USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 3
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Daniel P. Noonan,
Arthur B. Burton,
Samuel W. Chapman, James Callan,
Martin Scully.
Timothy L. Horigan,
John F. Gallagher,
Wm. C. Moore,
John F. Hayes,
Patrick Holohan,
Robert Mackie,
Geo. F. Mulligan,
John Hurley,
Chas. A. Fine,
Patrick McFadden,
John J. Brophy,
Charles A. Templeton,
J. J. O'Sullivan, Edward W. Beach.
Ralph N. Blakeslee,
Geo. E. Sellew,
Herbert J. Phillips,
Joseph L. Stanley,
Robert Walker, Frederick W. Chesson,
Chas. C. Dreher,
Charles Schmidt,
Addison A. Ashborn,
Chas. Boylan, Daniel J. Mahaney,
Edson W. Hitchcock, Chas. H. Swenson,
Archibald F. Mitchell, Ralph E. Day.
Joseph S. Niell,
Ferdinand Wolf,
Wm. J. Spain,
Michael J. Bergin,
Edward H. Bowe,
Miller C. Haynor,
Fred W. Nettleton, Geo. Hargraves, Philip J. Riley,
Arthur H. Tyrrell,
Leavenworth P. Sperry.
Mortimer Doran,
Albert F. Sherwood,
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
HISTORY OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
It is a far cry from the present police department of Waterbury, with its seventy-nine members, its modern headquarters, its splendid alarm system, to that humble beginning in 1854, when the Court of Common Council named the eighteen constables for the newly incorporated city.
In 1893, the beginning of the quarter century of this history, the department was still under a Board of Police Commissioners, acting under the charter amendment of 1872. George M. Egan was chief and under him was a small but exceedingly efficient force of men. It was on January 31st, of the year 1893, that the Mutual Aid Society was formed and this, an independent beneficiary organization, still thrives and pays out of its funds sick and death benefits. It has, however, no connection with the police pension fund, which was authorized by the Board of Public Safety on October 17, 1899.
It was not until August 5, 1902, however, that the Board of Trustees of the Reserve Fund of the Police Department of Waterbury was formally organized at a meeting in the city clerk's office, with Commissioners Franklin A. Taylor, Dennis J. Lahey, Edward B. Hardie, Peter B. Reeves, and George B. Beach pres- ent, all ex-officio members of the Board of Trustees. At this meeting Mayor Edward G. Kilduff was elected president of the board, Commissioner Lahey, secretary, and City Treasurer G. A. Gibson, treasurer.
For some time previous money derived from time lost by members of the de- partment, properly found and not claimed, and five per cent of all liquor license money, had been accumulating. On September 9, 1902, Treasurer Gibson re- ported that he had followed out the authorization given him to purchase city bonds, and that the financial condition of the fund was as follows:
$4,000 City of Waterbury 31/2 per cent, January, 1926, at 102.42. . $ 4,096.80 $4,000 City of Waterbury 31/2 per cent, January, 1925, at 102.35. 4,094.00 $2,000 City of Waterbury 31/2 per cent, January, 1924, at 102.28 2,045.60 Interest, 2.8 per cent. 66.1I
$10,302.51
Balance in savings bank. 473.07
The fund is now nearly $40,000, and the income from numerous sources is meeting all demands.
The first pension to be awarded from the fund was given to the widow of Policeman Paul Mendelssohn, who, on March 8, 1903, was shot to death while in the performance of his duty.
In 1896, under the revised charter, the department came under the super- vision of a Board of Public Safety, the first members of which were Mayor Edward G. Kilduff, Ellis Phelan, Wm. C. Moore, Eugene J. Sullivan, George A. Driggs, J. Merritt Gallond.
In 1901, the Gamewell police signal system, with twenty-two boxes, was installed, and this has since been greatly extended.
On April 22, 1902, a detective bureau was formed, with Lieut. Thomas Dodds in command.
In January, 1904, when Mayor John P. Elton took the presidency of the Board of Public Safety, its members were: Geo. M. Beach, George A. Driggs, M. J. Daly, Charles Y. Kent and Louis N. Van Keuren, and one of its first acts was the installation of the Bertillon system of identification. The first patrol wagon was put into service March 1, 1905. The first auto patrol wagon was bought in 1910.
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
On October 28, 1905, Chief George M. Egan, who had been at the head of the department since 1884, retired, and the present superintendent, George M. Beach, was chosen to fill the vacancy. He had been a member of the Board of Public Safety.
The police department lost some of its valuable records by the incendiary fire of 1912, when the old City Hall was burned. Speedy repairs enabled the police to re-occupy their old quarters within a month after the fire.
The three platoon system was put into effect on May 5, 1913.
On January 13, 1916, the quarters in the new City Hall were occupied. A description of these appears in the article on the new City Hall.
The Board of Commissioners of Public Safety at present (1917) is as fol- lows: Mayor Martin Scully, chairman ; John C. Downey, Alfred J. Wolff, John O'Brien, James Crompton, Arthur B. Burton.
WATERBURY'S CONSTABULARY FORCE
Early in 1915, several of the large manufacturing companies of Waterbury co-operated with the city in the establishment of a special police or constabulary force.
The Scovill Mfg. Co., with its extensive plant and equipment and large factory additions under construction, faced the need of special protection for its plant and employees. The problem was solved by the establishment, with consent and co-operation of the city officials, of a uniformed constabulary, paid by the Scovill Mfg. Co., but under the direct supervision of George M. Beach, super- intendent of the Waterbury Department of Police. This took place on May 21, 1915.
Up to that time the "constabulary" consisted of ten men only, all members of the city supernumerary department, and was divided into two shifts, a day and night detail, each of twelve hours' duration. From that time on the con- stabulary gradually was increased in number until it reached its present size of forty-seven members. The shortage of regular policemen to patrol the city streets, however, resulted in the detailing of many supernumeraries to regular police beats, with the result that the supply of supernumeraries for appointment to the Scovill constabulary was finally exhausted. To offset this, the Board of Public Safety took advantage of an ordinance giving the Board of Aldermen the power to appoint special constables, by referring to them lists of names of ap- plicants for appointment as supernumeraries, with the recommendation that they be appointed special constables.
This procedure has since been followed out, and at present the constabulary consists of about fifty per cent supernumeraries and fifty per cent special con- stables. In several instances of late, where vacancies have occurred in the regular police force, the appointees were supernumeraries who had been members of the constabulary and whose work in that capacity had earned their appointment as "regulars." The supernumerary's place was generally filled by the promotion of a deserving special constable.
The constabulary is a department of police in itself, works on three eight-hour shifts daily, a roundsman being in charge of each shift. The members wear uniforms and are equipped like members of the regular force. The roundsmen wear chevrons denoting their rank.
Aside from the daily compensation which they receive, members of the con- stabulary are well taken care of by their employers, the latter assuming all expense in fitting out the men with uniforms and equipment. In addition to this, the
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
company has had rest stations erected, which are located on the various beats surrounding the huge plant. To these the members are privileged to retire for their lunch and for short rests.
In doing police duty, the men patrol only those thoroughfares adjoining the property of the company, and are not required to do duty inside of the plant, unless in cases of emergency. The company's patrol watchmen serve within the gates and do not go outside except in cases of emergency.
The company has had erected five police signal boxes which are connected with the Gamewell system at police headquarters, and from which the men send in their regular "rings." A telephone and call for the patrol have also been installed.
The regular department now consists of the following officers and men : Superintendent, one police captain, one detective captain, two police lieutenants, one detective lieutenant, four police sergeants, three detective sergeants, three auto-patrol drivers, one court officer, two motorcycle policemen, one secre- tary. one police matron, and fifty-eight patrolmen. Three doormen also do duty at headquarters, but they are members of the supernumerary police force.
A similar auxiliary constabulary system has been established at the Chase plant, where fifteen special policemen are employed, all patrolling the beats about the plants, uniformed, and in command of the superintendent of police.
At the American Brass Works the constabulary, paid by the company, but working in conjunction with the police, numbers sixteen men.
At several other plants the constabulary consists of from one to three men.
The detective department, in charge of Capt. Thomas M. Dodds, has made a record for itself in the unearthing of crime. The most notable case was the capture of the four men concerned in the murder, March, 1905, of the aged recluse, Thomas Lockwood, who lived on the Park Road. The report that he was a miser and had a trunkful of gold in the place had aroused the cupidity of the men. Captain Dodds followed a number of clues, finally landing three of his men in Brooklyn, N. Y. Three of them were given life sentences, and one, who had helped to plan the murder, was given a five-year term.
The Carpenilla triple murder. September 2, 1907, was followed by some of the quickest and best detective work ever done in the state. The murderer had escaped and was caught on a train at Stamford on telegraphic orders which had covered every possible avenue of escape from the_city.
On September 20, 1909, occurred the murder at Union City of Stanislaus Kulivinskis. In this case, one of the most harrowing on record, the detective department worked up the evidence to the minutest detail, showing how the woman in the case, Sophie Kritchman, had first shot the man, then allowed him to lie dying in the woods for twenty-four hours. She then went back and cut the man's throat with a razor. When she found later that he was still alive, she again shot him five times and left him dead, as she thought. He was still breath- ing when discovered and died in a Waterbury hospital. The case first ended in a mistrial. Later, on a change of venue, she was convicted, together with her lover, Joe Mitchell ; although the latter had no part in the actual murder he was given a life sentence and the woman was sent up for from twelve to fourteen years.
THE TROLLEY STRIKE OF 1903
On Sunday morning, January 11, 1903, approximately one hundred and fifty men in the employ of the Connecticut Railway & Lighting Company, then operating the trolley system, refused to go to work. The immediate grievance Vol. I-2
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
which precipitated the strike was the discharge of Wm. Barrett, an employee, who was president of the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees, Local No. 193, and three others.
On Saturday night, January 10th, the men met and formulated demands aside from that asking for the reinstatement of the discharged employees. They asked for recognition of the union, a ten-hour day at 221/2 cents per hour for all regular and extra work, and a company order that all employees join the union within thirty days after employment.
Through its general manager, J. E. Sewell, the company rejected the demands and informed the men that their places would be declared vacant if they failed to report for duty within twenty-four hours.
On Monday, January 12th, no cars were regularly operated. On Wednesday, January 14th, the attempt to operate two cars was met with obstructive tactics by the strikers and their sympathizers.
On Thursday, a few cars ran on the Waterville line and later several were operated on the Oakville branch. At Waterville one of the cars was badly damaged by sympathizers, who had gathered outside one of the factories at the noon hour.
On Friday, one hundred strike breakers were housed at the barns and the Oakville, Waterville, North Main and Bank Street lines were operated, but not on any regular schedule.
On Saturday night crowds gathered near the barns and a riot was started, but no serious damage was done.
In the meantime the efforts of the business men and of Mayor Kilduff and other city officials to effect a settlement failed completely, neither side expressing a willingness to make concessions.
The strikers now began a systematic boycott of individuals and business firms who showed evidences of friendliness to the company, and a period of terror- ism followed, in which the efforts of the company to run cars on schedule or at night only partially succeeded. The patronage was lacking, even on the lines which were operated with least opposition.
The riots increased in intensity and finally on Saturday night, January 3Ist, approximately four thousand people gathered along the principal downtown thoroughfares, the mob getting beyond the control of the police. Cars were stoned, the mayor was hooted, and in one attack a dozen were injured. One arrest was made by Dr. A. A. Crane, who witnessed an assault and captured the boy assailant.
The officials called on the governor for aid, and the following day about eight hundred men from the First and Second Regiment, C. N. G., arrived on the scene. They remained until February 10th.
A period of comparative quiet followed, broken, however, for several suc- cessive Saturday nights by small rioting and wrecking of cars.
Thus far in the strike many of the business houses sympathized with the strikers, but deprecated the continuous extension of the boycott.
On Sunday night, March 8th, Officer Paul Mendelssohn, riding for the protec- tion of passengers on a North Main Street car, was killed by four masked men who had been lying in wait for their victim at Forest Park.
The public attitude changed immediately from neutrality or sympathy to a determination to put a stop to outlawry. A Citizens' Alliance was formed and $6,000.00 reward was offered for the capture of the murderers. The movement was not confined to this action, however, but became a determined anti-boycott
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crusade. In a few days it numbered 1,600 members and boycott cards which had been posted throughout the city were torn down.
It was plain that the strike was practically ended and that violence had been responsible for the defeat of the labor cause. It was not, however, until August ITth, that an official announcement declared it off. At that time, by agreement, most of the old men were taken back, all, in fact, except the leaders of the strike.
On Monday, March 30th, eighteen were arrested by the police, of whom eight were held for complicity in the Faber's switch affair of February 26th, which was an assault on George Morrisetta and Wm. P. Merne. Six were convicted of conspiracy and sentenced by Judge Wheeler to ten months in jail. These sen- tences were never carried out, as the boys confessed and testified in the trial of Willis Vandemark, for perjury, the following June. He was convicted and sen- tenced to from two to three years in the penitentiary.
No one was ever arrested or convicted for the murder of Officer Mendelssohn.
REPORT OF CHIEF OF POLICE EGAN
The following is the report of the chief of police on the strike :
"On Sunday morning, January IT, 1903, Waterbury's first trolley strike was inaugurated, and from that time until the following Thursday no attempt was made to run cars on any of the lines in the city. During that interval considerable excitement was caused by the arrival of non-union trolleymen, and the introduc- tion by the strikers of vehicles of all kinds and descriptions for the conveyance of passengers.
"On Thursday, January 15th, the Waterville and Oakville lines were opened, the cars running from about 10 A. M. to 5 P. M., and upon the following day the Bank and North Main Street line was opened from the depot to Hill Street.
"On Monday. January 19th, the South Main Street line was opened from Exchange Place to Mill Street, and upon January 22d the East Main Street line was opened to Wolcott Street. Thus far no attempt had been made to operate the cars later than 5:30 P. M., but on January 26th they were kept running during the evening on the Waterville line, and on the following evening they were run- ning to Oakville. On January 28th they continued to run during the evening on the Bank and North Main Street line, and on the 30th they were running to Naugatuck.
"At that time the cars were running on schedule time on all the lines except Bank Street, from the depot to Porter Street, and East Main Street from Wolcott to Silver streets, and it was apparent that the trolley company could secure all the men it needed to run its cars, notwithstanding the abuse they were subject to.
"On Saturday, January 31st, the cars were running on all lines the same as on the preceding day and there was no indication of unusual trouble until about 9 P. M. Up to that time Exchange Place was filled with the usual Saturday night crowd, but, contrary to the usual custom, the crowd seemed to increase as it grew later, rather than diminish. About 9:30 I ordered the patrolmen from the outlying beats to come to Exchange Place, and requested the manager of the trolley company to withdraw the cars.
"About 10 P. M. the cars arriving in Exchange Place had many broken windows, which sight seemed to add greatly to the joy of the crowd there as- sembled. I again requested Mr. Sewell to withdraw the cars and was informed that such orders had been issued.
"About 10:30 the crowd in Exchange Place was reinforced by those who had attended the theaters, and from that time until about I A. M., when the last car
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was put in the barn, the police were unable to protect the cars or the men running them, from the mob.
"Up to that night this department had received no outside assistance, not even from the local civil officers, nor had any been requested by the police authorities.
"After the riot, when it was evident to all that the police were not adequate to preserve the peace, it was deemed advisable to call upon the county sheriff for assistance, and upon the following evening about 10 o'clock, in response to that call, the entire First Regiment, four companies of the Second Regiment, and two machine guns arrived in the city, and in addition to the out-of-town troops the two local companies were called into service.
"On the day following the arrival of the troops deputy sheriffs commenced to arrive, so that on the Wednesday following fifty or more were in the city. a large number of whom were placed on duty on the cars.
"On Thursday, February 5th, four days after their arrival the First Regiment was withdrawn, and upon the following day the out-of-town companies of the Second Regiment were relieved.
"On February 10th, all except about a dozen of the sheriffs were relieved, thus leaving the situation again practically in the hands of the local authorities.
"About the middle of February the situation was again greatly aggravated because of the strike of the linemen, lamp trimmers and inspectors of the lighting system of the city, which system was also owned by the trolley company. Wires were cut, lamps broken, the non-union linemen assaulted and abused, mostly in the outskirts of the city, and the few men still here under the sheriff, as well as the members of this department who could be spared from the trolley lines, were kept very busy in their endeavor to protect the city from darkness.
"Thus far during the strike it was not deemed advisable to place policemen on duty on the cars for the purpose of protecting them or their crews, but after the assault on the conductor and motorman on the Waterville line on the evening of February 26th, one policeman was placed on each car during the evening, and it was not until after March 8th, when Officer Mendelssohn was killed, that two men were placed on each car.
"The strike caused an expense for state troops of $15,000.00; for sheriffs, $7,000.00, and for extra police, $5,000.00, a total of $27,000.00, and had the law been the same then as at the present time, the city would have had to pay the entire amount.
"It is not my purpose to enter into the full details of the trolley strike and the disorder arising therefrom, with which you are familiar, nor to offer excuses for the errors of judgment, if any there were, of those in authority, myself included. I simply desire to call your attention to certain features of the case, which, in my judgment, should the future develop like problems, can be more readily solved, and at much less expense.
"In looking over the ground after the excitement is passed, it seems to me that it would have been wise to have placed enough extra policemen on duty when the strike was declared, not only to protect the cars and the men running them, but also to maintain good order in the streets. Had there been fifty extra police- men called into service when the strike was declared, and at least two of them placed upon each car when they commenced to run, the rioting of January 3Ist would have been unheard of, the so-called Waterville assault case, costing in court fees not less than $3,000.00, would not have occurred, and Officer Men- delssohn would not have been murdered. Had that course been adopted I firmly believe that the disturbance would have ceased much sooner than it did, that the presence of the county sheriff and State troops would have been unnecessary, and
FIRE CHIEF HEITMAN
SAMUEL C. SNAGG Former Chief Engineer, Waterbury Fire Department
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the expense to the city for extra police would not have greatly exceeded the amount actually expended for that purpose."
SUPERINTENDENT GEORGE M. BEACHI
Superintendent of Police George M. Beach was appointed head of the Waterbury Police Department while serving as a member of the Board of Public Safety on May 9, 1905, but it was not until October 28, 1905, that he actually took charge, replacing George M. Egan, who went on the retired list with half pay for life. Before assuming charge of the department, Superintendent Beach was employed by the Waterbury Clock Company.
Since taking office, Superintendent Beach has often displayed the executive ability that pronounces his qualifications for the place, and has made a number of changes in police methods both as to office systems and the detailing of men, which have resulted in improved police service. He is a strict disciplinarian and has always required his men rigidly to adhere to departmental rules and orders.
Superintendent Beach is a member of the executive committee of the Inter- national Association of Chiefs of Police, and it is due in part to this association that he has been able to establish his department on its present excellent basis, and keep in touch with police departments throughout the country.
SKETCH OF FORMER CHIEF GEORGE M. EGAN
Former Chief George M. Egan has an enviable record as head of the police department of Waterbury for twenty-one years, and a member of the department for twenty-nine years. Chief Egan was made a patrolman on April 8, 1876, and promoted to the position of Chief on February 17, 1884. He retired October 28, 1905.
During his term of office, the detective force was established, the Gamewell police signal system was installed August 17, 1901, and the Bertillon system of identification was introduced.
HISTORY OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, 1893-1917
In 1893, the Waterbury Fire Department consisted of seven companies : Phoenix No. 1, Citizens No. 2, Monitor No. 3, Protector No. 4, Rose Hill No. 5, Brass City No. 6, and Mutual Hook and Ladder No. I. Samuel C. Snagg was then chief engineer, and had under him 267 officers and men, mostly volunteers. The permanent force consisted of the chief, four drivers, one tillerman, two hosemen, and one ladderman,-a total of eight men. The remainder were volun- teers. The property of the department was valued at $102,830. A fire alarm telegraph had been installed with forty-six alarm boxes, at a cost of $9,800. It was an up-to-date equipment for that period. In 1894, the volunteers had increased to 290. In 1895, the paid force had increased to twelve, the volunteers remaining about the same.
In 1897, the Burton Street building was put into service and housed Engine Company No. I and Hook and Ladder No. 2. The permanent force now con- sisted of eighteen men, the call force of nine men and the volunteers numbered 243, all divided into nine companies. In that year also the first combination chemical and hose wagon was put into service with Phoenix Company No. I.
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