St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-29
ALL ABOUT A posroFFIcE.
The other Side OF the Preston EN-
brogIio STATED.

oEOEAaO StatC0-
To the Editor of the Globe:
PRESTON. Mimi, Jan. 2S.-Inasmuch as
you have granted Mr.. S. S. McKenny space
TO make statement regarding our postoffice
trouble. your sense of justice will doubtless
prompt you to yield me space to correct his
errors One hundred and eighty of the
electors OF the village did not sign
the petition asking for the confrna-
ton Of Hall. as Mr.. McKenny
alleges. Hon. c. II. COnkey has made a
list, from memory, of seventy-six voters
within the corporation who did not sign the
petition, or nearly double the number
stated by Mr.. Mckenny. The latter also
omits to state that the petition, as now
printed. is not the petition which was circu-
lated, fact which the grand jury will in
vestigate. About seventy-five signeIs could
have been honestly obtained to the docu-
ment as it now appears. Mr.. Hall circu-
lated document, which he asserted
SENATOR sABIN REQUESTED
him to prepare. simply stating that the
signers had received their mail in a salts
factory manner. Many of the people who
continue TO get their mail at Preston reluct-
antly consented, after the most intolerable
Importantly, to sign this apparently HARM
less document. They are now indignant
beyond expression at the trick played on
them. and are sending to Washington such
statements as the following:
Il hereby certify that Thomas Hall OBJ
tanned my signature to a document which
purported to be, and which he represented
was, simply statement that my mail had
been delivered properly. did not sign
Thomas Halls petition. nor is he my choice,
and the Endorsement of his character,
which is now published over my
signature l had no idea of signing. -
The rival candidates for the postoffice here
were Thomas Dougherty and Thomas Hail.
The former had 179 petitioners, the latter
9S. 1t was urged against Mr.. Dougherty
that he was
AN IRISH CATHOLIC
and Greenbacker, nothing more could be
said. Mr.. Hall was appointed. A great
many patrons of the Office would not sign
either petition. This fact suggested to
many minds compromise candidate who
would unite the people and heal the disSen-
sions now rending our town. 1t was ad-
vised in Washington and by eminent citi-
Zens of Minnesota who have at some time
lived in Preston. Several of the latter
wrote one man in Preston urging him to
pour oil on the troubled waters by seeking
the place, among them State Superintend-
ent Kiehle. One of these gentlemen went
so far as to incloSe petition. Yielding at
last TO the pressure brought to bear and
upon the strength of letters from congress-
men assuring him that Thomas Hall never
would be confirmed Mr.. John J. Merrill,
the gentleman in question. is circulating the
petition sent him. Mr.. Merrill attended
Democratic convention at St. Paul in 1857
a. dQlQyafa from EillmNra aOuufu
HIS DEMOCRACY
has been unfiinching, and no one can &C
euse him of having wayered. Yet, despite
his firm Democracy, he has often been
elected to office by appreciative neighbOrs.
He is an honest, industrious, painstaking
man, once a good teacher, now a good
farmer. A graceful and scholarly writer. a
man of temperate habits, but hot a fanatic,
a man never given to dissensions or quar-
rels. man acceptable to al! parties and all
factions. In religion for many years a
consistent Presbyterian. Those who never
signed petitions for MesSrs. Hall or Dougherty
are eagerly signing Mr.. Merrilrs petition,
as will Mr.. DOugherty and all his friends.
Mr.. Halls petitioners will also, most of
them. sign for Mr.. Merrill. The Preston
pOstoffice had. before the appointment of
Hall, about 375 patrons. Many of them
have changed to Lanesboro. Isinours, Foun-
tain, Harmony and other offices, but, as
former patrons and would-be patrons again,
they will sign for Mr.. Merrill, so that his
petition will go forward with about three
hundred signers.
Mr.. McKenny states that our mayor and
village council signed Halls petition, but
he neglects to state that they were elected
on q
LOW LICENSE TICKET.
and that our mayor is the principal Of our
school. The statement that our county
commissioner signed for Hall is a mistake.
Mr.. Quinn has always opposed changing a
saloon into a pOstOfiice, with the saloon
keeper as postmaster. He did not sign the
petition, nor any other petition for Thomas
Hall. but. ON the contrary, refused to do So
If his name appears It is an absolute
forgery. Mr.. McKenny also Omits TO state
that sixteen salOOnkeepers and bartenders
sign for Mr.. Hall. their fellow craftsman.
Not one Of this class has ever been omitted
from his papers. True, four clergymen
appear with them. but three of them were
tricked into Ii as indicated above and are
now heartily ashamed of the false position
mind that the very small low license ma
jority in the corporation which has con-
trolled Republican caucuses here is all the
real backing which Hall has had. While
not united in favor OF Hall, it's manager can
beat any candidate out of our delegation,
and has used this threat freely to win the
support of timid politicians. This has not
been done recently and its outrageous in