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Show SIIID ILL II WHITE FOLK HEN Public Safety Commissioner Falls Back on Incumbent When Job Is Scorned by Many. STPvING TO POSITION KEEPS MULVEY ALOOF Opium Theft Scandal in Detective De-tective Department Is Growing, but Goes "Unsolved." Offi'ial notice that he will prorooe J. Paj-ley White- Monday night for reappointment reappoint-ment as chief of police was given the city commission yesterday by Commissioner Commis-sioner Karl A. ScheSd. The public safety commissioner's announcement an-nouncement of a choice comes after consideration con-sideration of many men and much in-estigatlon in-estigatlon into the affairs of the police department, the culmination of which was the uncovering of the tlieft of J611) worth of opium from the safe in the detectives' office. The opium, however, has not been recovered, according to a late re-Iport re-Iport fro-n Chief White last niglu. He declared tho matter to be- yet afc much a mystery as It ever was. No arrest has been made and none Is contemplated, the chief says. It became known last night that the place of police chief had been offered to other paj-ties and declined. John V. Spencer admitted that he liad rejected the position. Professor Ceorgc A. Eaton, much embarrassed, em-barrassed, insisted that there was nothing to It but a Joke, so far as he was concerned. con-cerned. Ledyard M. Bailey said that there was nothing more serious to his case than the joehing he received at the bands of some of his friends to tiie effect that he was being considered by the public safety commissioner as fit timber for a police chief. James L.. Fianken said that if he had been under consideration he was unawaj-e of his peril. Quest for "Proper" Man. The combing of the supply of raw material ma-terial extended through the month -of January and into February. During all tins time Chief 'White has stood patiently pa-tiently in the anteroom of the commissioner's commis-sioner's public safety office. The announcement an-nouncement yesterday raised his spirits, from tiie depths to which they had been i plunged by the theft scandal in the detective de-tective force. And it Is In the detective fore that, the fight centers with regard to who shall be chief of police. He must be a man willing to retain Joseph C. Sharp as chief of detectives. This was evidenced evi-denced by the condition of the offer of the position to Martin E. Mulvey when Mr. .Sclieid journeyed to !san Diego to see the former Salt Lake City councilman. council-man. Mr. Mulvey came back "with two conditions. He flatly refused to retain Mr. Sharp and said that he would accept ac-cept the position only with tho unanl-J unanl-J mous support of the commissioners and a free band to carry out a policy conforming con-forming with the demands of the federal government for the protection of the nation's na-tion's soldiers. That would -ineaii the staniDing out. in Kail liko of sambling. "bootlegging" and vice generally as far as humanly possible. Mp. Mulvey was informed bv the public safety commissioiH r that a request had come from the .secret nervtce representative representa-tive nf the government in tiait Lake that Mr. Sharp be retained in bis present position po-sition in the interest of federal investigations. investi-gations. Mr. Leichter's Statement. William H. rjavennort. score! fiervb'c agent of the government here, went to Commissioner .S.-heid Hnd conferred with bun just before Mr. sj.-heid was aoxicner) to tiie department "f public safety. He was accompanied hy Uerlx-rt Le'idilei-former Le'idilei-former city detective, now an operative under Mr. Davenport. Mr. Davenport is out of the city. Mr. Ixjioluer said last night that no reouest was made on the occasion of his chief's visit to Commissioner Commis-sioner beheld .s office that Mr. .Sharp be retained He said that .Mr. Davenport congratulated Commissioner .Scheid on the prospect of beimr assigned to public safety and spolte in comniendalorv term-of term-of the assistance that he had received from Chief .Sharp in his work as secret! service agent here. j The investigation of problems crowing I out of the war situation, Ke, ' a.s th; apprencnsion of suspected enemies of the government whoso sympathies are with' the nation s enemies. Is not within the "f T-avenport's official duties. Mr. Davenport la an agent of the treasury department All lniesti-a lions of the spy and alien enemv problem! are conducted through the machined of the department of jtctire, of -1,,.h j oon , Bone is ino Salt Lake representative as special investigator and United States (Continued on Page Eight.) 1 SGHEID WILL II WHITE POLICE H) (Continued from Page One.) District Attorney W. W. Ray as prosecu- l0Herbert Leichter, who said last night that he took his chief, Mr. Davenport, to see Commissioner Scheid, was a mern-her mern-her of the city detective Sorce imder Chief Sharp until a few months ago. It was Mr. Leichter who told Chief White of having seen the opium in the safe on December 15. after he had taken service with the federal government. Mr. Leichter explained that he noticed the opium when he called at the office to get from the safe some papers he had left there. Guardedlv, but pointedly, the members of the poiice force are talking of the opium theft scandal. Whenever an opinion opin-ion is ventured, it Is to the effect that somewhere in the disgraceful affair is lurking a motive to discredit Detective Walter S. Brown. Confidence In Brown and indignation that he should have been subjected to suspicion Is generally expressed. ex-pressed. Chief White is now disposed to the theory that the theft of the opium might, after ' all, have been the work of someone some-one not a member of the detective force. He investigated yesterday as to the chance of any one's having obtained entrance en-trance to the. detective quarters after hours. In the meantime, suspicion is strongly directed toward a member of the detective force who was not reputed to have the combination of the safe. The fight over Chief Sharp's retention threatens to get into the deliberations of the city commission. One newly elected elect-ed commissioner is reported to be strongly strong-ly prejudiced in his favor. Chief White's willingness to keep Chief Sharp will, it is said, assure that commissioner's vote for him. Treasurership in Reserve. In the meantime, it is said that Chief White will be offered the position of city treasurer if he is defeated for the position posi-tion of chief of police. Up until this development, de-velopment, no one had been loudly mentioned men-tioned for the position of treasurer other than former Commissioner Heber M. Wells. A change in the general organization Of the police department, from the chief down, so far as executives are concerned, con-cerned, has been confidently expected since last fall's election. A few affiliated with the dominant influences in the department de-partment before the reorganization have predicted that things would go on without with-out much change, that Chief White would stay and that any endeavor to remove him would precipitate a war of political headhunting in the reorganization proceedings pro-ceedings of the city commission. Commissioner Com-missioner Scheid has insisted all the time that he was looking for a suitable man for the position who would have it. In the meantime, investigations into conditions with regard to vice in the rooming houses and hotels of the city have gone ahead under Chief White's direction. di-rection. A license was denied Joseph Dinkelspiel, proprietor of the Utopian gardens. At the time, Chief White was a witness against Mr. Dinkelspiel. Mr. Dinkelspiel told of having had the chief and Mrs. White as dinner guests upon an occasion when the chief assured him that dancing until morning would be allowed al-lowed in the roadhouse, since prohibition had gone into effect. Admits Vic 2 Is Prevalent. Now Mr. Dinkelspiel Is to give the chief a chance to produce the evidence In the Third district court. He has filed against the city commission a mandamus suit to force the issuance of a license for his roadhouse. In the meantime, Chief White has admitted ad-mitted that vice is prevalent in the majority ma-jority of rooming houses and hotels in the city and that he finds it Impossible to improve conditions. This he has repeatedly re-peatedly told the commission at hearings on applications for renewal of licenses. Women solicit citizens and soldiers on the business streets of the city, notoriously notori-ously on South State street. South Main street and Third South street. On West Third South street women solicit from the places in which they live. Any man dressed as a laborer, registering register-ing at many of the rooming houses in the city, either is asked if he desires the company of a woman or is accommodated if he gives a hint that .such is his wish. Liquor is to be had in the same manner if the suspicions of the vendors are not aroused. These things have been admitted repeatedly by Chief White and his deputies at the hearings conducted by I the commission. One policeman testified I recently that his investigations into the accommodations of sporting women at rooming houses never went so far as to check on whether or not the same woman wo-man registered on different occasions as i the wife of different men. Chatting With Policemen. On the streets the women have a sufficient suf-ficient understanding with the uniformed i policemen that the well and modestly j dressed ones often stop and chat pleas-; pleas-; antly with the man on the beat, getting -a word of advice as to discretion. "What i U the use of seeing anything when vou are given to understand that you "are ! to walk your beat and not interfere with i the affairs of the moral squad'.'" asks the j uniformed policeman. Recently, Chief White issued a bulletin against card-playing of any sort for stakes, yet there have been no arrests j for gambling or raids of gambling places I notoriously known to those who have learned the password that was good un-. un-. dcr the old order, tile order repudiated j b' the last election, according to the election returns, and the claims of those j ivliu stood for reform. |