WHEN CASEY STRUCK OUT

A week ago last Friday, the efforts of the rescue squad to resuscitate with a pulmotor a small boy who had been pulled out of the Lechmere Canal some minutes before were stopped by the Chief of the Cambridge Fire Department, Casey. According to the testimony of the fireman who was working on the boy, Casey appeared just at the moment when there was every chance the boy might live, and, without consulting a doctor, ordered the squad to stop wasting their oxygen on a case where the victim was obviously dead.

Whether Casey actually did ask the doctor if the boy were dead or not will be difficult for the investigators to ascertain, as the accounts of the witnesses vary widely. What may be assumed, however, is that Chief Casey's concern over the expense of the oxygen hardly exceeded his interest in saving the life; Casey's real reason for calling off the rescue appears to be the same one which has prompted him to interfere on several other occasions -- he is determined to discredit and to make as difficult as possible the work of the rescue squad and the modern life-saving equipment which have recently been installed through efforts of Mayor Russell.

Undoubtedly only political differences can be the cause for the existence of such an inexcusable situation. But that one of the paramount objectives of the fire department -- to save lives -- should be frustrated by its own chief is a paradox which might almost be humorous if the results were not so grave. If the City of Cambridge is interested in its own protection, even though it may not be in its government, it should support the investigation which is now being conducted, and make sure that it is carried through to its logical and only conclusion.