Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-06-08
ACCUSED Police
PLEAD NOT GUILTY
Men Involved in Whisky Scan
daI Araigned Before Civil
Service Commission
BURKE ADMITS NEGLECT


1ieutenaut and four policemen. who ap-
peared before the Civil Service Com
mission, sitting as police trial poaru'
II developed that Clarence u. Dreh.
nan was not a patrolman as at nrs.
stated. but was assigned as mechanician
to Director Cortelyou. his only duty
being to attend to the director car
Edward J. Casey, the Director ehanl-
feur, is also one OF the accused msn
The other men on trial are atsns
Lieutenant Thomas Burke ana ihtro,
men Charles J. Scheer and John j.
Whalen. Burke. Whalen and brennan
were represented by counsel whlle tne
cxRers we're not. Director Cortelyou,
Acting Superintendent Of Police james
Hearn and Acting Captain Horn' as
we'll ea many other high officers OF the
Police Department and Department OF
Public Safety. were at the hearing curry
Testimony Aids Burke
Conflicting testimony by two OF tne
accused patrolmen made ihentenah.
Rurke appear In u better light thah he
has so far. ,.u.l % ouard
tbs whisky truck when II was nrss
nlsced IN the police garage, admitteu
That he allowed Casey to remove chse
~ liouor from It, Casey, in quesIionLnk
him after his testimony, lnulcaleu "r .n"s
Scheer had planned to DIVIDE the ,,auV'
Nth him and had helped him take H.
Scheer. who was the first OF the ac'
r,,sed natrolmen to be put on the stand:
.s;d that he was on the dog watch
a nd that he was ordered by Lieutenant
Rurke to take charge OF the truck as
soon as the men were brought INTO the
station house. He said that when he
went TO the garage he found Casey ana
brennan there. s
Casey said" declared Schrer.
I" I'm going TO get case OF that
stuff. 1t looks good to me. toId
him he'd better leave it alone or we
would all get in trouble. He answered
Tn going to get a case. It's coming
20 me-.
a. Il would not take it il we're you,
j said brennan also cautioned him.
Just at that time Whalen came along.
How about it, john asked Casey |
and Whalen replied Sure. Go to 1t.
Then Casey got up on the truck and
took case. While he was doing IT
brennan said. L wouldn't do that If
i were you. They'll miss it. oh. no, |
answered Casey, Il took one out OF the
middle A few minutes later as i was
roing into the station l looked over my
shoulder and saw Casey going up Eighth |
street with q case under his arm.
'.Are you sure 1t was whisky!
asked one of the commissioners.
Others Took Charge OF Truck
az don't know. / didn't see what
was in the case Casey came back in n
few minutes and said that we would
split in four ways. l told him not to
include me, that l did not want any.
About this time two men dove UP In
the station house in an auto and went
in. A few minutes Inter Lieutenant
burke came out with five men an
said:
IAN tight. Scheer, these men will
take care of the truck.
About 3 o'clock Sergeant O'Neil and
come other officers brought back the
truck, with the same men and three
others" 1t developed that these other
fnen were Nathan. Frank Fogel and
Harvey Gotteschall.
Scheer said that he met Whalen about |
Tin the morning and that Whalen asked
him when he was coming over to get his
share OF the stuff.
Questions from the commission |
ELECTED the information that Scheer did |
not kno wthe liquor was at Whalen's !
house until Lieutenant lie Strange took |,
him there, on his way to the Directors
Office and got case Of liquor. When
Casey taking the liquor Scheer replied
that as Casey was a brother officer he
though he knew what he was doing.
At this point Casey started TO ques-
tion Scheer.
who told me where whalen lived?"
brennan did"
out?''
II told you to hurry up and get il
out or we would get into trouble"
Didn't you watch the door while ]
d'a YES" les
Whalen was the next OF the accused
patrolmen to take the stand. He testi-
fled that the police station and his home
are both on the beat he was patrolling
that night. He said that when he called
at the station to report about 80
o'clock he saw the truck In the garage
and that he heard Casey say that he was
going to get one Of the Casey's, and
then went on about his business. He
said that he knew nothing more about
the matter until about . a. m, when
another policeman told him that Casey
wanted to see him at Ninth and Master
streets.
He said that he went there and that
Casey told him that man had given
him a case OF whisky to divide. AL
though he was still on duty. he ad-
mitted that he and Casey had gone to
his house, wehre they opened the case
and sampled the whisky. He said that
he was back at the station again about
3 3:15 and the lieutenant, who was in
his pajamas, told him TO watch the
truck. He said that the truck was in
the street and that when he told Lieu
tenant Burke that they were trying TO
take It away, he said:
go and lock 'em up"
He testified that Lieutenant Burke
pulled coat on over his pajamas and
came into the street to aid him in max.
ing the arrest.
Bunke's Probable Defense
IL is understood that Lieutenant
Burke's defense will be to the effect
that as the prisoners We're held as yio-
lators of Federal law he took it upon
himself to let them watch their own
liquor under a proper adjudication OF
che permit they claimed TO have lost
could be made at the Federal Building
He will say that he put the mon their
honor and when he saw that they in
tended to break their word he locked
them up.
Magistrate Costello also was called
TO the stand. He testified that he had
been called out of bed at . O'Clock In
the morning by Louis Silverstein, a
Deputy Sheriff, whom he had known
for years. He said that he went 10 the
station with Silverstein, where he re
leased the men on copy OF the charge
He claimed that they were slated for
interfering with an officer and that he
had perfect right to release them as