| Show DEVINE ON THE STAND l Case of the Fire Chief is Presented a Pre-sented INTERESTING TESTIMONY JLST MADE SOCIAL CALLS AT THE TIUBliYE J Thinks He Could Make4 tile Depart merit Efllctcnt i He Had the Pow vr to Organize i uutl the Com iniHttiun Should Take un Interest 111 I TIle defense had its Ini ng at the hearing of Chief Devine last night and the evidence brought out in some particulars par-ticulars conflicted with the testimony of the witnesses for the prosecution One of the material points on which there was a conflict was in regard to the chiefs attendance upon the Gol den Rule bazaar fire All the witnesses I wit-nesses for the prosecution swore that Chief Devjne left for the fire after Mr I Curtis interrupted Mr Varian who I was speaking at the time Defendants witnesses state that the chief had returned from the fire when the remark was made So at least was the testimony of Chief Pratt who said he heard Curtis make the remark after he and Devine had returned to the committee room from the fire Chief Devine took the stand in his own behalf and made many interesting responues to the crossquestioning of Judge Judd He made an admission to the effect that the present law under un-der which he holds the appointment is a bad law and that it would be practically impossible for him to maintain main-tain an efficient department under It ing The case will be finished this even REPRESENTATIVE WILSON j Representative Wilson was the first witness placed on the stand when the hearing was resumed He attended the committee meeting when the fire and police bill was up for consideration He said Devine went to the fire when his attention was called to it by the remark re-mark of Mr Curtis that a fire was in I progress up town The chief was gone about fifteen or twenty minutes then I he returned in company with Chief Pratt Witness had not seen Devine < luna we nouse ot representatives once I onceWilliam Thompson chief clerk of the house was called and said he had seen Chief Devine once or twice at the I house sessions once when the senators were elected Representative Beard was next placed on the stand and he had seen Mr Devihe only once around the legislative legis-lative sessions 1 Messenger Tooney of the house of representatives had not seen Devine around the legislative halls more than three times between January 7 and February 12 SECRETARY C1RJC3IES t i John Chalmers secretary of the fire department was text put on the stand He testified that JrreguYaV I sinkings of the apparatus were of frequent occur ences resulting from crossing of wires or what is called an open circuit Mr Chalmers stated that rtnever occurred until the South Ninth East street fire last January that the gong struck only one round the usual being four rounds This was brought out ito account forth for-th chiefs failure to promptly go to that fire In view of the irregularity of the alarm witness telephoned to the Troy laundry and inquired if there was a fire in the vicinity ofpox U15 from wberc > the alarm was tuftied Crossexamined by Judge JuddMr Chalmers said that he was positive the tape registerd 215 at the time of the South Ninth East street fire while the indicator registered the number 8 Fireman Simpson said Lieutenant McCarthy went out on the hose wagon street the day of the fire on South Ninth East CHIEF PRiT Arthur Pratt chief of police said he was at the Golden Rule bazar fire He was in his office viieri the alarm came in He went down to the fire in the patrol wagon and arrived shortly I short-ly after 8 oclock In probably fifteen minutes after that he saw Chief De vine at the fire The two then went down to the committee meeting After arriving there he heard Mr Curtis make the statement in regard to the fire in progress up town Chief De vine witness said never left the room after Mr Curtis made that remark Lieutenant McCarthy of the fire department de-partment said Captain Workman went out in charge of the hose wagon at the fire on South Ninth East street Mr Vail being away Secretary Ch Trners was recalled and exhibited the receiving tapes and the reports of the different fires in question ques-tion The report showed the Golden Rule bazar alarm to have been sent in a 815 in the evening Fireman Simpson was recalled and stated that he didi not see Chief De vine at the Golden Rule bazar fire until it had been put out Fireman Wood said i was probably twenty minutes before the chief came to the fire At this point Mr Stephens offered in evidence some remarks at the bottom bot-tom of the Lincoln school fire report stating that C J Chalmers had put the fire out with a sixgallon chemical before the department arrived on the scene Fireman Earl driver of the chiefs buggy said the chief was around the department on an average of twenty to twentytwo hours a day between January 7 and February 12 He said men on the apparatus floor could not see whether the chief was in his private pri-vate office or not Fireman Bywater stated that it was customary to see the chief about the apparatus floor as much during the period in question as formerly He also thought the chief attended to his duties as usual at least he did not notice any particular difference Mr Bywater could not tell the dhiefs step from any other individual James P Walker a reporter on the Tribune testified that he had seen Chief Devine around the senate chamber cham-ber probably two or three times Secretary Chalmers thought the chief attended to his duties in the department de-partment between Jenuary 6 and February Feb-ruary 12 The chief attended to his duties as usual He had duties taking him away from the department and I qn such occasions would leaf a note I at the department stating where he could he found I On examination by the chair Mr Chalmers state the chief did not leave any notes when these fires occurred oc-curred curredCALL CALL UP THE TRIBUNE Regarding the testimony of Fireman Earl that the chief was about the department from twenty to twenty two hours every day witness thought it was going to extremes He thought the chief was there some days only sixteen hours The chief left notice where he was going sometimes twice a day and other days four times He would go to the Tribune four rings the Tomplpton hotel the Cullen at church andvarious 1 other places He did not know when the chief returned at nigjits but knew he was n man I who stayed with his family D vINE ON THE STAND Then the defendant lIr Devine took the stand His usual custom was to attend all fires The reason he did not go to the South Ninth East street fire was because of irregularity in the alarm He wafe Jn his office that day when the alarm came In and learning it s irregular Uhought someone i f was around wanting to see the horses hitched up and so he did not go down I Afterward McCarthy reported the I alarm but the chief said he went to I his lunch and did not go to the fire until about thirty minutes afterwards T He did not drive rapidly but at a < trot Relative to the Third and L street fire he said that on that day he went to the NeWenJudson Drug company to get prices on acids and some other Stuff He dd not know the alarm was turned in About the Lincoln school fire he was busy doing something uptown but could not recall now what it was THE GOLDEN RULE FIRE Regarding the Golden Rule Bazaar flre he was at the coinmtttee meetaing and went to the fire at once when Clerk Hyams spoke to him Arriving on the f scene he saw the fire was under control and after looking around for a few moments I mo-ments discovered Chief Pratt and I asked him if he wanted to go down to the committee meeting The latter was willing and after releasing the key in the alarm box went down to the joint building and drove up in front when the chimes indicated 845 oclock Mr i Curtis made the remark and after a few moments he went out into the cloak room About his attendance at I the legislature he said he had been there several days when the Sutherland bill was under discussion one day remaining re-maining all afternoon Members the I legislature and Invited him to be present pres-ent and give his views in regard to the measure and he took a general interest in legislative matters anyway The chief then explained his duties about the department saying they were I of a general character There was not I a day he said that his duties did not I take him away from the department I There were repairs and horseshoeing and various other matters to attend to i He had lately prepared specifications i for a hose wagon and he had to purchase i pur-chase goods and stuff to finish it This season was an unusually busy one on account of the many complaints coming in regarding rubbish etc Then he was busy a great deal now attending attend-ing to matters in connection with the II coming Fire Chiefs convention There had come into the department about 260 alarms during the past two I years Electrician Vail had charge of this department but the duties took him away from the department a great deal of the time Regarding the amount of time spent around headquarters he said to the best of his knowledge and belief he had averaged twenty hours every day since he came into the department including sleeping hours He had never slept away from the department when in the city He sometimes would go to church and would always leave notice where he was going I CROSSEXAMINED The chief was then crossexamined I by Judge Judd at some length In reply re-ply to a few preliminary questions he stated having been a member of the department since February 1894 Previous Pre-vious to that time he had had no actual ac-tual experience in fire department work although having been connected I with one in a small New Jersey city Judge Judd then began a different line of questioning You stated in your examination by I Mr Stephens that you took a great deal of ipterest in legislative matters he opened I j I do yes sir I i What particular kind of legislation were you interested in Were you interested in-terested in the fire and police bill Yes sir I was because it naturally concerned me most How did it concern you most Well being chief of the department i it was but natural I should take an interest in such legislation as would affect af-fect me MADE A SPEECH I Did you make a speech before the legislative committee 011 some bill I Yes sir The measure you spoke in favor of I gave you absolute power to discharge your subordinates did it not Well yes it provided for something to that effect I I How long did you speak I About forty minutes I think What time did you get home from the committee meeting that night Well judge it must have been nearly near-ly 12 oclock In our snooch before the committee I did you not say that yOU had a lot of old plugs and old socks under you that I you would like to remove them No sirI did not say that either in substance or in fact I Did you not say that you wanted I absolute power to move your men 7 I stated that I thought the chief should have power to remove his subordinates sub-ordinates Did you not say in your speech that you had some men in your department de-partment that you wanted to rein re-in owe 2 I may have stated that there were a great many inefficient men in the department that ought to be discharged dis-charged Is it not a fact Mr Devine that I you would like to discharge some men in the department WANTS TO FIRE THEM Tel its no use to deny that There are several men whom I believe are unfit for their places Will you name them Yes sir I you want to hear their names I have not the slightest objection objec-tion tionThe The commission objected to going any further with this line of questioning question-ing saying it would only tend to increase in-crease the strife within the depart ment and although Judge Judd felt inclined to press the reply and the chief seemed equally willing to respond re-spond it was not allowed and the questipning went on You are not satisfied with the present pres-ent larwT No air I am not You dont think its a good law No sir I do not How would you amend i I LIKES THE SUTHERLAND BILL I would amend it in substance to conform with the Sutherland law Do you believe that you can give an efficient service under the present law lawI I dont think I could give as efficient I I cient a service as under other provisions I pro-visions I But that is not an answer to my question Mr Devine Can you make the department efficient under the present law I have answered that in my own way 7 wayYes Yes but cant you answer yes or no 7 11 will say that I could if we had aboard j a-board of commissioners that would I j I take an interest in the department I nnd if T hnrt the nnrvnr rn nrpanizp the department In other words Mr Devine you think you could maintain efficient department if you had everything your own way Is that it There was no reply to this query and another was put Mr Devine you believe the present law is such that the efficiency of the 1 department cannot be maintained I will say that I believe the present laiw js a bad law and that the efficiency efficien-cy of the department as I have previously pre-viously stated cannot be maintained as well as under some other act i I ATTENDANCE AT FIRES Taking up the attendance at fires he did not think it was his duty to attend all the fires When he could not ba absent he left his assistant chief in charge but could not remember remem-ber a single instance when he gave the assistant chief specific instructions to take charge of fires wjien it was i necessary for him to absent himself i He had notified the assistant chief on two or three occasions when he was going to theatres When the assistant chief wanted to absent himself he always al-ways notified the chief INTERESTED IN POLITICS Chief Devino said he toolc consider able interest in the senatorial election and legislative matters Were you at the Templeton hotel to aid in the conduct of Cannons election elec-tion i No sir Did you have occasion logo to the Tribune Yes sir You didnt go there to talk politics poli-tics No sir i What did you go there for JUST SOCIAL CALLS I just made social calls Before leaving the stand Mr Devine announced that he was ready to answer an-swer any questions relative to the department de-partment or its management that the commission might desire to ask There was no information wantedas no questions ques-tions were asked and after Mr Stephens Ste-phens had offered for the perusal pf the board the rules and regulations governing gov-erning the fire department of New York which was introduced for the purpose of showing that it was not a I cast iron rule that the chief should attend at-tend all fires the defense rested It was now nearly 10 oclock the time fixed for adjournment The prosecution pros-ecution announced it would have one or two witnesses to rebut the testimony of the last witness on some point bit as they were not present an adjournment adjourn-ment was taken until 730 this evening |
