Rock Island Daily Argus

ORATORS AT A POLICE BANQUET.

Depew, Cochran and Ingersoll Talk to the "Force."

New York, Jan. 27.—Delmonico's big ball room was by far too small to accommodate comfortably the guests who responded to the invitations of the police captains and inspectors of police to attend their eleventh annual dinner Monday night, but the legal, political and social luminaries were more than satisfied to elbow each other at the table in order to hear the after-dinner speeches of Depew, Ingersoll, Cockran and Sheehan. The latter led off in the speechmaking and glorified New York.

Depew and the Police.

Depew was called upon to say something about the police department. "I love the police," said he, "because the police love me; they confide to me their thoughts, and just before election they tell me of their misfortunes and their aspirations. After election is over they swing their clubs with a sort of innocuous desuetude and tell me hell is paved with good intentions, and they have big long blocks of this pavement to cover." After saying a number of nice things about the gallant police force he talked a little about war with Chili, declaring, in effect, that we don't want to fight, but by jingo if we do," etc.

Cochran and Ingersoll.

W. Bourke Cochran was the next on the list and took particular pains to ridicule a war with Chili and compared such a conflict to the spanking of a school boy. "It will not take more than 10 minutes until the struggle will be over." Colonel "Bob" Ingersoll was called upon for a wind up. He responded to the toast of The "Press," and among other things said that the press had no more right to free speech than the police had to a free use of the club. In direct contradiction to this theory he claimed the right of free speech for every man just as he has had for himself.