St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-07-09
Racy Testimony in the Case Of George r.
Tanner, Charged With Keeping an
Assignation House.
Ida Dorsey Paints When She is Told She
Must Spend Ninety Days at
Saltwater.
The journal Dfsowns the Reporters
Who Made the Expose of Houses
of Prostitution.
Mr.. Ankeny Confirm ed--Prohibi on
Ratification--R Rev. living Called
60 Plymouth Church.
TANNER ON TRIAL.
Some RacY Testimony by Minneapo
lis Newspaper Men.


lis Newspaper Men.
The case against George R. Tanner, in
dicted for keeping an designation house,
known as Tanners European hotel, on
Washington avenue south, was called be-
fore Judge Lochran yesterday morning.
There was a large audience present, COM
posed mainly of sporting men and fast
. women, all of whom manifested a deep in
terest in the trial. Judge Brewer defended
Tanner. who appeared nervous and i'll
at ease. A motion was made to dismiss
the case on the grounds that the location OF
the house was not definitely stated, and
that it was not stated in the Indictment
that the place had been resorted to for the
purposes of prostitution. The judge over
ruled this and the trial proceeded. j. M.
Day stated that he was the owner Of the
house and had always collected the rent
from Mrs. Tanner Two young men, Fred
Sanders and j. S. Van Antwerp, who
said they were reporters on the Journal,
testified that one evening they went to the
house and got room on the third floor.
Here they met a woman, whom they i'll
duced to get them some beer. This she did.
They then made arrangements to have her
remove all her garments and dance the can
off all OF her clothes, but claimed that she
could not dance the can-can the way the
two newspaper men wanted on account of
being too fat. She furnished them plenty
of entertainment such as it was, however
The testimony Of these brilliant specimens
was racy in the extreme, but they told
what they knew without moving muscle.
Georgia Gray" little woman dress ed
in black, acknowledged that she was a
prostitute and had gone from First street
and taken rooms at Tanners hotel, where
she paid IS week for room, as she had
the privilege of having company" With
{" company" she said. the price woul d
i been but s. week. She swore that
NJ Tanner had often directed men
to her room, and that other pros
htutes had rooms in the house and
received gentlemen friends" Her age
she gave as IS, bat where her home was
she would not state. as she did not wan
ner parents to know OF her shame.
A slim, dark-haired individual was next
called. When asked his name and occupa-
ton he replied: Il am Clarence w. Ryder,
the sporting editor of the Tribune" Amidst
the laughter which followed he said he had
once occupied a room at the hotel in queS-
ton, and that the reputation of the place
was bad. Numerous other witnesses also
said the same thing. The counsel for the
defendant here moved for dismissal on
the ground that it had been shown that
Mrs. Tanner. and not Mr.. Tanner, was the
proprietor of the house. The motion was
overruled. Then Mr. Brewer said that he
would call DIR. Freeman to prove that
Georgia Gray was suffering from the effects
of an abortion when she was at the house
and could not have committed the acts al
legged. DR.. Freeman, when placed on the
stand, could not identify the girl as the
one he had attended. Numerous friends
of Mr.. Tanner were then sworn, and
all of them said they had occupied
rooms at the house, but had seen nothing out
of the way there.
George Tanner. when placed on the
stand, swore that he had never urged any
woman to come to his house. He said sew
eral women who bad bad regulations had
stopped at his house SO far as he knew, but
1t was only for one or two days. while they
were i'll the city. He never knew of any
woman occupying rooms i'll his house for
the purpose of prostitution. Most of the
women who had been at the hotel were
married and had been registered ds such by
their husbands. Alice COllyer, prostitute,
was recalled to the stand and reiterated her
statement that some tine ago, when she
was an inmate of Lilly GOodrchS place on
First street, George Tanner came to the
house and asked her to come to his house,
saying he would do all he could to help her
along i'll her business. The girl said she
had also had a similar conversation with
Mrs. Tanner two OF three weeks ago. and
that Mrs. Tanner had also urged her to
take rooms at the hotel, saying she would
help her all she could. Georgia A. Gray
was recalled and again swore that several
women roomed at the house whom Mrs.
Tanner had said were never in the house.
The testimony of the girls was decidedly
damaging to Mrs. Tanner and will have a
tendency to break down the defense. This
was the last Witness and the case was con-
tinued until TODAY