Part II: Denver’s Chief of Police put away 104 criminals
In this week's Times Past column, Jonathan Smyth takes up the story of John F. Farley - Denver’s ‘best ever’ Chief of Police...
During his first nine months as Denver’s Police Chief in 1889, John F. Farley’s leadership resulted in 104 criminals going to the slammer and the arrest of 6,281 people for various misdemeanours. Under Farley’s command the police took on a ‘well-disciplined and soldierly appearance,’ stated Andrew Morisson in his book, ‘The City of Denver and State of Colorado.’ In effect, he had ‘restored morale and modernised police procedures,’ as Bernard Kelly put it in a lookback article for the Denver Post on December 23, 1961. The golden badge was later passed to John F. Farley’s son Dr John Barron Farley and then in 1961 to Thomas Farley (John F. Farley’s grandson).
Democratic Party
In 1900, John F. Farley married Edna Webster Barron. The couple were married in Sacred Heart Church and a huge crowd arrived but were too late to hear the ‘ceremony.’ by the Rev. P. A. Phillip. It was intended to be ‘a quiet’ ceremony with only a few friends and families invited along and the plan was to keep the occasion secret, but word soon spread. Becoming wise to the leak, Farley got hold of his bride then headed half an earlier than planned to Fr. P. A. Phillip. By the time of the multitudes arrival, the dust of the cartwheels had settled, and the happy couple were off and away. Miss Barron, stated the papers, wore a ‘handsome tailor-made grey cloth and carried American Beauty roses … she wore a most becoming grey hat to match, trimmed with grey and white birds.’
They had a son, Dr. John B. Farley of Pueblo, and a daughter, Mrs Marcella Dillon of Greeley. In 1973, Dr John B. Farley’s obituary furnished readers with his numerous achievements, including the following: ‘Delegate to Democratic National Convention 1956 and 1960, member Platform Committee, Commander U.S. Navy Reserve, active duty 1941-1945; physician to Prime Minister John Curtin and his War Cabinet enroute from Australia to London to attend Prime Minister’s Conference, London 1944. Awarded citation from Prime Minister of Australia.’ When his son Mr. Thomas Farley died in 2010, it was recorded that he had been ‘a former State Representative from Pueblo’ having ‘served as one of the youngest Minority Leaders in the nation’ and ‘during his long political career’ had run as a candidate in the Gubernatorial Democratic Primary.
In November 1889, the phrase, ‘a little birdy told me’, took on a new meaning in Denver policing circles when Chief John F. Farley toyed with introducing two carrier pigeons for the purpose of communicating with his officers on the street. Farley announced, should an officer need to send him a message, all he must do is hook it to the pigeon’s leg and let it fly home to headquarters.
The outcome of the ingenious initiative is unknown. Denver Police’s Facebook page posts interesting ‘throwback’ snippets featuring policing stories like this one about the pigeons.
Farley’s crime-busting successes included the discovery and dispersal of a ‘Denver-Kansas City gambling ring’ reportedly ‘paying $8,000’ per month in protection money. One newspaper commented on how ‘the expose resulted in a substantial shake-up of the police department personnel.’ For political reasons Farley was replaced in 1893, and his dismissal was said to have been one of the ‘Waite administration’s’ most ‘unpopular acts.’ After, leaving the force in 1893, Farley returned to Thiel’s and took to tracking outlaws like the ‘Moffat bank robbers.’ At one stage, it was said that he spent around $2000 to trace their whereabouts. The police chiefs who followed were not a patch on Farley and crime again soared out of control. Farley’s re-appointment in 1897 was widely welcomed. I recently saw a fine photograph from 1 January 1900 of Chief John F. Farley, looking at the Denver Police Department’s rogues’ gallery which displayed about 2,000 mugshots. Catching criminals was always foremost in his thoughts.
Return to Thiels
On 5 May 1901, the Herald Democrat reported on John F. who by then was back with the Thiel agency and making a return journey from Salt Lake City having successfully recovered 15,000 ounces of silver stolen from the Ontario Mining Company, Park City. When the company had reported the silver bars missing to Farley, he had put a watch on the place which identified two Russian employees of the mining company, to be the suspects, one who worked as a watchman, and the other a miner. The suspects ‘hitched up a team’ at 5 o’clock in the morning on Monday of the following week and were heading towards Salt Lake City when Farley and his men apprehended them. They had 12,000 ounces of silver in their possession. Farley speaking about the theft, said, ‘these two Russians had stolen the silver in small lots from the refinery and then had secreted it near and in their home’ and ‘expected to ship it by rail from Salt Lake City to a point I do not care to mention.’
In 1911, a man held in Denver’s city jail confessed to knowing about the Greeley post office robbery and provided a ‘detailed’ account ‘implicating himself and others’ in a series of ‘hold ups of railway trains in the State of Utah.’ From Alliance, Nebraska, Frank M. Watson had been arrested for ‘safe blowing,’ and his written confession was obtained by none other than Detective John F. Farley, assistant general manager of the Thiel Detective Service. He had been involved in the investigation of the post office robbery and believed Watson’s account. Hoping to escape the penalty of the law, Watson requested leniency and promised to provide as much information as he could on the thefts.
Amongst his personal interests, John F. Farley remained an original member of the Denver Elke Lodge and a commander of the Indian War Veterans of Colorado. He died on 1 October 1940. I would like to say thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Tim O’Connor who kindly sent to me the information on John F. Farley. When I asked Mr. O’Connor first about Mr. Farley (his wife’s ancestor), he told me: ‘he was an Indian fighter … Chief of Police for the City of Denver attributed with cleaning up the city of crime and corruption, leader of a detective agency catching many crooks and generally a well accomplished scion of County Cavan.’ Justifiably, going by his record, John F. Farley can still be acknowledged as Denver’s ‘best ever’ Chief of Police.