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Show CHIEF OF POLICE GIVES STATEMENT IN REGARD TO COMMENT ON WOODARD CASE BY JUDGE PRATT chief of Polii T. BS. Browning of l lOgden issued b signed stntemenl I , Tht Btandard thin .if-moon concern Ing the recent trouble here in October In whu-ii Ro Voodard snd others cor ! nected with the Inhorlng class of the 1 rit wer implicated, "hif Prowninu J and members ol to nolle.' lepartmer.l wejre cftiqtsed by fu4gf Pwiti of thjj district court for tnelr attitude in thol iWoodard Base and the foj'.owinc i'n swer is filed by c hief Frowning in j behalf of the poiii department of og-; jden clly. "To the Public: "There seems t be DO jre or less criticism heaped UP m he pul're on the unfortunate occasions v.hicn happened , all Id one day bsiween 2 a. m and Z p. m.. August 28, l!.l!i I "The railroad inc-dent Where 700 Iproplr asM inbled ;ir ihi- pa vender sU tlton to prerepl strikebrkwr0 fron hoarding the train where si'- ))nlice of 'fleers and more than that number of ! railroad detectives nMl watchmen wen eres nt whs the beginning, '"'his is th first time that any such thin has hap Ipened In Ogden during n-y twenty years of police experience hre. I wai jnol present in Ihe llrst instance, but wk on the prounl at 88 p m ol th. ams day where at h ast 00 people a -semhled nt the paSWUger station Here I found several railroad police officer.-. ! who Joined with QU and tht OtheJ members of the Osden police force i present in dlapefsfjlf 'he c-owd there assembled. Woodnd ts net present at that time nor rn :he first Instance He met the crowd o.i WaP :w 0116 and ! Twenty-fifth street and preceded them on his motorcycle t.i the gas house. "Five members of the police force and fivo members of ne shetlff's forc and myself appeared at the gas hous about the time thai WooJard and Smith came through the north entrance en-trance of the gas house. A few min utes later a crowd of about T.00 people assembled at the gas houe I asked Woodgrd and Smlht if they came with the crowd and they both answered Dtf. .The deputy sheri.fs vers t.'.tioned it tho north i ntraiie.- ,. t:n- g.s house ! i stepped up to Deputy Sher'ff Blackburn Black-burn and said "Wo must be ready to protect this place against any disturb ance." He replied. "We wll do ou-best." ou-best." 1 then asked Woodard and Smith what they were here for Wood, ard said: "That bfl and 'mitb weiej there to see a man who carried a union : card and that the pijketlnT law gave' Smith and him that right. "I then turned to the cro"d and UM them tol leave the premise's. The .-rowd retire-; a few paces. 1 said U Mr. Merrill and ! Mr. Parrs who irfcro in Charge tha If showing a single card would help, matters, 1 thougn', it boft to do sc. j Mr. Parry called one of the -working ; men forward and asked him if h would show his card and he replle.l 'that he would show his card to Snnt.i but not to WoodarJ, v. hich he proceed : ed to do. I then turned to the c rowd and told them again tha they must move away from 'be sas p'ant. They complied and moved on. The deputy! sheriffs thereupon set into their automobile auto-mobile and left. ) remained a ten minutes to telephone to Che police ll 1 tion to have officer.-; o proceed to Lincoln Lin-coln avenue and Twenty-eecond stre t to keep in touch witn .be crowd I re-mained re-mained a few minutes planning with Mr Merrill and Mr. Phrry 'o pollr.- th pas house that nign'. W- then pra I ceeded east on Twenty-second street Washington avenue co the Ogden com mission house where we found ? largt-i largt-i assemblage of people.. Th officers (then moved them Irom the sidewalk land 1 went to the door of the comnu sion house and found it locl ed. A Mr Crosby opened the door. I said to him: "We are here as peace otticers to prelect pre-lect your house aoJ you peop'e " He j said "I am glad you are here" On er terlng the house I found Woodard in I conference with a man named I'ggl I I then said to Woodard, "What are you 'doing here?" He said "I am only mak-I mak-I ing a contract to make thi house fair 'to organized labor." Jggle had noth j ing to say nor did he inform me that IWoodard had assaulted him An ordinance startinc the right to assemble with other phases of the labor la-bor question involved during the recent re-cent trouble. Collowfc: Section 3653. Right to Cease Labor Secured. Right to Assemble. And no such restraining order or injunction in-junction shall prohibit any person or persons, whether Blngly or in concert, from terminating any relation of employment, em-ployment, or from ceasing to perform any work or labor, or for recommending, recommend-ing, advising, or persuading others by peaceful means so to do; or from attending at-tending at any place where such per son or persons may lawfully be, for the purpose of peacefully obtaining or communicating information, or from peacefully persuading any person to work or to abstain from working or from ceasing to patronize or to employ any party to such dispute, or from recommending, rec-ommending, advising, or persuading others by peaceful means and lawful means so to do: or from paying or giving to or withhold from any person enRaped in such dispute any strike benefits or other moneys or things of value, or from peacefully assembling ', in a lawful manner, and for lawful ' purposes; or from doing any act or j thing which ruight lawfully be done In i the absence of Buch dispute by any patty thereto; nor shall any of the acts specified in this paragraph be con Sldered or held to be violations of the1 law of the state of Ulah. I then turned to CroBby and told him not to sign any contract unless he did It well of his own free will. At that moment I received' a call from the mayor's office to report there at onco where an investigation was being I carried on. "Tho affair at the barber shop happened hap-pened before Officers Dick and Hearn arrived. Woodward and several others were in the truck and expressed their willingness to go to the police station sta-tion to settle their difficulties: Upon arriving at the police station White i refused to make a complaint against Woodward but " the next morning changed his mind and caused tho arrest ar-rest of Woodward. Mlt will be noted that, vefy little of the criticism heaped upon the police department has been of a constructive sort. How easy it Is after an affair such as this has transpired to tell the other lellow who handle.i It, just what, be would ha s done I have al strueted men of this department ; be cool and collected and in all cases to use their best JudgmeM to the endj thgt no blood be shed, unwantonly. or that property be destroyed and the end attained seems to indicate that everything done should have been done. What might have happened had more stringent measures been taken is of course now only a matter of conjeeture, Rui ns to what did really re-ally happen, this can be said, no blood was shed, no property destroyed nor was any on' jeopardized as to life or limb, and pcaee was restored. Hoes not ihe end justifv the means used: "T. B. BROWNING. "Chief of Police." |