Evening star., 1928-10-30
z PHILADELPHIA
POLICE FACE TRIAL.
Mayor SuSpends Officers
FIayed by Jury Investi-
eating Vice.
BY the Associated Press.

| BY the Associated Press.
PHILADELPHIA, October 30.AMayor
Harry A. Mackey today ordered the
suspension and the trial before the
Civil Service Commission of the DO
lice inspectors, Is captains and / City
Hall detective declared by the special
grand jury to be unfit to hold Office
under the municipal government"
The inspectors and captains were ac-
cused by the grand jury. which is in
vestigating bootlegging and police cor
ruption, of having given unsatisfactory
explanations of the source of their large
bank accounts.
Severe criticism was expressed by the
grand jury in its presentment regarding
the action of the Mackey administra-
ton In wlping out the non-political dis
trict plan established by Gen. Smedley
D. Butler, when he was director of pub
lic safety, and returning to the old
system OF having police districts CO.
extensive with wards. Much corrup-
ton, the jury declared appeared, to be
due to this link-up of politics and police
business.
Nearly third of Philadelphia's po-
lice commanders have been declared by a
special grand jury investigating boot
Logging, gang murders and police cor
ruptlon to be unfit to hold any mu-
nicipal Office"
The preSentment, which came at the
beginning of the eleventh week of the
inquiry, listed bank deposits of more
than 100000 as having been made by
the 81 police officials within the last
four years.
The three inspectors, John j. Carlin,
William j. McFadden and John Struck
ert, were declared to have made total
deposits of $336,794 OF this sum, $193,-
533 was credited to Carlin and $102,829
to McFadden. Deposits of the captains
ranged from $4,000 to $4,000.
Monaghan Gives Views.
District Attorney Monaghan. who is
directing the inquiry, said the present.
ment had created a situation probably
without a parallel in the history of
American cities, while Judge Lewis de-
clared that the amazingly sordid re-
citar' should make it clear to citizens of
Philadelphia why gangsters, bootleggers
and gunmen had been able to operate
with impunity."
Asserting that the commanders of
our army of defense" had become allies
of lawlessness, Judge Lewis told the
district attorney and the grand jurors
that if politics won't voluntarily sepa-
rate from the police force, some pressure
must be brought" The Judge did not
indicate what form this pressure would
take. He suggested that a copy of the
presentment be sent to Mayor Mackey,
who had announced that he would
suspend forthwith any police ofhcial
cited by the grand jury as unfit
In a presentment on october the
grand jury denounced political con-
troll of the police force and declared
that the alignment of police district
lines to coincide with ward lines was
the root of the graft evil"
1890 Men Shifted.
Since then. nearly all of the 4,800 po-
licemen, including captains, have been
shifted to other districts by order of
Mayor Mackey. At the same time Harry
c. Davis, director of public safety and
William Mills, superintendent of police,
issued orders to the force to "get out
of politics and stay out"
-Four of the captains mentioned in the
grand jury's presentment were already
under suspension. Two OF them,
Charles Schoenleber and William c.
Knoell, are awaiting prison sentence.
Schoenleber was convicted of conspiracy,
extortion and bribery for taking money
from saloonkeepers. Knoell pleaded
guilty to similar charges.
The others are Charles Cohen and
william G. Wuest. Cohen was acquit-
ted by a jury last week of charges of
extortion and bribery. He had previ-
ously been suspended by Director Davis
Wuest was suspended for alleged failure
to clean up his district after the drastic
police shake-up.
In addition to the higher officials the
grand jury denounced George E.
Schwartzman, q detective, as unfit to
hold any city position because he had
refused to answer questions when called
before the investigators.