BRAVE POLICEMEN
WILL BE HONORED.
PROMOTION FOR PATRICK
AND MICHAEL MULLANE.
At Least That's What the Commis-
sioners Were Believed to Convey
When They Spoke of Re-
ward Yesterday.
Sergeant Patrick Clark and Patrolman Michael Mullane, if nature favors them and they recover from their wounds received in the battle with fanatics Tuesday afternoon, are to be rewarded. That is the intention of the present police board.
Only Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., and Andrew E. Gallagher were present yesterday at the meeting. Commissioner Elliot H. Jones was at the funeral of Joseph Chick. The board had hardly convened when Mayor Crittenden announced that he wanted to say a few words regarding the bravery displayed by the police the previous day, some of which he and Commissioner Gallagher witnessed.
"This board wants here and now to command the bravery displayed by its officers in the fight with religious fanatics yesterday," began the mayor. "The action of Sergeant Patrick Clark in going into the fight empty handed and the game fight put up by Patrolman Michael Mullane, both of whom were wounded, is to be especially commended. It is the intention of the board to reward these men in a befitting manner. The board, of course, deeply deplores the accidental shooting of the girl, Lulu Pratt, but under the circumstances it was unavoidable."
The "befitting manner" spoken of can mean nothing but promotion. Patrick Clark went on the department September 12, 1888. On May 6, 1901, he was made acting sergeant and September 18 of the same year he was made a regular sergeant. Since his appointment he has served faithfully, not a black mark being made against him.
During the life of the present board many promotions have been made, some of them men who had served but a few years on the department. Every time any promotions have been made, it was always believed that long service men would get prizes. "Pat" Clark's name was always spoken of in rumor as the one man who would certainly be rewarded. But he got nothing, the promotions going to men who evidently had more influence. The sergeant never turned a hand in his own favor and refused always to let his friends annoy the commissioners.
Now that promotion is in sight for the brave officer who, unarmed, defended his brother officers, his friends all say that nothing short of a captaincy will do for him. His friends will not stand back any more, even at his request.
Patrolman Michael Mullane went on the force November 16, 1905, as a probation officer, and on December 31, a year later, was made a regular patrolman. That might seem a short time upon which to base promotion, but there are men on the force who have not done one-tenth the service that Mullane did who wear sergeant's stripes. "Mullane has proved that he will stand under fire," everybody is saying, "and if he is not made a sergeant it will be nothing short of unjust."
The board also took up the matter of allowing the city's streets to be used promiscuously by itinerant fanatics. An order was issued requiring the chief of police to personally handle this class of fakirs, and use his judgment regarding the issuance of a permit. Hereafter all new comers who attempt to use the streets to expound their peculiar religious teachings will be immediately arrested.
