The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1918-05-15
EXONERATE
POLICE HEAD
At TRIAL

The board Of safety or East Chicago
at a public hearing held last night at
the city hail exonerated chief r D.
Williams. and Officers Sterling and
Kulczyk for attempting the arrest of d.
II. McAbee OF indianapolis ri The open
graveside Of his sister. Mrs Harvey
Richards, on March H. 1918.
The hearing came up as tho result Of
charges that were flied hy MI MsAbee
who accused the chief and his men OF
gross misconduct and Of acts urbecom-
Ing 70 men in their respective positions.
The safety ooard sitting as q court in
this matter consisted Of James Calvin.
chairman: James Clements clerk. and
]. NJ. Shehan The officers were repre-
sented by Attorney A. Ottenheimer but
The complainant conducted his own side
Of the case. Fifteen or twenty men and
number Of women. interested as wit
nesses ard az friends ~ the plaintiff.
we're present to hear the details.
Mt McAbee as complaining witness
TOLD or his humiliation when. al ms
sister-in-lsw's graveside. he was con
fronted by an officer armed with gun
and told that he was under arrest
II replied" said he. IL I am under
arrest. show re your warrant At this
jnncture Chief Williams stepped up and
said 'is rot your name ---- -
] did not understand the name in ques-
ton but replied that my name was Dan
iel II. McAbee of indianapolis. The CHIEF
was then heard TO say. mistake has
been nade.
The evidence given bv several wit
story and showed further that the chief
rendered an apo ~ to Mr.. Hsrvery
Richards for the error snd the intru-
sion The apology. however. was re-
fused
The contention in NJ. McAbee's testi-
mony was that he had been in East Chi
cago about twenty-four hours prior ia
she fune-sl was OF tho streets and in
one OF the mills and that had the police
desired to arrest him they had an
abundant opportunity without staging a
scene at the graveside: that the event
vas pulled off there in order that the
officers would get into the limelight and
pull off q moving picture stunt that
would bring them notorietv-
There was forceful objection on the
part Of Harvey Richards. while on the
-
Ottenheimer 20 bring in the name Of
Emmett Hogan. a brother of the deceased
Mrs Richards. who IS wanted BY the
police OF Illinois as bad character and
who in reality the man sought when
McAbee was arrested
In replying TO the charges made Chief
Williams said that he had been asked
by Rev. Geo. b Jones. pastor Of the
cb71~cT, cling
and that he had consented and had gone
to the cemetery for that purpose having
given his promise the day before. 1t is
well known that this is one Of the re-
quests for public service that the Will
Hams family. well known for their
musical ability. never. under ordinary
conditions refuse TO honor
The chief said that on the morning Of
the funeral he had long distance tele-
phone from the sheriff at Pontiac. H..
| informing him that Emmett Hogan. a
desperate character. would be at the
funeral Of Mrs. Richards his sister. thai
day and that he must he arrested for
the chief TO take no chances "a he was
a gunInsn and was likely to shoot on
small provocation.
In order to justify his action by show
ing that McAbee was supposed to be n
criminal Of the desperate type Mr.. OF
tenheimer brought into the evidence a
card headed $50 Reward It bore a
picture alleged to be Emmet Hogan.
alias ] F. Hogan. alias Frank Myers.
alias B. n. Marks. hobo yegg and gun
man. The card reads. he carries a .9s
automatic LuEer gun. He is a hold-ur
man and ALI around thief. He is about
as or 50 years old. height IT. in. or
10 in. weight about $50, dark grey eyes.
brown hair sandy moustache and com
plexion, wears glasses at times and may
wear soft hat. wide rim"
There was also introduced in evidence
a letter from Sheriff Ives in which he
says that Hogan had brother living at
1910 Olcott avenue and that he would
visit that brother or his sister-in-law
between the 18th and 25th Of that
month.
This card and letter had been received
by the police department before Chief
Williams came into office and he knew
nothing about the case until the morn
ing when he received the telephone
| message.
Ii was very evident thar the chief
when making this arrest was convinced
that he had the right man and that he
was dealing with q character who would
take advantage Of any opportunity that
he might have ut the close of the serv-
ice TO get away
After the evidence was all in. the
board found that no serious criticism
could be passed upon the officers who
had apparently tried to do their duty
and who. when finding that soras mis-
take had been made had rendered every
possible apology
In consequence the board exonerated
the officers and held them innocent of
the charges made
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