New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-30
ActsAfter Lahey Suspends
His Detective Sergeant
on Complaint ofW omen
and Children Victims
Suspected Hand
Book Is Defense
Inspectors Favorite Who
Ran Amuck Figured i'm
Many Other Assaults

IOllCe commissioner EnTlRnC last
night ordered the arrest of Detective
Sergeant Charles L. Tighe of Chief
Inspector Laheys personal staff, who
on Thursday afternoon caused a reign
of terror at Ninth Avenue and West
Forty third Street.
This action was taken by Commits
sioner Enright after Tighe had been
suspended from duty pending trial on
a charge of Conduct unbecoming an
officer and gentleman"
Tighe's suspension and trial were
ordered yesterday afternoon by In
spector Lahey, following the complaints
Of four women and two children who
had been among the thirty-odd per-
sons who were either beaten with a
blackjack OF kicked and cuffed into a
rear room of the former saloon of
Patrick Coen, at 600 Ninth Avenue
during the detectives wild and ap-
parently unprovoked rampage.
Victims Charge Intoxication
Several of the victims of Tighe's
indiscriminate attack upon persons in
the Coen establishment and upon
women and children in the street
alleged that he was intoxicated and
demanded he be charged with felo-
nious assault.
According to his record, Tighe is an
old hand at violating departme
regulations. On numerous occasions
in the past he was up on charges rang
ing from intoxication to beating pris-
oners, but he seemed to bear charmed
life so far as punishment was con-
cerncd, escaping generally with repri-
lnands or light fines.
The most fragrant Of his offenses, ac-
ccrding to report Of Police Surgeon
Thomas F. McGoldrick, was committed
in May, 1918, when he was charged
with intoxication while on duty in the
Bergen Street station, Brooklyn. He
was convicted and given six months
suspension.
That he escaped a similar charge of
drunkenness yesterday was said to be
due to the fact that he was not exam
after the occurrence. This is required
when policeman is accused of intoxi-
cation.
The hearing resulting in the suspen-
sion of Tighe was ordered by Commits
sioner Enright shortly before he was
asked to make full investigation by
Mayor Hylan. Inspector Lahey, in ad-
oition to taking the statements of the
complainants and viewing their
bruises and discolorations caused by
the detectives blackjack, questioned
Tighe and Detective Milton Kaufman
who was with Tighe during the "raid, u
but who maintained a neutral attitude
and once endeavored to curb his broth
er officer. AS the compliments did not
implicate Kaufman in the attack, no
action was taken against him by In
spector Lahey.
Tighe Suspected Handbook
Tighe, nervous and perspiring, bolted
from Inspector Laheys Office after the
make known the explanation offered by
the detective, except to say that Tighe
had declared he raided the Coen place
because he suspected handbook on
the races was being conducted there
and that he was compelled to use force
in handling the crowd that gathered.
Among the women complainants ap-
pearing before Inspector Lahey were
Mrs. Patrick Coen, wife of the pro-
prietor of the former saloon which
Tighe converted into temporary
prison; Mrs. Ella Fitzgerald, white
haired and fifty years old, whose waist
was torn off by the infuriated detec-
tive, and Mrs. Katherine Goete, who
alleged she was hit several times with
blackjack while attempting to pro-
tect her two-year-old daughter, Fran
ces. Mrs. Coen was accompanied by
her two children--Helen, seven years
old, and Katherine, three years old
who, she said, suffered at the hands of
Tighe.
Mrs Fitzgerald was the most serious
ly injured of the women. Her waist
was torn off by Tighe so that it hung
from her in strips, and yesterday she
exhibited black and blue marks on her
arms and shoulders, which she said
had been made by Tighe's grip as
he flung her into the patrol wagon
which came to the scene after the de-
tective had kept more than thirty per-
sons in the room for nearly two hours.
Police Try to Hush Up Scandal
The police at the West Forty
seventh Street station, where twenty
four of Tighe's victims we're charged
by him with disorderly conduct, made
every effort to keep the affair quiet.
Only those who bore no marks were
sent to the Night Court, where they
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