Evening star., 1926-06-06
Continued from First Page.)

ing that Mr.. Eldridge wasn't In oi
flee at that time"
Says Order Interfered.
His alleged failure to cooperate
with the director of traffic was lai'
by Capt. H1adley to a police depart
ment order requiring all officers t,
transact their business with Mr.. El
bridge through the office of superin
tendent of police. THAT order pre-
vented me from taking matters u!
directly with his Office" he said
Since his demotion the present in
spector of traffic. z. w. Brown, ha
been permitted to work directly will
Mr.. t,ldridge. II cant understand
whv Mr.. Eldridge should feel woult
not cooperate with him when 1t wa
my life work" he observed. THE or
ders forbidding me to transact busi
ness with him direct may have con
veyed the impression 1 was not co
operating with him."
| Vigorous exception to that part o.
| the Eldridge letter referring to tht
displacement of signs was taken by
| the witness. Unless the signs are
! imbedded III concrete, he declared
they always will be changed anC
moved about by persons in the
streets. He recalled an inspection
tour he took with Mr.. Eldridge in
which they found various routing
with which, Capt. Headley added, he
had no connection whatever.
Defends Holding Court"
A defense of the practice of hold
ing Police Court" in the Traffic Blu
reau to iron out differences among
motorists was given by the captain
who cited his authority for such a
practice as being in an order issued
by Mai. Raymond W. Pullman. The
officer said he had sat In thousands
of such cases and that the procedure
was in vogue in the largest cities OF
the country.
II might recall here" he said. that
one day Mr.. Eldridge called me and
told me to be In my office at a certain
time. 1 obeyed and he came over
with Prof. Marvin of the Carnegie
Institution. He wanted me to give
a permit to Prof. Marvin's son, who
was a minor and under the 16-year-
old minimum age limit. | was en-
barrassed by the request because 1t
was violation of the law and had
been employed to break up such
practices. The permit was not
granted.
"On another occasion he asked me
to restore a permit to his brother
which had been revoked for good
reasons l did and later the man
was arrested. l loaned him part OF
the money to get him out and even
called up the Police Court. l can't
understand why Mr.. Eldridge feels
would not cooperate with him.
Differences IrOned Out.
There was no occasion for uttering
unprintable words about Maj. Hol-
combe and Ringgold Hart. members
of the traffic committee on which he
served, Capt. Headley said. Although
the trio had differences, they were
ironed out at voting time, he ex-
planned The "unprintabe words
referred to were attributed to Capt.
Headley by Mr.. Eldridge in his
confidential memorandum to Com
missioner FenninG.
During the Shrine convention.
Capt. Headley said, he had expended
the money allotted to him by Con-
gress for the installation of signs,
and these still are standing as evid-
ence of his work at that time. He
was charged in the letter with offer
ing no assistance.
Capt. Headley'S reason for mot
talking in public about the case
until Yesterday was based on assur-
ances of his friends that "a mistake
had been made and that restoration
was in the making" The witness
recalled that last July 21, when he
was bowed in sorrow through a death
in his family, Mr.. Eldridge came to
me and said: I'm awful sorry;
Ii II witt
demotion' That statement was
made in the presence of two wit
nesses, Detectives Kelly and and ScrlV-
ener."
When Mr.. Eldridge was called to
the stand, he stated that he had had
a conference with Mr.. Fenning be-
fore the demotion took place, "and
indicated a lack of cooperation, but
did not go into details" Mr.. Fenning
asked him to suggest some police
officers with whom he felt sure he
could secure cooperation, and the
names of Capt. Brown. Capt. l.. j.
Stoll and Capt. Robert f. Doyle were
furnished.
EIdridge Is Questioned.
Under questioning by Mr.. Hogan.
Mr.. Eldridge said he brought the
matter to the attention of Mr..
Fenning ''in the interest of co-opera-
ton. / believed at that time l was
not receiving cooperation from In
spector Headley' The witness said
he believed the facts as given him to
be true at that time and the state
ments made of his own knowledge to
be accurate, and that he would stand
by both
On Capt. Headley's return to the
I,x,
he did not know that the order de-
noting him was signed by Acting
Superintendent Evans and the wit
ness replied the only official notifica'
ton he received was the action Of the
Board of Commissioners, signed by
Daniel L. Garges, secretary. Turning
to the Eldridge letter he said:
II have read over this letter hur
riedly." and there isn't a single thing
true in it.
"It appears from this letter ] told
people I would not cooperate with
Mr.. Eldridge. I have too much sense
for that. ] was more interested In
the proper regulation of traffic than
Eldridge was. Mr.. Eldridge will tell
you I gave public expression of my
approval of his selection"
The witness told the committee he
saw letter written by Mr.. Fennine
to Representative Butler of Pennsyl
vania, which stated there were nc
charges preferred against him and nc
trial was held.
Legal Point is Cited.
AS a legal defense of the charge
by Mr.. Blanton that Mr.. Fennins
"wrongfully" denoted the inspector
Mr.. Hogan. Friday night, read into
the record that provision of the Law
stating that inspectors can be re
turned to the rank of captain by the
Commissioners without trial by the
police trial board.
81 question the right fo the Com
missioners to denote me-" Capt
Headley continued. notwithstanding
the act which says inspectors may be
returned to the rank of captain.
a,,, fo ,,,ilio,. r-ith that ola ISa in fhe