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Green Bag. HIS FIRST OFFENCE. By FRANCIS DANA.
[PEOPLE ex rel. HOGAN v. FRENCH et al., POLICE COMMISSIONERS (Reversing of N. Y. Supp. 460), Court of Appeals of New York, March 11, 1890. Reported in N. E. Reporter, Vol. XXXIII. No. 14. Appeal from Supreme Court general term, first department. •' The Police Commissioners of New York City dismissed the relator from the police force for 'conduct unbecoming an officer.' That order was affirmed by the Superior Court general term on ccrtiorari, and relator appealed." •
The evidence showed that the appellant had been an officer for fifteen years, and by his excellent record it appeared that during all that time he had touched nothing intoxicating till one day, hav ing been engaged for five days in quelling a strike and having arisen too early for comfort and been without food during the day in question, he had indulged in peppermint and brandy, which produced the effect objected to by the Commissioners.] OTOUT HOGAN, pillar of the Force,
- —' For fifteen years had no recourse
To vinous draughts that breed remorse And drown the soul within. He never came 'neath alehouse roof But saw the stamp of cloven hoof On bottle, keg, and cask, and proof Against their charms, he stood aloof From alcoholic sin. He drank not beer, he supped not ale, Nor blushing port, nor brandy pale, Nor dry champagne, nor moist cocktail, Nor foot-entangling gin. The car-men struck. For many a clay Directors sat in blank dismay, — The Knights of Labor barred the way, And as the cars came by Expressed their knightly sentiments With paving-stones and bits of fence Projected with a vehemence That showed their chivalry intense, And made the splinters fly. A horse-car strike had blocked the street Right upon gallant Hogan's beat. From morn till eve on weary feet He stood and bade the foe retreat, And had no time to stop and eat Or sip his bowl of tea. He drove the drivers on before, Conducted the conductors o'er
Unto the Black Maria's door; Then turned him to the fray once more With dauntless energy. The morn was cold, the noon was hot; Hogan was both, and mourned his lot. At early dawn he 'd left his cot And had not had his breakfast. He felt that if he froze and sweat, And neither slept nor drank nor ate, He must become a wreck fast.i Ah me! the spotless soul, they say, That ne'er hath strayed from out the way As hen to falcon falls a prey To powers of ill pursuing. His faithful abstinence, alas! Had brought his head to such a pass, For lack of practice, that one glass Sufficed for his undoing. A demi-tasse of peppermint, With just the least intensive hint Of mind-perverting Cognac in 't,— A nip of eau-de-vie : Of eau-de-7'íV? Ah! Eau-de-;«or/ / Oh! what did Hogan take it for? An altered wight was he! Meanwhile the tumult waxeth large. The puissant Force is at the charge, And loudly peals the slogan, —
