San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-02-04
STATUS Of THE
CITY ENGINEER
IS QUESTIONED
Pfeiffer Claims Agreement
Reached Whereby He
Is Reinstated.
RIEDEN SAYS mo"
Tax Commissioner Asks
Mayor to Place Agree
ment in Writing.

Desite assertions credited to Com
missioner William o. Rieden Saturday
that no agreement had been reached
whereby City Engineer d. d. Harrigan
was TO be reinstated to his post, Com
missioners Wright, Lambert and Pfeif-
fer Saturday night insisted that such
an agreement had been reached Mt the
secret caucus held in the mayors Of
flee Friday. Newspaper men having
been excluded from this caucus on mo-
ton of the mayor and over the pro-
test Of Commissioners Lambert and
Pfeiffer, the three commissioners must
be depended upon for an account of
what transpired. Commissioner Pfeif-
fer, after this caucus. stated that an
agreement had been reached between
the mayor and three of the commits
siOners that Mr.. Harrigan was to be
reinstated. He added, however, that
the street commissioner was not
party to it.
Commissioner Rieden evidently has
suffered a lapse of memory" Commits
sioner Pfeiffer said Saturday when in
formed that he had denied that any
agreement had been reached. "Al-
though no vote was taken, the mayor
agreed that in view of the fact that
Commissioners Wright, Lambert and
were in favor of the reinstatement, this
agreement should stand. The fact that
the mayor vetoed the resolution of
Thursday reinstating the city engineer
in no wise affects the agreement
reached in caucus"
Harrigan at His Post.
As precautionary measure, how
ever, Commissioner Pfeiffer stated Sat
urday night that he had written the
mayor a letter requesting that he con-
firm this agreement in writing. This
was for the purpose of placing the
mayor on record regarding the propo-
sitiOn, the tax commissioner explained
City Engineer Harrigan remained at
his post all day Saturday and expects
TO report for duty again Monday. He
feels that under the provisions OF the
Thu 'sday resolution and the agreement
reached at the. caucus Friday that he
is still the city engineer. He had not
been served with citation in connec-
ton with suit filed by attorneys rep
resenting the city, citing him and u
other employees of the engineering de-
partment to appear in the 73rd District
Court and show cause why they should
not be punished for contempt Of court
for failure to obey an injunction grant
ed the street commissioner on Thurs
day. This injunction restrained them
from performing their duties or inter-
fering with the street commissioner in
the conduct of his department.
Charges Rieden Insincere.
Mr.. 'Harrigan late Saturday declined
to state what course he will pursue in
the future. Although il had been re-
ported that he expected to resign, since
he had been thoroughly indicated by
the council, the city engineer had moth
ing to say with regard to it. 1t is be-
| lieved, however, that he will not elect
to continue his connections with the
engineering department since the open
break between him and Commissioner
Rieden.
As an evidence Of Commissioner RE
denis insinCerity in stating that he had
discharged certain employees for the
sake of economy. W. T. Crow, emplOye
in the engineering department, pointed
out Saturday night that the street COM
missioner had placed another man in
| the position vacated by him.
Although Commissioner Rie1en gave
as his reason for discbarging me that
he must cut down his force" Mr.. Crow
said, "he placed James Walker, out of
the sidewalk department, in my posi-
! ton. This means that Walker is TO