The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1922-12-30
TENDON To MAKE
FLAT DEMAND FOR
MOORE s REMOVAL
Commissioners in All Day
Session On Alleged Irregu-
larities Found in Pay Roll
Account


| d. E. McLendon, president of the
city commission. announced Friday
night that he would present a resolu
ton at Tuesdays session of the COM
mission recommending the dismissal
! sioner, on account OF alleged ir
| regularities in pay rolls, unless action
to that effect was taken in the mean
I time.
| Tho statement was made after a
| conference OF an hour and half in
| the afternoon, the second held dur
! ing the day, at which no vote was
taken by the commission, and At
which Commissioner W. Z. Dickson
was successful in holding off action
| on the ground that he had another
| witness to present in defense of
| Moore, his subordinate. The name Of
! the additional witness was not di-
vulged by Commi ssioner Dickson. ell
| though he said that tho evidence to
be introduced would be in line with
| that presented at tho Friday morn
| ing conference that John Easley, al
| legged employe of the city, for whom
/ Moore is said to have drawn salary
checksA has been actually working
in the garbage department.
| Newspaper reporters were barred
| II ON all conferences Friday. although
| the entire investigation of private
| detectives acting under orders of
| President McLendon, was said 10
have been completed President Me
Tendon declared that he was willing
| to admit reporters TO the afternoon
| conference, at which no witnesses
I were to be examined, and when it
| was thought probable that n vote
would be taken. Commissioner Dick
| son objected to admission Of the
PRESS to the afternoon conferences,
however. and such privilege was do
MED. Commissioned Dickson did not
offer any explanation of his refusal.
! McLendon is Confident
| President MeLendon said after the
/ five hours of conference Friday he
was confident that sufficient evidence
lad been obtained to warrant dis
missal OF Moore. Three witnesses
were introduced by Commissioner
Dickson in an effort to counterfeit
! McLendons charges and to show that
| Easley had been actually working In
! the garbage department but Pres
| ident MeIendon declared that their
testimony was not convincing and
| that he doubted its validity In
| Vestigation is now being conducted
\ into the genuineness OF these wit
nesses. according to authentic infor-
nation.
one of the witnesses was a white
| man named McMullin. who said he
| was employed by the White Star
| Dairy. He declared. according TO
! piecemeal Information CLEANED from
| commissioners after the conferences,
| that he had seen Easley in the alleys
of Birmingham while he was making
| his morning milk rounds. He said,
according to President McLendon,
| that Easley was employed at seeing
that slops spilled on the streets early
| in the morning were cleaned up. He
| added that Easley had been nick
! named sloppy" 1t developed later,
| however, McLendon said. that Nc
Mullin had met Easley at the Flor
/ ence hotel, where tho latter lived.
| and suspicion was aroused as to
! whether he had ever seen him work
| ing in the alleys.
! Two witnesses were negroes, only
| one Of whom was questioned. The
| negro, who testified was named
| Preston Pope, who said, according
! to President McLendon. that he drove
| a coal wagon and also removed s1op
| from cans in the alleys early in the
! day. He testified, according to Nc
Tendon, that he had seen Easley at
! work but McLendon said he had
| reason to discount this statement.
| The other Negroes name was not
| given.
John Easley, alleged employe for
whom Moore is said to have drawn
salary checks approximating 500
month for more than four months,
was also present and was questioned.
He declared that he had been work
ing under Moore since shortly be-
fore the first OF September. and that
he worked between the hours of
and I in the morning and also
late in the afternoon. He declared.
according to a version of the confer
ence. that he slept during the day
and that he had authorized Moore
to draw his checks for him. He
further declared, according to re-
ports from officials, that he had re-
ceived every cent of his salary from
Moore.
Detective reports made to Presi-
dent McLendon showed that Easiey
had gone under a number OF names.
When officers appeared at his room
at the Florence hotel, reports said.
he moved to the Bencor hotel, regis
tered under the name of Harry Moore
and lived there for two or three
days. At another time, it is said,
he went under the name of Miller.
Feared vaGrancy Charge
Easley told commissioners, accord
ing to McLendon. that he moved from
the Florence hotel to the Bencor
hotel because he was afraid officers
would arrest him on charge OF
vagrancy. McLendon declared that
he then asked him how he could be
arrested for vagrancy il he was
working for the city. Easley replied
that he was afraid to tell officers
that he was working for the city be-
cause he was doing so under an as
sumed name. He did not say what
his real name was, according to the
reports.
Moore declared in the conference
that he did not know Eas1ey was 60
ing under an assumed name when he
employed him and that he told that
he lived at East Lake. He declared
that he employed Easley to remove
slop from the alleys that accumu-
lates after the night street cleaning
shift has completed its work. He
said he did not know Easley prior to
employing him and that he "em-
ployed him on his merits"
Immediately after the conference in
the afternoon adjourned, which was
about $50 o'clock Commission Dick
son went into consultation with
Moore and remained for more than
ralf an hour. After the conference,
which was held In Moore's office,
no statement was given out by either
party. Moore merely repeated ex-
pressions Of confidence that he would
be exonerated and that everything
would come out smoothly" Dickson
said later in the night that he did
not feel like making a statement, but
that he might do SO Saturday morn
ing.
Has Duplicate Resolution
Duplicate of resolution dated