Stories from the History of Nashua’s Police and Fire-Rescue Departments
The new century was only 12 years old when the Nashua Police Department met their first big upset. Due to what was termed an “inefficiency” in performing his duties as City Marshal, William Wheeler was asked, by the Police Commission, on or about June 10, 1912, to resign. Evidently, he postponed his resignation until formal charges were brought against him. He finally resigned effective December 31, 1912. No report of his departure could be found in the Nashua Telegraph. No report of any charges against him could be found in the Nashua Telegraph around June or December. George Campbell would then serve as Acting City Marshal. This is an odd call by the Police Commission because Wheeler had been an Assistant City Marshal from 1887 to 1904. Then, he served as City Marshal from 1905 to the end of 1912. One would think that if he had some major deficiency, it would have showed up before 1912. George Campbell, then the sitting Assistant City Marshal was named as Acting City Marshal.
Looking for a new City Marshal, the Police Commission “finds it impossible to secure the services of a thoroughly competent man, with experience in police work, at the present salary of $1,200,00.” They requested the mayor and aldermen raise the salary of the City Marshal to at least $2,000.00 per year, noting that the City Marshal of Manchester, NH made $3,500.00 per annum. Eventually, Daniel Healy was named Nashua’s new City Marshal.
Only nine months later, the department suffered another blow. On September 1, 1913 a new three-member Nashua Police Commission appointed by the Governor and Executive Council took office. The commission consisted of Harry Gregg, Dr. William Reed, and Roscoe Proctor. Minutes after taking their new office, the commissioners met and voted unanimously to remove 15 of the department’s 35 police officers, 43% of the work force, without explanation.
The ousted officers included:
- Ashton Brown
- John Early
- Walter Ford
- James Keely
- Thomas McLaughlin (22 years’ service with the department)
- C. C. Cameron (Turnkey) (30 years’ service with the department)
- John Farry
- Thomas Sullivan
- N. N. Wheeler (25 years’ service with the department)
- Harvey Pollard (20 years’ service with the department)
- Edward Field (Inspector) (22 years’ service with the department)
- James Degnan (Special Officer)
- Joseph Sirois (Special Officer)
- W. D. Roberts (Fire Officer)
Given the years of service of several of the men, it was posited by the Nashua Telegraph that these men were fired because of their age, a disgraceful thing to do after a man has given so much for so long to the city.
The manner in which the officers were relieved of duty and the new ones assigned to duty could not have been colder. At precisely 10 a.m. the commissioners walked into the guard room of the police station where the new officers, each carrying a cardboard box containing their new uniforms, and the soon-to-be relieved officers stood eye-to-eye waiting for something, although they weren’t sure what, to happen.
Daniel Healy was called into the room and sworn in as the new chief. Then, in turn, each current officer was called into the room, simply told their services were no longer needed, and ordered to turn over their badge, revolver, night stick, handcuffs and lights. A number of officers refused to hand over the property and stated that, on advice of legal counsel, they were demanding a reason for their dismissal. Apparently, this action had not been unexpected and under the circumstances, and for whatever their reason, the issue was not pushed by the commission. Ironically, the old officers would not turn over their lockers to the new officers, leaving the new officers to hang their civilian clothes wherever they could find a hook.
Almost 1,000 Nashua residents turned out in front of the Police Station on Court Street to see the replacement officers file out to their assigned beats. None had any police training and were given only rough guidelines.
Author’s Note: It is not understood how or why almost 1,000 citizens would be standing outside the police station waiting for something to happen. Obviously, information was announced or at least leaked about the massive changes to be made on this day.
In addition, several people were demoted including Captain Cleary who went from captain to patrolman. Patrolman Maker was reduced to Special Patrolman. Even long-time City Marshall William Wheeler was replaced. A subsequent newspaper article reported that Daniel Healy of Manchester was “promised” to be made chief of the department in Nashua although it does not state who promised the appointment or when the promise was made. Author’s Note: It is unclear if the office of “Chief” was higher than City Marshal or under such conditions, Healy would be named Chief.
Another newspaper article stated that the office of deputy marshal will be eliminated. This would “leave long-time deputy George Campbell without a job unless he is offered another position, such as night captain.”
New officers, many from the ranks of the Special Patrolmen, were assigned to take the place of the ousted officers, each to serve a six-month trial period. If the officers “liked the work, and the commission liked the officer,” they would be made permanent.
A newspaper article stated that Nashuans were so upset that the commission had fired 15 officers as much as they were upset that many of the replacement officers came from out-of-town. They thought that as many people that lived in Nashua there should be 15 people who qualify as police officers. Conversely, there seemed to be just as many people that thought the commission had no legal right to summarily dismiss the officers without a hearing. Moreover, these same people were especially irritated over the new “top cop” in Nashua being a Manchester man.
A few days later, the 15 patrolmen brought suit against the police commission in what would be a long, drawn-out mess, resulting in payless paydays for the replacement patrolmen.
Commission Chair Harry Gregg claimed that the panel was within its right to declare any and all positions vacant. In other words, they could fire whoever they wanted. Gregg then promised to provide reason why the officers were relieved of duty. But weeks later, no explanation was forthcoming. It seemed that the situation that the commission had been designed to mitigate, had grown many times worse.
Two weeks later, the Finance Committee of the Common Council, one of the two chambers of the city governing board sided with the fired officers and refused to issue the $35 bi-weekly checks to the replacement officers.
Weeks later at a court hearing, the commission’s lawyer defended the commission’s action. He claimed that the commission was designed to be a “broom” to clean out the department and if the court were to “shackle” the commission then that would defeat its purpose. The court sided with the commission but then the officers appealed to the state Supreme Court.
The lower court then acted on a separate suit brought by the new officers which demanded they be paid. Instead, the Finance Committee voted to pay the old officers who had been showing up at the station every day for work. A Nashua Telegraph headline on September 2 said that the ousted officers retained their badges and police property.
Then suddenly, on December 2, 1913, the Finance Committee, in their regular Monday night meeting, and after consultation with the city solicitor and two former supreme court justices, decided that they did not have the legal right to hold back pay from the new officers. And so, to end all the legal and political wrangling that had been going on for three months, they decided to start paying the new officers including providing back pay.
Despite the decision of the finance committee, Robert Jackson, legal counsel for the Nashua Police Commission and the new police officers on December 3, 1913, decided to proceed with the case of mandamus in superior court which would legally force the finance committee to pay the officers.
It wasn’t until the following April that the Police Commission began to provide reasons for dismissing the 15 officers. One commissioner noted that one of the officers allowed liquor to be sold illegally on his beat. Another officer, it was said, drank on the job, and yet another officer supposedly looked the other way when encountering gambling on his beat.
In July, 1914, the state Supreme Court finally issued its decision in the case stating that both the old officers, and new officers were entitled to pay and back pay. The court said the new ones should be compensated because the commission had the legal authority to hire them. And the old ones had to be paid at least up to the date of their dismissal hearing. The whole mess ended up costing the city $5,000 (over $156,000 in 2024 dollars) plus court costs, and a badly demoralized department.
Excerpted from “Nashua’s Finest: The History of Law Enforcement in Nashua NH”
Yester-Heroes author Gary Ledoux grew up in Nashua’s Crown Hill area, attending Nashua schools and graduating from Nashua High in 1970. He attended NH Vo-Tech for a time, then moved to Amherst, then Manchester, and Weare. He served as a volunteer on the Amherst Fire Dept from 1974 to 1977. A career in the automotive business took him to Florida and then to southern California. After 48 years, he retired in 2017, moving back to Florida with his wife, Rachel, and two dogs. He has published seven books, including two about Nashua history, and has been a contributing editor or contributor to 10 different magazines. Gary can be reached at [email protected]
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