This article was submitted by Edward J. "Ed" Steenberg, Saint Paul Police Historical Society
THE POLICE OF ST. PAUL: 1896
St. Paul Daily Globe
Sunday Morning, February 16, 1896, Page 19, Image 19
Please note that this 1896 newspaper article titled "The Police of St. Paul" was found in the National Archives by Jeffrey G. "Jeff" Neuberger, Saint Paul Historical Society, while conducting research on a different item. Because the document could not be downloaded in a format that would allow for easy reading, it was retyped in its entirety by Edward J. "Ed" Steenberg. Of special interest are the lists of officers and assignments, including badge numbers, and the fact that the City of Saint Paul had twenty-eight lines of railway and 400 trains arriving and departing on a daily basis.
Although we were unable to determine the columnist's name, the initials were given as "C.J.W." At the time of this publication, The Saint Paul Daily Globe was owned by James J. Hill, and the regular "Police Reporter" was A. W. Vance.
As reported in the Sunday Morning, May 10, 1896, issue of same newspaper, on Page 3, Image 4: "The police reporter must keep in constant communication with the central station and with all the sub-stations. He must also cover the cases tried in the municipal court, and his work will be all the more thoroughly performed if he takes the trouble to become personally acquainted with not only the heads of the department, but with the men who walk the beats. Accidents and fires must be reported by the police reporter, and he keeps in touch with the coroner, the city physician and the chief of the fire department as closely as he does the police officers. The personal history of crooks, a knowledge of their haunts and their methods is very valuable to the painstaking police reporter. For days at a time this run may not furnish much news of sensational character; but no one can tell what moment there will arise something to test the abilities of the reporter in most severe fashion. He is on duty from 8 o'clock in the afternoon until 8 in the morning, and at any time outside of these hours he is liable to be called out for duty."
The aforementioned source document(s) can be found at the Chronicling America: Historic American Newspaper database from the Library of Congress (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/), or by typing "St. Paul Daily Globe" in your search engine and using the Chronicling America website tools to reach the appropriate date and page. –Steenberg
St. Paul has an area of 55 square miles, with over 500 miles of graded streets; it has personal property and building and other improvements to the value of $150,000,000; its annual jobbing and manufacturing trade mounts up to $180,000,000; over its twenty-eight lines of railway 400 trains arrive and depart daily, carrying hundreds of tons of freight and thousands of passengers; it has twenty banks, with an aggregate capital of $8,000,000; a hundred public buildings and a population of 150,000; and to guard all this it has a police department of 180 men, costing the city $175,000 a year. Who are these men who watch while others sleep? What is their efficiency? What do they do and how do they do it? These are questions of interest and moment not to be answered by passing comment or superficial investigation, scarcely so, even after due inquiry, within the limits of a newspaper writing; but the heads and indices may be given to serve as hints of a grand total, as exponents of an unevolved power, and these follow.
The organization of the St. Paul police department consists of one chief of police, 4 captains, 7 lieutenants, 10 sergeants, 1 chief of detectives, 4 detectives, 1 clerk to chief of police, 1 superintendent of the police patrol telegraph, 1 license inspector, 1 driver of workhouse van, 1 janitor, 1 matron and 148 patrolmen. Of these, a lieutenant, a sergeant and eight patrolmen are mounted. Serving on special detail are 31 patrolman, assigned as follows: Detectives, 6; station jailers, 9; patrol wagon drivers, 8; patrol wagon conductors, 2; municipal court bailiffs, 8; workhouse van driver, 1; guard, 1; mayor's office, 1; union depot, 1. The remaining patrolmen, numbering 111, are walkers of beats.
For the better organization of the force the city has been divided into five police districts, one central and four sub-stations, and the members of the force are distributed according to need among them. From these several stations police affairs are regulated and administered for the respective districts. They are located, officered and manned as follows (number indicting patrolman's star):
Central station, Third street, between Washington and Market streets; Chief of police, John Clark; captain, Phil W. Schweitzer; lieutenants, Dennnis Murphy, Henry Bahe, Edward Sexton; sergeants, Henry J. Pothen, Jeremiah Sullivan, J.T. Ross; chief of detectives, John J. O'Connor; detectives, Thomas Kenaley, M.H. Daly, Thomas Horan, Daniel L. Ahern; chief's clerk, A.F. Morton; superintendent police patrol telegraph, Joseph McCauley; matron, Mrs. B. Cummings; janitor, John M. Garretty; patrolmen, (1) James Nugent (mayor's office), (2) D.F. Hennessey, (4) J.J. Daly (detailed detective), (5) Frank Horn, (6) Philip gibbons (conductor patrol wagon), (7) August Baer, (8) John P. Walsh, (12) w. J. McGuiggan (detailed detective), (13) Michael Ashe, (14) Bernard Ryan, (17) Andrew Call (detailed union depot), (18) James Carey, (20) Benjamin Morse, (21) William Twohy, (25) Daniel McCart, (27) P.E. Murnane, (29) Patrick R. Smith, (30) John Lawton, (31) E.L. Bumgardner, (36) P.E. Newcome, (38) John Gaul, (46) John Howley, (48) Charles E. Banker, (49) George W. Smith, (51) Louis Marien (conductor patrol wagon), (53) J.F. McCormick, (54) P.J. Lynch,, (55) John Talty, (58) Joseph Davis, (59) Nick Anderberg, (60) John W. Cowan, (61) Richard Cronin, (62) Robert T. Fillingim, (65) William H. O'Brien, (68) John Casserly, (69) Michael Rafter, (70) A.P. Guerin, (74) John Casey, (76) Henry H. Gruber, (77) Thomas Galvin, (79) Dennis McCarthy, (80) Henry Meydering (detailed detective), (84) William Banker, (85) John M. Rafter, (87) William B. Covney, (90) Peter Carroll, (92) Edward Christian, (94) John Goven, (96) Olaf Larson, (97) W.H. Perro, (98) W.H. Grady, (99) William O'Neill, (100) Frank Fraser (driver patrol wagon), (103) George Kaiser, (109) Mathias J. Tschida, (116) James Brogan, (117) A.J. Zacher, (123) J.J. Hennessey, (138) Thomas Haggerty (driver patrol wagon), (141) J.J. Murphy, (144) Edward McEllistrom, (145) Chrles T. Jessrang (license inspector), (143) John Hammes (jailer), (150) Mat Bantz (jailer); (146) John C. McCarthy (bailiff), (147) Thomass McMahon (bailiff), (148) J.H. Loomis (bailiff); (149) Thomas Mitchell (driver workhouse van). Total force, 87.
Rondo street sub-station, corner Western avenue: Captain. A.M. Lowell; lieutenant, John Pendy; sergeants, Fred G. Tegeier and A.J. rose; Patrolmen, (9) James Ryan, (10) Stephen Fitzgerald, (11) Albert Stotz, (26) Mat Young, (32) Stephen Griemann, (33) John E. Newell, (34) Edward M. Allen, (37) Jerome Martineau, (39) Andrew Kukla, (47) E.L. Schilling, (56) Thomas Cummings, (66) Thomas Brennan, (71) Michael F. Sweeney (detailed detective) (82) James H. Burrell, (83) Michael Kirchmaier, (91) Isaac Hynes, (101) Timothy Enright, (102) John Enright (detailed detective), (106) Patrick McHale, (107) Charles Beattie, (110) Charles Mayer, (111) Michael Reilly, (112) J. Schoffhausen, (120) Edwrd O'Brien, (122) Valentine Kruszwisky, (127) J.J. Kennedy (jailer), (129) James Maguire (jailer), (134) John Ryan (driver patrol wagon), (135) John Flannigan (driver patrol wagon). Total force, 33.
Margaret street sub-station, corner Hope street: Captain, William Hanft; lieutenant, Philip Pottgieser; sergeants, Martin Flanagan and Ernest Boerner; patrolmen, (3) John Cook, (15) Christ Porter, (16) Charles Niemczyk, (22) Oscar Skoog, (28) John Lynch, (35) Michael Urbanski, (40) Charles Vontrat, (41) Patrick Muleare, (43) Anton Ostrum (mounted), (45) Martin W. Burke, (50) Michael Tschida, (52) J.J. Fitzgerald, (57) Axel Olberg, (78) James O'Brien (jailer), (81) Charles A. Gates, (86) Hans Williams (mounted), (89) William Ryan, (93) Hans Hansen, (104) Frank Hoefer, (119) Michael Scannell, (125) James E. Hurley, (126) William Hart (jailer), (133) T.C. Johnson (driver patrol wagon), (137) Hans Aamold, (140) Michael Gebhardt (driver patrol wagon). Total force, 31.
Ducas street sub-station, corner South Robert and Delos streets: Captain, Charles Rouleau; lieutenant, Thomas Walsh; sergeants, Charles Hanft and P.L. Getchell; patrolmen, (19) John T. Guiney, (44) W. Rasmussen, (64) Moses Zimmerman, (67) J.J. Griffin, (72) J.W. Lauderdale, (88) Fred A. Ryder, (95) G.W. Guion (jailer), (105) George Sudeith, (113) John McGinley, (114) Martin Imhoff, (121) F.M. Martin, (128) John Miner (jailer), (136) John McGarth (driver patrol wagon), (139) A. Westernhagen (driver patrol wagon), (142) Gust A. Malmquist. Total force, 19.
Prior avenue sub-station, between Feronia and University avenues: Lieutenant, William Budy; sergeant, W.J. Klein; patrolmen, (23) J.W. Finn, (42) Edmund Braak, (63) Theodore Gerving, (108) Philip Arnold, (115) Patrick Powers, (118) Thomas H. Towey, all mounted; (24) Edward Delaney, (131) D.E. Lindley, unmounted; (130) John Peters, jailer. Total force, 11.
These several forces cover territory respectively as follows: Central [station], Third, Fourth, Fifth and Ninth wards, including business district; Rondo street [sub-station], Seventh and Eighth wards, including St. Anthony hill; Margaret street [sub-station], First and Second wards, including Dayton's bluff; Ducas street [sub-station], Sixth ward, including the West side; Prior avenue [sub-station], Tenth and Eleventh wards, including Merriam Park, Hamline and Minnesota Transfer.
