Perth Amboy evening news. [volume] (Perth Amboy, N.J.) 1903-1959, 1919-12-05
Calvin Tells Of Incidents Con-
neCted With King street case
and Declares he Is Free from
ANY Blame In the Matter

Roundsman William Gavin, asaAus1
whom complaint has been made 10 tne
Mayor and Board of.Aidermen ny Hia
or seven members of the local ponce
force. has written a letter to the EV T.
MING NEWS in which he explains IN
detail the incidents in the case on .I,o
night of November 10. about WhlGh
SO much has been said and SO Lteie
actually known. ,,
The Roundsman's letter fouoWs'
EDITOR EVENING NEWS:
An article in an, edition of your
naner of December End placed me
before the eyes of the citizens OF
Perth Amboy in q false ngnC. L
would. to exonerate myself, IKE 10
ask that you give the following state
tnent of nv side of the case re1erreu
to as prominent a place as you gave
the supposed charges against me-
NV statement is as follows:
~"On the night OF November ~,
in your NEWS, in the nelgnpofhooo
of 1880 A. NJ, 1 met officer Seaman
at the corner of Smith and State
streets and he informed me that
certain man by the name OF
had followed his wife, in company OIL
another man, TO q plumbing shop on
King street, had seen them enter the
place, and was there now watching
for them to come out. Ofhcer sea-
man told me that he had been called
to the shop by the husband, who
asked Seaman If he would open the
door. Officer Seaman replied that he
could not as he had no key and he
could not break the door by force
without a warrant. The husband
then informed Oficer Seaman that
he did not want to get the case INTO
the police court, as would happen IL
g warrant was issued, and further
stated did not want his wife arrest
ed. 1 found out that officers Seiboth
and Eagan had also been at the
plumbing shop. For four hours this
couple were supposed to be IN the
building. After my conversation with
Officer Seaman 1 went to- King street,
where I met a young man standing
in front Of the shop. I asked him
what he was doing there. He told
me he was q Burns man and further
stated that he had informed the hus-
band he would stay there while he
the husband-rwent for a key to open
the door. I then inquired IL he was
working on the case. He replied, NO.
1 do not work on divorce cases. l
took a key out OF my pocket, turned
the lock and opened the door. When
had accomplished this young man
well known to me came to the en-
trance and asked what 1 wanted. l
told him wanted him to open the
door, which he did. I asked him
what he was doing in the shop. The
Young man told me he worked here
ara had a right to be there. 1 then
questioned him If he had woman
in the building. He admitted that he
had With which 1 informed the
young man that he being in the shop
with q woman at this hour of the
night did not look respectable and
that he had better get out. Upon
this he took the woman, locked the
door and went home with her.
Now as to my part TO the story OF
my letting them go. / just simply
had to let them go for l had seen no
wrong done and had no authority 10
arrest them, as an arrest. in THIS case
could not be made without warrant
AS the husband had told Officer Sea-
man that he did not want the case
to get into the police court, what else
could I do but let them go?
Your article also reads that a four
hour watch was kept on this shop by
five policemen, and that they had
been trying to get In all this time.
After four hours of hard thinking,
trying to settle the question of gain
ing entrance, they unanimously
agreed that If they had key they
could get the door open, get into the
shop and catch the man and woman
in compromising positions. The hus-
band then would have evidence for
divorce proceedings. This is the first
time / ever heard of a city police
force used in securing evidence for
n divorce case as this work is gener-
ally done by private detectives Then
after the police officers came to the
conclusion that to gain entrance a
key must be secured a complication
of actions followed consisting of
more patrolmen arriving, while
others left to get the ever elusive key.
] do not want to become sarcastic but
such activity never before has been
seen in the Perth Amboy Police De-
partment.
Now another way to look at it, in
all fairness to the taxpayers of Perth
Amboy If the city can~spare all of
these men from their posts to assist
a man in getting evidence against his
wife, why is 1t you hear so much the
cry for more policemen. When you
stop to think that this farce had been
going on for four hours while the
stores on the posts left by the patrol
men were without protection. Now
don't you believe it was time to break
up the gathering and send the men
back to their beats?
Thanking you, I remain
Roundsman William Calvin"
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