By Mike Simmons

Picture this…The year is 1885. Grover Cleveland is inaugurated as President of the United States on March 4. On June 19, the disassembled Statue of Liberty arrives in New York aboard a French freighter. In Pensacola, Apache Chief Geronimo and several of his warriors and families arrived at Fort Pickens to spend two years in imprisonment there. 

Drinking water was mostly acquired from either Cadet Creek on the east or Washerwoman Creek on the west. Cadet Creek meandered from a spring near present-day Alcaniz and Garden Street to approximately 9^th Avenue and Bayfront Blvd. Washerwoman Creek began from a spring at the foot of North Hill at Spring and Gregory Streets and wandered to Pensacola Bay at Main and Coyle Streets. Since there was no running water, baths were taken in Pensacola Bay, in front of everyone in the city. An ordinance was later passed outlawing daytime bathing downtown.  

Light and heat came from open fires, while air conditioning occurred only when the wind blew. All transportation in town was done by horseback, and the bay was full of ships from across the world. The waterfront was lined with bars and cheap hotels, and the red light district was alive and well from Government to Main Streets and from Palafox to Spring Streets.  

Officers of the Pensacola Police Department had just been in their new uniforms for a year. The adoption of the new outfits was a huge step forward for them, increasing the feel of professionalism. “Keep her going,” was the cry from the Pensacola newspaper. 

The uniform, purchased at the officer’s expense, consisted of a long navy blue wool coat with two rows of brass buttons and a brass police badge, navy blue wool pants, black leather boots, a black leather belt with a brass buckle, a navy blue police custodian helmet with a hat badge encircled by laurel leaves, and a truncheon (club) which usually hung on the non-club hand side of his belt. If an officer carried a firearm, he had to use his own, but most did. 

The new Smith & Wesson Triple Lock .44 revolver was popular, but many officers preferred single-action revolvers, or even the repeating pistols used during the Civil War. In addition, most officers sported a large, heavy duster or handlebar mustache. Suddenly, the citizens of Pensacola began to view their officers in a different light. The police became the pride of the city!  

After the Civil War, the government in Pensacola was ruled by Republicans. Democratic Governor Edward A. Perry, a Pensacolian, urged the Florida legislature to revoke the city charter of Pensacola, which was dissolved on February 16, 1885, and replaced by a provisional government. As a result, the Pensacola Police Department, previously under the command of Marshal Duncan Mallett, was reorganized two days later. Joseph Wilkins, who served as the Escambia County Sheriff (the county where Pensacola is located), was appointed the new City Marshal and Chief of Police. 

For the first time, by state constitution, the structure of the police department was spelled out. Sixteen officers, under the command of Marshal Wilkins, were now able to keep the city safe more effectively. This new arrangement caused several problems. Because the governor’s dissolution of the old form of government and the creation of the new one — controlled by the state, an underlying feeling of resentment by the locals began to grow. But the immediate problem was the appointment of the county’s sheriff as marshal. Even though the city commissioners wanted to guide the marshal’s movements and directions, he stood as an appointed official — by the governor, not by them. Finally, this problem came to a head in the closing weeks of 1886 when Joseph Wilkins was asked — forcefully — to offer his resignation as marshal. He resigned as marshal under protest, but not as sheriff. He then filed a lawsuit to have the case reviewed by the courts. He maintained that the office of Chief of Police should be ruled null and void, because it could not legally usurp the authority of the elected office of Marshal. 

The first officers were John B. Griffin, Ed Cope, J. G. Gonzalez, Felo Roche, James Farinas, M. C. Gonzalez, John Adams, Mike O’Neal, 

Monthly pay was: 

• Marshal Wilkins — $100 (a two-room house cost $300) 

• Deputy Marshall Griffin — $80 (a 3-year-old steer cost $62) 

• Captain Touart — $70 (a horse-drawn buggy cost $75) 

• Officers — $60 (a breech-loading shotgun cost $60) 

When the new department was organized, Marshal Wilkins set new rules: 

• Officers could not sit down while on duty. 

• Officers could not drink “spirituous liquor” in the police station. 

• Officers had to be able to read and write in English, never have been indicted and convicted of a crime, of physical health and vigor, of good moral character, and of unquestionable energy. 

• The more intelligent officers were stationed on the main streets. 

• An officer could not use his club or pistol except when he was protecting his life or if someone showed resistance. 

• An officer could not leave his beat unless he was taking an arrestee to the police station or for an emergency. 

• Officers could not visit bar rooms while on or off-duty. 

• An officer could not be absent for roll call more than three times a month. 

Tidbits 

• On April 20, 1885, City Commissioner W.D. Chipley believed that prisoners should be treated better, so he ordered that the ones who worked be allowed three meals a day instead of two, as was the previous norm. 

• The Department issued each officer one piece of equipment that was effective in the heat, cold, rain, even snow — a whistle. 

• During the month of December 1885, seventeen prisoners escaped. Fifteen of these were working outside under the guard of one officer, and two of them left from the police station. 

Interesting…