Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-02-13


Friede's superiors, are directed to
make recommendations with respect
to a change Of job classification for
Mr.. Friede, now drawing $6,862 q
year.
No explanation of the move was
offered, although on January 80 the
city heads announced that Assist
ant Engineer Commissioner Ken
meth E. Madsen had been directed
to draft an order transferring GER
tain of the fire alarm maintenance
functions to the Fire Department.
Dispute Ended.
In doing away with the title of
superintendent Of fire alarms, the
order leaves the city alarm system
completely in the hands of the Fire
Department and ends an 8-month
ehind-the-scenes struggle for its
control between Mr.. Friede and Fire
Chief Clement Murphy.
The few remaining duties left Mr..
Friede, who has held the post of fire
alarm superintendent since 1888, in
clude upkeep of the underground
fire alarm cables, police call boxes
and telephones in District buildings.
The Commissioners transferred
operational control of the alarm
headquarters from the Electrical De-
partment to the Fire Department on
January l. This left Mr.. Friede,
who works under the Electrical De-
partment, in charge of maintenance
and installation of new equipment
1t marked the beginning of the end
to a system which had been in force
since the Electrical Department was
created in 1898.
Under the new setup, Fire Bat
talon Chief r. E. S. Boss, under the
direction of Chief Murphy, takes
over the functions formerly assigned
to Mr.. Friede. Personnel affected
by the shift include IL Electrical
Department employees assigned to
maintenance duties.
Came Here in 1888.
Mr.. Friede came to the District
in 1888 from Wheeling, w. Va, where
he had been superintendent of the
police and fire alarm systems. Here,
he was responsible directly to Walter
Kern, Electrical Department head.
Mr.. Kern answers to Capt. White
hurst, who in turn is responsible to
Engineer Commissioner Gordon r..
Young.
The Fire Department is under
Commissioner John Russell Young.
Chief Murphy asked for control
Of the fire alarm system last June
II on the basis of a study made by
three-man board he had appointed
earlier to study the situation. T'he
board included Battalion Chief Boss,
Capt. j. W.. Conroy and Capt. R. C.
Emerson.
In his letter transmitting the re-
port of the board to the Commits
sioners, Chief Murphy reminded the
city heads that he is charged by
law with direct responsibility for
the protection of District lives and
property from fire.
In further support of his case,
Chief Murphy provided the Com
missioners with a report covering
cases In which he said apparatus
had been incorrectly dispatched or
sent to the wrong address while the
fire alarm headquarters was under
Electrical Department control.
Case Had Bearing.
That the Commissioners might
consider a change in the fire alarm
system became evident not long after
last November IA, when a Federal
grand jury in Boston indicted the
Gamewell Co. of Newton Upper
Falls, Mass, on charges of monop-
olizing the manufacture and distri-
button of fire alarm equipment in
the United States. More than 90
per cent of all District fire alarm
equipment in operation was made
by the Gamewell Co.
In it's investigation of the Game
well Co., the Department of Justice
found in the company's files rs let
tiers allegedly referring to Mr. Friede
Mr.. Friede was subpoenaed and tes-
titled before the Boston grand jury
last summer
Last fall, the Justice Department
turned over to the Commissioners
photostatic copies of the 76 letters
said to have mentioned Mr.. Friede
On January % Mr.. Friede was sum-
moned before the city heads to an
swer questions with respect to the
letters.
Several weeks ago, the Commits
sioners asked the Bureau of Stand
ards to help the city prepare specif1-
cations which would enable more
companies manufacturing fire alarm
equipment to bid on alarm boxes