance was being violated.
1t was limited about police head
quarters that had Jones confined his
activities to the suppression of gam
bling. he would have been allowed to
serve the customary three months in
command of the squad. and that 1t was
his interfering with violations of the
fire regulations on the part of infiuen-
5ial property owners that led to his
withdrawal
Chief White made absolutely no ex-
plantations to Jones when he relieved
HiiH ne merely wrote MIN a formal
order to report for duty at the central
Office
Acting Sergeant O'Brien, who suc-
ceeds Jones, is equally in the dark as
TO the reasons for the change He
says he was merely ordered to take
command and has not even been In
formed as vet whether he will be al
lowed, as is customary, to pick his owr
mon for the squad.
OBrien says that he intends to dc
his full duty in Chinatown, but that (,
will not be his policy to make raids
unless he has evidence upon which tc
act and TO get convictions
II consider Chinese to be human be.
ings," he says, and / intend to treat
them is SUCH"
PACIFIC HEIGHTS