Major Basil C. Manly was elected Police Chief in May of 1875.  Newspaper articles at the time indicated that he was interested in becoming mayor, but lost to Joseph H. Separk.  After the election, a plan was made by the city aldermen to clear out the entire police force and elect a new one.  Consequently, a temporary police force was appointed - seven men as day police and nine as night police.  Two weeks later, the police force was reorganized, with Captain J. W. Lee as Assistant Chief of Police.  It was now divided into three sections, consisting of four patrolmen with a Lieutenant in charge.  Chief Manly would not stay in office very long, however; in September of 1875, he was elected mayor after the death of Mayor Joseph Separk from typhoid-pneumonia.