RIOT GUNS FOR
POLICE STATIONS.
BATTLE WITH FANATICS EXPOSED
DEPARTMENT WEAKNESS.
To Be Available When Needed, and
Not Locked Up, as Were the
Rifles During the Re-
cent Riot.
The board of police commissioners yesterday decided that it had been taught a lesson by the riot of December 8 and that it wound never again be caught unprepared. When riot guns were called for on that day, not knowing the magnitude of the trouble or how many men might be encountered at the river, a key to the gun case first had to be sought. Then there was no ammunition for the old Springfield rifles in store there, and there was another twenty minutes' delay until loads were secured from a vault in the commissioners' office. If the trouble had been more serious the town could have been sacked before police were properly armed.
Yesterday the board examined the latest make of riot gun, a weapon that shoots six loads, nine buckshot to each cartridge. It is worked the same as a pump gun, and one alone will do fearful damage, if handled properly.
It is the intention of the board to purchase a sufficient number of these guns and place them in glass cases in stations Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. Those stations are situated at headquarters (Fourth and Main), 1316 St. Louis avenue, 906 Southwest boulevard, 1430 Walnut street and Twentieth street and Flora avenue, respectively. They are regarded as the most likely districts in which riots might break out.
The glass cases containing the riot guns are to be built near the floor so that, in an emergency, they may be broken and weapons, loaded for just such an occasion, may be found ready for action.
The question of a reserve force of men to be kept on hand at headquarters all the time, was also taken up. It was decided, as a nucleus, to assign two men on duty there from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m. who, with the "shortstop" man, would make three who could get into action on a moment's notice. Had that number of men been sent out to deal with James Sharp and his band of fanatics, the board believes that the result would have been different.
"We have been taught a terrible lesson," said the mayor, "and the fault should rest on our shoulders if such a thing should ever occur again and find us unprepared. Henceforth we intend to be ready for any situation that may arise."
