The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-12
CLOSES IN
 SHOWING AGAINST
 BESSEMER POLICE
Defense Will Begin Intro ductiOn of Evidence To-
 night, AnnouncesM Murray
WINTERS AND LEWIS
 MAKE STATEMENTS
Chief Wallace COntradicts Assertions of Chairman of Police Committee. Winters Explains Several Items
 of Chiefs Charges Against Him

of Chiefs Charges Against Him Bessemer, October 11.-(Special. )-The postponed meeting of the Bessemer police probe that was continued from Friday l October l, was held this evening in the courtroom of the Realty building and a 1 large crowd of spectators gathered there to hear the introduction of the rest of the evidence by the prosecution, which took only until 9 o'clock, immediately after which J. Reese Murray, attorney for the defense, asked that the meeting be ad- journed until tomorrow evening at 7:3O | o'clock as he was not ready with his witnesses. The request was granted the attorney, and tomorrow evening he will start the introduction of testimony m re- buttal of the charges that have been pre- ferred against his clients.
 The first Witness the stand was T. J. Dickey, and the substance of his testi- mony in answer to the questions of the solicitor was as follows: My initials are T. J., and l am pipe man at Dolo- mite. I know Officers Maddox and Ellis Houston He then told the story of the assault on him and his partner, Evans who previously testified before the com mittee, on a night sometime ago when the couple were on their way home from Bessemer where they had been attending court.
 Officer Knocked Him Down He said the officers flashed a light on them and then knocked him down once. He said he thought the officer hit him with pair of knucks. His testi- mony substantiated that of Evans at the ina of h l,Af1 mittee as to the arrest of the men and their subsequent trial and conviction In the mayors court On cross-examination he stated that he had been drinking, but that he had only six or seven glasses of beer.
 Dickey said that MT Maddox did not hit him, but that Officer Houston said he hit him, but that MT. Houston told him that he did not know who he Dickey) was. Dickey said that he did not plead guilty in the mayors court, but asked for the lowest fine. Said he swore out warrants for the two officers and they were tried before Judge Gwin of the Bes- semer city court and were reprimanded. He said that he had worked for the gov ernment at Johns and that he had been arrested for embezzlement and was tried on the charge and sentenced to two years but that be had been paroled and had not served any time. He said he was still on parole and thought he would be for the rest of his life. Said that he left Bessemer because he was afraid because Maddox and Houston had told him they would get him.
 An affidavit was then introduced from l. C. Keller secured by City Attorney George Bumgardner, at tn erequest of a citizen, which related to an alleged as- saut made on him by officers.
 O,.x{- rp~I~~
 Mayor l. A. Lewis took the stand and practically reiterated the statement that appeared in The Age-Herald some days ago relative to policeman breaking into the Frisco depot. J. H. D. Smith, local agent for the Frisco took the stand and testi- fled as to the happenings on the night of the capture of the policeman in the freight house and the subsequent con versation with MT. Lewis relative to it; and MT. Perry stopped the discussion with the remark that he was willing to concede that no ulterior motive actu- ated either of the gentlemen in reIeas- ing the officer.
 If you were derelict in your duty in not prosecuting this man," said MT. Per " to MT. Lewis, then l was also dere- lict in my duty as l should have indicted the officer" Then, judge, we are yoked
  Lewis also explained that he had never heard of any officer being accused of burglary until he saw it in the papers.
 MT. Perry then announced that he had finished his case as he had no further tes- timony.
 pr. J. s. Winters. chairman of the po- lice committee of the board of aldermen. arose at this juncture and asked that the committee hear him for a few min utes. He asked Mir Perry if he had the charges preferred against him by Chief of Police Wallace. and when informed that the solicitor did not have them with him, said that he would try and recall as many of them as possible. Dr. Winters stated that he had professional call to make and that he would be as brief as possible. MT. Perry asked him if he was on MT. Maddox's note, and he said that he was not
 Not Trying to Vindicate Himself
 Second, he said he wished to explain some of his actions, but was not trying to vindicate himself. Said he had been severely criticized for making Maddox chief of police temporarily in the absence of Chief Wallace and ytated that he did 1t because if he recalled 1t rightly, the regular officers were working eight-hour shifts and that he could not take one of them off without disarranging the sched- ule and that he went to the detective force and selected Maddox for the place. Said he supposed that Maddox was a pretty fair officer and selected him know Ing nothing of the charges against him. Said that as the presiding officer of the police committee he voted to give Mad dox the five days pay in question Said he had no vote in the matter of suspend l Ing Maddox for the five days as the mo- tion was made and carried without hia vote.
 Said that Chief Wallace brought him l a report of Detectives Childress and I Houston going fishing without leave and l that he asked the chief how it would suit l him to take the two men off the detec- 1 tive force and put them on beats. and | that the chief said it would suit him fine" and that he talked the matter over with majority of the committee | and that it suited them, so he did not ,all A meeting. In regard to the matter of Officer Mil- | on slapplng the chief. the chief said that after the man was tried he was put back Q work. He said the man was tried on he charge and the evidence at the trial | disclosed that at the time of the incident vas a patrolman working for Frank I, -hildress, who was i'll. After the trial MT. Milton was taken from the force and put to work driving the patrol wagon.
 'In this l had no vote as chairman of he committee. said Dr. Winters. In -egard to Mir. Moorer's absence from the sty without leave the man was tried and
 presided and the evidence disclosed hat MT. Moorer was in Tuscaloosa and ound 1t impossible to return in time and, fter failing in his attempts. to locate the hief over the phone called the warden nd explained the situation to him and sked that the warden tell the chief. xxag ,is,~a da1 md 1o an