The Mayor Fired Him; He Took City Hall to Court

Police Commissioner John O. Niggle, removed from office by Mayor Phelps at last Wednesday night's meeting, will carry the matter into court to have the mayor's power decided. A writ of certiorari directed to Mayor Phelps and City Clerk Stewart asks them to produce a certified transcript of the meeting at which Niggle was given his walking papers.

Commissioners Cheasty and Niggle went to the mayor's office yesterday, acting under instructions from their attorney, and asked whether he would recognize them as commissioners or refuse to do so. The mayor left the room to confer with Corporation Counsel Scott and then said he did not care to discuss police matters with them. Cheasty wanted the mayor to recognize or refuse in so many words, but was not gratified. Cheasty then asked to speak privately, and Niggle withdrew.

The conversation was one-sided, Cheasty having the floor most of the time. He refused to shake hands with the mayor. When the mayor said he believed Cheasty was throwing personal resentment into the matter, Cheasty replied that he thought the same of the mayor's actions. Before leaving, Cheasty said that no matter from whom the charges against him emanated, the mayor having refused to discuss them, they were false and their author a liar. The mayor told Cheasty he was making a mountain out of an anthill and that personality had nothing to do with it. There was no reconciliation. Cheasty will take his case into court to determine whether the mayor had the right to remove him, though his term expires next January.

Niggle's attorneys filed papers late yesterday in the superior court. Niggle's affidavit says he was appointed police commissioner February 7, confirmed February 28 by the house of delegates for four years and until a successor was appointed, and qualified February 27. He says that on September 5 Mayor Phelps, without jurisdiction, notice, or opportunity to be heard, served notice of removal. Niggle denies the grounds, says no charges were made, and asks the court to compel the mayor and city clerk to return the record of the removal proceedings. Some observers compare the case to that of John McBeavy, a state capitol commissioner removed for cause; the courts upheld that removal on purely legal points.