Early History of the First Years of the Pelham Manor Police Department

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I have written before about the early days of the Pelham Manor Police Department as well as a few of the police officers who served the Village and its citizens.  See, e.g.:  

Thu., Jan. 07, 2010:  Pelham Manor Police Establish Speed Traps on Shore Road in 1910 to Catch Those Traveling Faster than Fifteen Miles Per Hour.

Wed., May 04, 2005:  Philip Gargan, Chief of Police of Pelham Manor, New York.

Today's Historic Pelham Blog posting transcribes an article published in 1910 and provides the image that appeared with the article.  The article recounts the early years of the Pelham Manor Police Department and provides statistics for the first few years of the formal operation of the Department.

Pelham Manor Police Department in 1910.  Caption Reads:

"R.H. Marks, Chief of Police (sitting)

Left to Right -- John J. Flanagan, George Booth, Joseph Colgan,

John McGuire, A.D. Savage, Phil. Gargan, James Butler."

Source:  Pelham Manor Police Dept., The Pelham Sun 

[Pelham, NY], May 21, 1910, Vol. I, No. 7, cols. 4-6.

"Pelham Manor Police Dept.
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A UNIFORMED FORCE WITH A RECORD TO BE PROUD OF -- MODERN POLICE TELEPHONE STATIONS, RIGID RULES AND DISCIPLINE PROMINENT FEATURES OF CHIEF MARKS' LITTLE ARMY OF PEACE OFFICERS
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Pelham Manor is one of the most progressive villages to be found anywhere.  Its citizens are justly proud of the Police Department, which for a small place is out of the ordinary in all details.  It is, in face, modeled after the most modern system in vogue in the largest cities, and in some respects contains improvements upon these in several important details.

The department was organized in August, 1905, when then President Frederick H. Allen appointed R.H. Marks chief of the force, consisting of three men.  At this time the so-called clock system was in use, but this was abolished and a police telephone system installed the following year during President Pond's term of office.  There are now all told fifteen telephone stations from which the officers report at stated intervals.

A regular headquarters was established in the old Fire Headquarters on a private street opposite Wetherbee Black's residence, and two more patrolmen were appointed in 1906.  

In 1907 Chief Marks and his men took possession of the comfortable headquarters in the new village hall.  Up-to-date fixings and accommodations for prisoners, as well as for members of the police force are features of this new home.  The main reason for organizing a compact police force was to be found in the fact that many burglaries had been committed among the well-to-do residents, and while of course cracksmen and thieves occasionally do appear at Pelham Manor, their number has been greatly decreased, and in most cases all offenders are caught by the ever-vigilant policemen.

The force is composed of the following men:  R.H. Marks, Chief of Police (appointed August, 1905); Patrolmen Joseph Colgan (appointed December, 1892), A.D. Savage (appointed October, 1906), Philip Gargan (appointed October, 1907), James A. Butler (appointed Octomber, 1907), and John J. Flanagan (appointed December, 1908).

The town policemen attached to the Pelham Manor headquarters are George Booth, who was made a policemen in December, 1909, and John McGuire, appointed April, 1910.

The number of arrests made since the organization of the department totals 982.  The offenses were varied, such as violations of the village ordinances, misdemeanors, and felonies.

As a result of these arrests, 143 prisoners were sent to the Kings County Penitentiary, their combined time of service being 372 months; 39 persons were sent to the County Jail at White Plains to serve a total of 880 days; one woman was sent to the Bedford Reformatory for a term of 3 years; two excise law violators were fined $200 each in the County Court; 6 prisoners were sent to Sing Sing State Prison for terms totaling 64 years.  Besides, several prisoners were turned over to other police departments.

The amount of fines imposed by the several Justices of the Peace and turned over to the Village Treasurer run into comparatively large figures:

1906. . . . . $251.60
1907. . . . .2,145.60
1908. . . . .1,638.27
1909. . . . . . 532.10

Total. . . . $4,567.57

The fees of the trial justices were deducted from these amounts, showing that the village of Pelham Manor took in pretty nearly $5,000 in fines during four years time.  The large amounts for 1907 and 1908 were derived mostly from heavy automobile speed fines, which were inflicted with a view of stopping the nuisance, and it has now been reduced to a minimum.

Chief Marks has charge of the Bureau of Licenses.  During the term stated above the sum of $227 was collected in fees for hackmen's licenses.

Of more important crimes, with which the police have had to deal, may be mentioned the case of Henry Thomas, who committed a daring burglary and was finally arrested ten days later in New York by Chief Marks and Officer Colgan.  Upon conviction in the County Court he was sentenced to serve four years in Sing Sing prison.

The case of Pual Miller, the 'mid-night burglar,' who was arrested for burglary in 1907, by Officers Savage, Lyons, Callahan and Chief Marks, ended in his being sent to serve 4 years and 9 months in State's prison.

Four Italians arrested in 1907 for grand larceny were also sentenced to terms in Sing Sing.

Upon a charge of grand larceny a woman named Tilly Fisher was sent to Bedford Reformatory for a three-year term.  

The burglary case, in which officer Savage was shot, was one of the most important the Manor police had to deal with.

One of the prisoners, William Snow, alias William Bender, was sent to Sing Sing for a term of 21 years and 6 months again, a charge of burglary and assault.  His pal, Wilson, got 14 years and 6 months on similar charges, and the third of the trio, Joseph White, alias Frank Costello, who was caught in New York by Chief Marks and Officer Butler, was also sentenced to State's prison for a term of 14 years and 6 months.

It will thus be seen that the usefulness of the department has been demonstrated and the residents of the Manor feel that their lives and property is [sic] well guarded by an efficient, ambitious, and wide-awake force."

Source:  Pelham Manor Police Dept., The Pelham Sun [Pelham, NY], May 21, 1910, Vol. I, No. 7, cols. 4-6.

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An Odd Incident in Pelham Manor in 1902

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On September 19, 1902, The Sun published an article about an odd incident in Pelham Manor that involved a number of prominent Pelham citizens. A young man who tried to catch a train departing from the Pelham Manor Station on the branch line fell from the rear car and was dragged. The incident was witnessed by a Pelham Manor police officer and Harry E. Day, a prominent artist. When the two men went to the assistance of the young man, what happened next could not have been anticipated by either. An article detailing the incident is transcribed below.

"THIS BROKER ARRESTED A COP

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W. A. STRACHAN OF S. MUNN, SON & CO. HOLDS UP A PATROLMAN.

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The Policeman, Who Is Also a Pinkerton Man, Had Tried With an Artist to Aid Strachan, Who Called Them Robbers and Cowed Them at a Pistol's Point.

PELHAM MANOR, Sept. 18. -- W. A. Strachan, a young cotton broker of New York, was arrested to-day by Chief of Police Marks of Pelham Manor and held in $200 bail for trial as the result of some fun which he had on Sunday night at the expense ov the Pelham Manor police.

The broker, who is a Southerner, and comes of a prominent family, held up Patrolman Joseph Colgan, a Pinkerton man employed in the Manor, and Harry E. Day, an artist, and marched them a mile and a half at the point of a revolver. Mr. Day is a prominent citizen of Pelham Manor. His father is the Rev. John H. Day, formerly editor of the Evangelist.

Mr. Strachan is a member of the New York Athletic Club. On Sunday, in company with many others, he attired himself as an Indian, and attended the annual handshake of the Indians of the club and the flubdubs of the Larchmont Yacht Club, which took place at Huckleberry island on the Sound.

After the jamboree was over the broker returned to the Pelham Manor station to take the 9 o'clock train for New York. The train was pulling out of the station when he reached there, and in his anxiety to get aboard he ran after it and grabbed the handrail of the rear car. The train was moving too fast for him and he was dragged along and then thrown upon the track.

Policeman Colgan and Mr. Day, who saw him fall, ran to his assistance, supposing that he was killed. They were surprised upon reaching the prostrate man to have him spring up and level a big revolver at them. The broker declared to the officer and the artist that they were robbers, and he told them to throw up their hands or he would kill them. The two men, uncertain as to what he might do in his condition, obeyed. Then the broker proceeded to march them toward the New York Athletic Club.

The men protested that they had intended to do him no harm, and tried to explain who they were, but he would not listen to them. Every time they lagged or tried to explain he levelled the gun at their heads and threatened to fire.

The distance to the club is a mile and a half, over a lonely road, and the broker and his captives traversed it about ten paces apart. When the club gates at Travers Island were reached the broker faced the captives and, covering them again, said:

'Now, get, you rascals, get. If you don't I'll put a couple of bullets through your bonnets. Tell your friends that the Huckleberry Indians are hot stuff.'

The prisoners hurried away and the broker ran into the clubhouse and disappeared. The men who were held up were inclined to treat their experience as a joke, but some of the citizens of Pelham heard of the matter and brought it to the attention of the Village President, William B. Randall, who was forced to act.

Accordingly, a warrant was sworn out, and it was served to-day by Chief Marks, who found young Strachan at the office of S. Munn. Son & Co., in Beaver street. He brought the broker to Pelham Manor to-night and he was arraigned before Justice of the Peace Hill, who held him in $200 for trial.

Bail was furnished by Horace Hatch, a wealthy resident of the Manor. The young broker when arraigned still declared that he thought the two men when they rushed at him were robbers.

It was reported to-night that some of the people of Pelham Manor, indignant at the way their police officers had been treated, would bring the whole affair before the governors of the Athletic Club. Young Strachan's parents are in Europe. The family home at 57 West Seventy-sixth street is closed."

Source: This Broker Arrested a Cop, The Sun, Vol. LXX, No. 19, Sept. 19, 1902, p. 1, col. 5.

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