Show POL CE AND FIR BOARD Two More of the Laddies Were Tried Yesterday THE TESTIMONY GIVEN 7VO DECISIONS YET ANNOUNCED IN ANY CASES The Case of John Kenan Goes Over A Tilt Between Chief Devine und ExChief Stn 11 ton Commissioners Draw Lots for Long nml Short Terms The second day of the investigation by the police and fire commission was is dry and monotonous as the first As on the preceeding day Judge Powers appeared for the defendants but was not allowed under the former ruling to participate in the proceedings The hearings in the cases of Firemen Bates and Mowers were concluded and taken under advisement vrhile the case of Fireman Regan went over It was just 2 oclock when Chairman Salisbury called the board to order after the members had been in executive execu-tive session nearly an hour A full membership was present Without announcing the decision in the Montague case the charges against W F Bates were taken up for investigation in-vestigation THE CASE OF BAT 2S The charges against Bates preferred by Chief D vine are as follows I prefer the following charges against W F Bates a member of this department depart-ment Fast Being intoxicated while on duty and when in such condition destroying des-troying the property of the department depart-ment SecondUsing abusive profane and threatening language toward men in the employ of the department ThirdIndulging in language and conduct disrespectful toward a superior officer By virtue of the power vested in me by legislative enactment and rules and A regulations governing the discipline of t this department I suspend him pending pend-ing trial by the board Respectfully JAMES DEVINE Chief Engineer ANSWER AND PROTEST Bates entered a plea of not guilty and filed the following answer and protest pro-test I object to the jurisdiction of your honorable body in the matter of the charges filed against me FirstFor the reason that said board has not been properly organized in that the terms of office of the members t mem-bers of said board has not been determined deter-mined as the statutes require SEcondFor the reasons that no rules and regulations governing the department have been adopted and printed as the statute requires I object to the sufficiency of the charges for the reason that they allege no violation of any rule adopted by this board ThirdCharge one is indefinite un certan and insufficient FourthCharge two is too uncertain Indefinite and insufficient in that the language time place nor the man to whom used is not set forth and the undersigned has no opportunity to meet the same FifthThe same objection to the third charge is made as last above stated I I further object to proceeding without with-out the assistance of counsel and demand de-mand that I be allowed an attorney W F BATES PROTESTS OVERRULED The answer was filed the protests overruled and the investigation ordered order-ed proceeded with Ten witnesses all in the case were sworn by the clerk of the board Bates objected to the manner in which the witnesses were sworn but declined to give his reasons if or state wherein the proceedings had J been improper His objections were overruled THE TESTIMONY Fireman J J Sullivan of station No 1 was the first witness called and testified tes-tified that on Wednesday April 11 Bates was intoxicated In driving out of the station his machine struck the side of the door with such force that the vehicle was seriously damaged Although Al-though not having seen Bates take any liquor he was confident of his intoxicated f intoxi-cated condition by his actions Clerk Chalmers of station No 1 also testified that the defendant was intoxicated intox-icated nn the day mentioned by Sullivan Sulli-van Had been a witness to the accident acci-dent and called the attention of the chief to the same A bill for the repair re-pair of the hose wagon has already been presented to the defendant Prior f to the accident the witness had heard the chief state that he proposed to retain re-tain Bates on account of his qualifications qualifica-tions as a driver 1 P J Donnovan stated that Bates recently re-cently said to him that the chief had I no right to discharge members of the J department and he wjshed he would t discharge him Bates Regarding one I of the members of the department Fireman Colton the defendant said if I 3ie ever caught him in a cellar alone Y he would turn the hose on him and kill I the s of a b Fireman Splane had noticed the condition con-dition of Mr Bates on April 11 and was of the opinion that he was under the influence of liquor Mr Donnovan was recalled by Mr Empey and in response to a question stated that he had never been In the employ of the city S This ended the case of the prosecution prosecu-tion and Bates was given an opportunity oppor-tunity of examining his witnesses FOR THE DEFENSE Fireman Burt had not detected any evidences of liquor about the person of the defendant on the day mentioned It was possible however for him to have been intoxicated without the witness noticing It Fireman Clark testified tes-tified to about the same state of facts with the addition that there had been numerous complains made regarding S the factious nature of the team driven by Bates It required very careful driving to get out of the house without striking the sides of the entranceD I entrance-D A Sullivan was called by Bates I and stated that he had noticed no evidence evi-dence of intoxication about the defendant de-fendant Relief Driver A R Frazer was of the i opinion that Mr Bates was not intoxicated I in-toxicated although he was considerably more talkative than usual He had just had a day off and naturally in the opinion o the witness would have a great deal more to say than under ordinary circumstances orinar crcumstances Archie McKay had witnessed the accident ac-cident Just as the wagon started the off horse jumped to one side throwing the wagon to the left against the side of the house The whole affair afair appeared ap-peared to be an accident Major Stanton testified to the good character of the defendant and stated I that he had always considered him a 1 driver The defendant iad had four similar accidents ExSecretary Connor stated that the record of the drfendant was one of the best in the I department Neither side had any statements to I make and the case was submitted andS and-S taken under advisement REGANS CASES CASE-S The case of John Regan was then called up the charges against him being be-ing absent without leave and being under bonds for a violation of the Ed mundsTucker actS act-S Judge Powers requested that In this case the defendant be allowed an attorney at-torney and thattherjr viousorder on the board 1e tht modified in this parr pi S 13 I ticular instance After a consultation harman Salisbury announced that the case might go over for future consideration I con-sideration I REGANS OBJECTIONS The defendant filed the following objections i ob-jections S I object to the of jurisdiction your honorable body in the matter of the charges filed against me First For the reason that said board has never been properly organized organ-ized in that the terms of office of the members of said board has not been determined as the statute requires SecondFor the reason that no rules or regulations governing the departments depart-ments have been adopted and printed as the statutes requires ThirdThat charge one preferred against me is too uncertain indefinite and insufficient and the time is not stated when I left without leave of absence ab-sence or that it is in violation of any rule or order whatsoever Fourth The charge preferred against me on the ground that I am under bonds to appear before the grand I jury on the charge of violation of the EdmundsTucker law is insufficient for the reason that I have not been i tried upon said charge yet nor have I had as yet any opportunity to meet said charge in a proper court nor has said cause been yet tried upon the I merits and until I am tried and convicted con-victed upon said charge the law presumes pre-sumes me innocent and not guilty The board act and take can only cognizance cog-nizance of said charge after I have been duly tried and the verdict of the jury and the judgment of a competent and I proper court passed upon the case I further object to being compelled to proceed without counsel and demand de-mand that I be allowed an attorney JOHN REGAN THE LAST CASE The case of E P Mowers the last of the four was then taken up The charges against Mowers were as follows I respectfully report that E P Mowers Mow-ers a member of this department is entirely en-tirely unfit for the duties required of a fireman owing to nervousness excitability and incompe ability general physical tency thereby very much depreciating the efficiency of the department and impairing its value to the publicS public-S JAMES DEVINE I S THE USUAL PROTEST I object to the jurisdiction of your honorable body in the matter of the charges filed against me FirstFor the reason that said board te has not been properly organized in that I the terms of office of the members of i said board has not been determined as the statute requires I I SecondFor the reason that no rules and regulations governing the I departments have been adopted I and printed a the statute requires I I object to the sufficiency of the charges for the reason that they allege no violation I viola-tion of any rule adopted by this board That the charges preferred are too indefinite definite uncertain and insufficient and no facts are stated upon which I can make any defense and the charges are vague and whimsical I also object to proceeding without counsel and demand that I be allowed an attorney attor-ney The objections being overruled the taking of testimony was begun Driver Workman of the chemical was first called He testified that Mowers Mow-ers was a very excitable man so much so that an examination was always necessary nec-essary t see that he had hitched the horses properly before driving out i Witness had worked with Mowers on the pipes and while he was a willing and faithful man he was so excitable i that witness could not rely upon him in a big fire On crossexamination witness stated that the defendant had worked faithfully fully to the best of his ability Some years ago there was a new man in the department who after the gong sounded sound-ed slid down the pole with his trousers on wrong side to Fireman Sullivan testified that Mowers Mow-ers was exceedingly nervous and excitable excit-able and it was the general opinion that lie was not the man for a fireman I fire-man Witness would not feel safe ingoing sae I going into a burning building with Mowers where he had to depend upon the latter a a partner in the work On crossexamination witness admitted I ad-mitted that he had recovered damages from one of the street car companies for injuries sustained I Fireman Splain testified that Mowers reputation in thedepartment was that 1 j of a very nervous man The witness would not be willing to go into a big i fire where he toad to rely on Mowers II On crossexamination witness said that on one occasion he had been compelled com-pelled to force the defendant out of his way but he denied that he had any I i feeling whatever against Mowers Fireman McQueen testified that he had worked with Mowers and believed that he was too excitable to be a competent com-petent fireman On one lasion when witness wa driving the chemical Mowers failed to snap one of the lines and the result was that the whole outfit out-fit got tangled up in wires out in the street He knew i o be the general opinion in the department that Mowers was not qualified to be a fireman Captain Foley told witness that he could not rely upon Mowers because he was so nervous Witness did not think the defendant was cowardly far from i but his excitability made him unreliable Fireman McMullen testified to the same effect in regard to Mowers efect 1lowers nervousness ner-vousness and said that Captain Foley instructed witness not to place too much reliance upon the defendant This closed the testimony for the prosecution and exChief Stanton was called by the defnse He stated that on one occasion McQueen failed to hitch the lines on the buggy of the witness Mowers had dene the hitching as well as any of them and no complaint had ever been made against him by his I captain while the witness was in charge of the department The defendant I defend-ant had never endeavored to shirk his duty however dangerous the position Mr Heiss recommended the appointment appoint-ment of Mowers A LITTLE TILT I Chief Devine Isnt is a fact that you stated to the committee that you had been compelled to take men in the department de-partment whom you did not want ExChief StantonI refuse to answer apy question put to me by Chief De Ie vine for several reasons I Chief Devine If he refuses to answer an-swer I shall ask that his testimony be stricken out ExChief StantonI can state my reasons Chairman Salisbury You may state them ExChief StantonYesterday Chief Devine called up that difficulty between be-tween myself and Assistant Chief Donovan Further I say the chief has no right to act as prosecutor here That is the duty of the chairman of the board S Chairman SalisburYWe have no authority au-thority to make a witness answer Chief Devine desire to state that in the city of Milwaukee after whose law our own is taken the chief en gi M Conducts the examination ExCouncilman Heiss and Mr Lever idie t vj tesmiect that they considered Mowers an able bodied man Captain Gilbert stated that he considered con-sidered fireman Mowers a brave and efficient On crossexamination it was brought out that the witness and Mowers worked different machines Fireman Meyers testified that whie he had heard others remark on the nervousness of Mowers he knew nothing noth-ing about i himself On crossexamination witness stated he and the defendant had worked on different machines all the time tme This closed the testimony and the board adjourned until 3 p m today DRAWING LOTS Before the official Investigation held yesterday morning the members of the police and fire commission in executive ex-ecutive session drew lots to detenrine which should have the long and which the short terms the Democrats draw Ing against each other and the Republicans Re-publicans following the same course The drawing was of a somewhat exciting excit-ing nature as upon its result depended the length of the official lives of the members > v f t > t p i > s Mgssrs Salisbury and Noble wilL hold I I office for two years each Messrs Em I pey and Jennings dropping out at the end of one year from the date of their appointment I |