Show FIRE CHIEF BINFORI Charges Against Him Considered by the Commission LONG SESSION OF THE OGDEN BOARD LAST NIGHT The Decision Was Not Arrived at Until After Three oclock This Morning Much Testimony Taken Nature of the Charges Against I Binford Special to The Herald Ogden Feb 1SThe charges against Fire Chief Binford were aired tonight before the fire and police board All members were present and the police court room was crowded with spectators spec-tators Howard Carpenter appeared for parties bringing the charges and A J Weber for Binford Mr Weber objected ob-jected to the charges relating to tyranny domineering conduct and demanded that the charge that he was mulcting employees be made specific so as to show time place and individual affected He also demurred to other charges on the ground that they did not state sufficient suf-ficient cause for action One of the charges was found technically defective and It was allowed to be amended the defendant waiving all rights In this matter Mr Waldram was the first witness Regarding the charges of tyranny witness said Binford had sneeringly made him move a spittoon and again had taken him to task because be-cause of a broomstraw a bit of cigar in the washbowl It was Waldrams business to keep the house clean A I man from the Carnival of Madrid company com-pany had slept in the room adjoining the chiefs for several weeks The chief had used profane language to him once at the house and again at the Madison avenue fire He frequently did this to other employees Waldram started to tell about trips made to the power dam by the chief with his department de-partment rig Mr Weber said this would be admitted At one time the chief assistant chief and captain were all abesent at once at the power company com-pany The charge that the department had to turn out for the amusement of a colored minstrel troupe struck a snag when it was found that the polesliding1 event was in the afternoon instead of In the early morning The charge was amended The crossexamination by Mr Weber developed that witness had discussed the dismissal of the chief and endeavored to get others to sign the charges Witness supposed that Binford went up to the machine shops to put In machinery ordered by him and that Binford got a commission Witness signed the charges at the request re-quest of George Wardlaw Some of them he knew nothing about but he signed al lof them He had heard that 4 Joe Clark Charley Empey J W Graham Gra-ham and Orson Riser were out for the chiefs job He told several of the boys that the fellows who stood up for Bin ford would go out with him and that the others would be solid Mr Weber objected ob-jected to testimony bv George Ward law as to the chiefs profanity as the chief had been tried once since Ward law was In the service In the fall of 1S93 Burton Stanley and his son stayed a week or two occupying the rooms He had been discharged by Chief Binford and never asked to be rein stated Witness said he was discharged because he refused to tell what the men said about the chief Ed Auth knew nothing material except ex-cept what had been covered by his previous charges which had been ig rcred Mr Malan driver of the truck said that Binford had sworn at him once He remembered the visits of the minstrels min-strels There were only men there at night He remembered the lodgers The matter of charges had been often talked over bv members of the board Mr Wardlaw recalled said he had got up the charges himself except one whIch he did not know about until he saw It in the Standard He signed it because if you see it In the Standard its so Mr Chippell testified to several times I when the chief had said G d It He remembered the minstrel visits and the friends of Binford had occupied the room jo deco in The comolatnt i in the case of Binford vs Ogden ff Og-den was introduced to prove the allegations of the points for which he had sued the city Job Warner said that Binford had assessed the boys 750 each at the time he was appointed Assistant Chief Hewatt testified that Binford was not profane tyrannical nor domineering dom-ineering The visit to the canyon was made on his own time He inspected the buildings with the officiels The minstrel min-strel people visited the department in the afternoon and witnessed a special drill They promised to return that night with their quartette and sing They did so Cigars and candy were passed around The firemen were not compelled to stay up but none went to bed In the afternoon he took a little V girl down the pole Walter White had stayed at he house and had fixed up some batteries bat-teries Mr Rogers corroborated Mr Hew atts testimony on all the above matters mat-ters The men expected the minstrels Mr Stevens said he was a member of the fire and police board when Bin ford circulated a remonstrance against the repeal of the fire and polIce law The chief had acted with his knowledge knowl-edge and approval Mr Lee a member of the department since 1S91 corroborated Hewatt and Rogers Dee corroborated the other witnesses of the chief and further said that Waldram had told him that Influential men were with him in his movement to get the chief out Electrician Moore testified to the chiefs courteous demeanor and that the trips to the machine shoo were official Binford shows no partialitit McIntosh corroborated this line of testimony and said further that Mr Waldram had told him that the mayor and three commissioners were with him and that all they wanted was the charges The commissioners were Peery Rogers and Watson Mr Wal dram denied this in toto and said he had not spoken to Mr Peery for a year Fireman West was for B ionl Waldram had asked him to sign the charges but he refused C A Canfield corroborated as to the chiefs courtesy and nonpartiality J M Graham whose place of business busi-ness is next to the department testified testi-fied that the chiefs conduct toward the v men was always gentlemanly Dee ewas recalled and corroborated McIntosh as to what he had said concerning v con-cerning Waldrams statement that rne mayor and three commissioners were behind him W B Butcher said Waldram told him that he had asked that the minstrels min-strels come over that evening and en tertain them Chief Binford went on the stand and his testimony covered the points in controversy He said the people in the room were his guests and the furniture fur-niture belonged to him He denied that ho had collected the assessment to pay for the Job The allegations were all specifically denied by him The visit of the minstrels was allowed as a favor to the men of the department who had asked for IL His suit against thf city was simply a legal matter and had been decided in his favor Malan was recalled and testified as to baring heard other members of the department speak disrespectfully of th chief at various tunes |