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Show TEIV -TO SJSLHY IMBING Of CHIEF SHEETS' ffiSE The American members of the City Council, at the session last night, fought for an immediate and rigid investigation in-vestigation of the Sheets case. The minority, sought to delay the investigation. An immediate investigation stands for honest government, while delay means one thing only playing politics. , Councilman Fernstrom, one of the members of the body that will try Chief Sheets, practically declared that he would not believe Sheets innocent under any circumstances. circum-stances. ' . The Americans contended for an immediate investigation, investi-gation, and they won, the time being set for 2:30 o'clock this afternoon. anyway," retorted Mulvey. The remark re-mark staggered the Councilman -from the Third. At this point there" was. considerable bickering among the Councilmen, and Acting President Black had considerable consider-able trouble in maintaining order. When it was contended oy Councilman Council-man Black that .the Council 'had no right to suspend the Chief of Police, an opinion from the City Attorney was called for. Assistant City .Attorney Dininny declared that in his opinion the Chief could not- be legally suspended. sus-pended. The only recourse, he said, was" to remove the Chief with tbe consent of the Mayor.' Councilman Fernstroni declared that if he had the statutes he could prove that the. City Attorney was wrong, but the Council refused to longer listen . to their supreme councillor. council-lor. A motion made by Councilman Preece to have tbe hearing at 8 o'clock this evening was lost and a motion to have the bearing at 2:30 today was carrie-l. The Bait Lake City Council last evening moved to hold an official investigation in-vestigation of the part Chief of Police George A. Sheets took in enforcing the law in regard to the alleged robbery of Alexander and William McWhirter in the Antler rooming-house of September Sep-tember 18. "The motion was carried calling for the investigation to begin at 2:30 o 'clock this afternoon in the City Council Coun-cil chamber before the Council sitting as a committee of the whole. All persons per-sons having any knowledge of the affair af-fair have Deen invited to lend their assistance to the investigation and appear ap-pear before the committee. All Are Invited. Even the Sheriff's office and the County f Attorney 's office have been asked to appear and tell what they know in regard to Chief Sheets' connection con-nection with the affah They are also I nuMted to invite ersons that they know will be of assistance in the investigation. inves-tigation. - On account of the statutes the City Council has no right to compel attendance attend-ance at an investigation and their only recourse is by means of a request. The compliance with the request depends upon the citizenship of the individual or his honor. "Ferny" Seeks Delay. The action was taken by the Council last- evening after the reading of the communication from Chief Sheets to the Mayor and Citv Council as published pub-lished yesterday in THE TELEGRAM. As soon as the communication was read. Councilman Crabtree moved that an investigation in-vestigation be held this afternoon. This met with opposition of considerable warmth- Councilman Fernstrom and his ( followers were in favor of suspending the Chief and holding the investigation later on. . During the course or the argument on the motion an effort was made by Fernstrom Fern-strom to override the opinion of Assistant Assist-ant City Attorney H. J- Dininny that the Council had no power to suspend the Chief. Fernstrom vindictively asserted as-serted that he knew tbe law was different. differ-ent. Fernstrom practically admitted that he would not believe Chief Sheets innocent even if he were found so. Seeks Quick Action. After the reading of the communication communica-tion Councilman Crabtree secured the floor. He declared that he believed that it was the duty of tbe Council to order an investigation and that it be held at the earliest date. He set the time as 2 o'clock this afternoon. He was followed by- Councilman Fernstrom, who declared that in order to give Chief Sheets a square deal he should be suspended. 1 If allowed to remain re-main in office he asserted he could use it to his own advantage. Councilman Hobday's reply to this was that there were no charges filed against tbe Chief and that the Council therefore had nothing before it on which to act. He declared that he was unwilling to have the matter delayed. Councilman Barnes declared that he would be away this afternoon and for that reason desired the hearing continued. contin-ued. Mulvey on ths Floor. "I know very little about the affair," af-fair," declared Councilman Mulvey on securing the floor. He said that he knew nothing about the investigation until he was called upon to meet with the Police and Prisons committee at the police station yesterday afternoon. He asserted that 'the investigation should be thorough in every detail as it was a duty of the Council to the citizens and taxpayers.! "The whole thing is a political fme," ho declared. ''That is the way see it. Let us play it out. Let us see if there is any damage done. If there is let us right it. I do not caro when the investigation is, we must get at the bottom of it." f Wells Favors SusDcnsion. Councilman Wells took tbe same position posi-tion as Councilman Fernstrom that the Chief should be suspended. He declared that he did not think tbe Council was justified in proceeding on what was said in the newspapers. He declared that as soon as a decision was made and if the Chief was vindicated he should be restored to office at once. The Council was asked to avoid politics poli-tics creeping into the affair when Councilman Ferry secured the floor. He declared that the Chief should be given the benefit of tbe doubt until he was proved guilty. If his innocence were proved he averred that a resolution resolu-tion should be passed by tbe Council censuring the persons who made the charges. Femy.'s VUe Charges. Councilman Fernstrom again secured the floor and declared that the Council had failed to catch his reason for want-in? want-in? the .Chief suspended. ''Those crooks stole $10,000, according accord-ing to the ease as I understand it," said Fernstrom. "Any minute a tele-gram tele-gram might come in telling where these men are. If be is anxious to have them stored away tou know . what he'd do." "Hold on there," shouted Mulver. "Do you mean to make that charge? I rise to a point of order. He is not talk-in? talk-in? to the matter before the Council." Councilman Black, who occupied tha chair, declared that Mr. Ferns to rm, he believed, did not intend to cast any reflection on the Chief of 'Police. His Way of Seasoning. Fernstrom continued that he believed that any person who held an office under un-der such circumstance and did not use it to the best advantage was tbe " biggest big-gest fool ia the world. " "You wouldn't believe Lira innocent ' i |