The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-01
WHITMAN TAKES OFFICE AND NAMES
 HIS SUCCESSOR
Perkins Made District Attorney Following Midnight
 Inaugural.

Albany, Jan. 1-Charles s. Whitman, governor o6 New York since mid night, has smashed the precedents of a century and set Albany by the ears with excitement when, without wait ing for the ceremonious inaugural set according to custom for New Years Day. at noon, he went to the Execu- tive Chamber in the Capitol just be- fore the midnight hour and was ready on the stroke of 12 to act as gover- nor.
 His first official act was to accept his own resignation as district attorney of New York, his second to appoint as his successor in that office Charles A. Perkins.
 Then followed the redesignation by the new governor of five supreme court justices as Justices of the appellate court in the first department.
 It was all perfectly regular, accord ing to law and within the provisions of the state constitution. But it was decidedly unusual. Never before, they say, has anything of the kind been | done in this state.
 MT. Whitman had no wish to per init his predecessor, Martin H. Glynn,
 to appoint a, Tammany man as his
 successor in the district attorneyship. Therefore, he planned to hold on to
 that office until he, himself, would be I in a position to name Perkins to the office.
 Taking counsel with the justices of | the appellate division, Whitman was l advised in order to avoid every pos sibility of error to assume the gov- ernorship at midnight and immediate ly accept his own resignation as dis trict attorney and appoint the new district attorney.
 By such action, he was advised, he I would put it beyond the power ot
 any person to challenge the regular ity of indictments and other crimina, | proceedings now pending, on the
 ground that an interregnum had in
 tervened between the end of Whit l mans tenure of office and the begin ming of the tenure of District Attor- ney Perkins.
 1 That the redesignation of the Alp. pellate Division Justices should take place without an appreciab1e lapse o1 1 time.
 whitman's plan to go to the Capitol at midnight was made known on his 1 arrival in this city at :15 D. m.l Al ] once the politicians assembled in the l Ten Eyck and Hampton hotels forgot l their patronage topics briefly to dis cuss the unusual proceeding
 The news spread to the cafes, and
 the merrymakers who had set out to l drink and dance the New. Year in de- l cided it would be good fun to go to the 1 Capitol, too A midnight inaugural l was d thing not to be missed. For a while WhitnlansS innovafio on I threatened to disorga11ize the cabaret l shows and bring financial loss to cafe
 proprietors. But the tip was sent
 around that no mob would be permit
 ted in the Capitol to witness the mid 1 night naugural-only a few officials
 and personal friends of Governor I Whitman and the newspaper men. The Capitol doors, in fact. were well and closely guarded. The proceedings I in the Executive Chamber were quiet I 1yS. impressive. Governor and Mrs
 Whitman were there from the in- ] augura1 ball in the armory. So were Seth Low, former Mayor of New York
 and Mrs. Low. Charles A. Perkins Twas on hand to receive his commits
 sion from the new Governor Colone
 Stotesbury, the Adjutant General
 Whitman's military aid. John Stanley l Moore; William A. Orr, secretary tC 1 the Governor, and a few other com. pleted the assembly.