St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-19
Directors of a Local Corpora
ton Disclaim Connection
With the Transaction.
One Official Tenders His Res
ignation to Settle the ;.
Difficulty.
Testing the Validity of the
Law the Inspiration for q
a Suit.

u
| of a conspiracy against the abstract
| clerk in the interest of corporation
| which makes speciality of dealing in
| abstracts of titles. Matters reached a
| climax when it was stated that an officer
| of the st. Paul Title Insurance company
| was interested in the transaction, hop
/ ing thereby to benefit the organization
with which he is connected. This story
| reached the directors of the company,
and lengthy session was held yester-
/ day afternoon to ascertain what founda-
| ton there was for such a statement.
| There were present at the meet
| ing Messrs. f. B. Clarke, f.
| Driscoll, A. Kalman, E. MANN
heimer, Daniel r. Moves, Z. W. PeeU,
A. V. Teeple, J. J. Watson. Thomas
Cochran, Jr.. William Dawson. Z. Liv-
| ingston, Frederick c. Ingersoll, 7. IL.
| Kelly and Lane K. Stone. All the en-
ployes of the company were examined,
and it TRANSFERRED that j. w. BiSsell, the
foreman, had been in consultation with
parties favorable to the abolition OF the
county abstract Office, but he stated that
he had not received, nor did he expect,
for his services any compensation what
| ever. He had merely given advice upon
| the subject. and did not think that he
had in any way transgresSed the rules
| of the company or done anything to
| ieopardize its interest. What lie had
| done was upon his own yolition, and not
| under the authority of any officer or di-
rector of the company. subsequently
10 rnrlc rAf
wears OF age and a stakeholder in the
| colnpany rendered his resignation, but
! nothing definite was determined by the
| directors whether it should be accepted
| or rejected. The ground was carefully
| gone over by the directors of the Title
! Insurance company, and as re uit OF a
/ three hours conference the following
was adopted:
Resolved, That the directors OF this com.
| pany have learned, with surprise, OF a
| rumor that steps were being taken III tne IN
| terest of this company to interfere with the
| abstract Office OF Ramsey county: tnat no
! action has ever been authorized by or known
| to any director Or officer OF this corporation.
| and we hereby repudiaie any steps tnat nave
! been taken in any direction by any person
! in the past and deprecate ana forbid any
such action by any officer or employee OF the
| company.
Hon. II. T. Stevens, counsel for the st,
| Paul Title Insurance company, when
] questioned concerning the matter,
stated that the first intlmation he had
received of the connection of the title
| company with the transaction was an
| article in a Minneapolis journal In
which his name was used. lie was en-
| tirely innocent, and had no knowledge
! whatever of an attempt being made to
abolish the abstract Office in the inter
| est of his company. "We rather court
| competition" said Mr.. Stevens, land
| could notin any manner, shape or form
| profit by q transfer to the register OF
deeds OF the business of the abstract
clerk. This whole CONTROVERSY grew
out of petition filed in court Monday
! by certain attorneys, who were deslrouS
| OF testing
THE VALIDITY OF THE LAW
in regard to the office of abstract clerk.
We had nothing whatever to do with
the petition, and were not consulted
about the matter. Hence, L was sur
prised to see my name involved in the
transaction. and at once took steps to
ascertain who had inspired the article
in the Minneapolis paper Among 9th
ers with whom | conversed was MIR.
| Murnane. the abstract clerk, and he
cheerfully furnished the following let
ter to the manager of the paper In QueS-
| ton:
TO the Editor OF the Globe.
In an article published in Tuesdays issue
of the Minneapolis Tribune, under the cap
ton of "a Little Paper, Is an interview pur-
porting TO come from county official, and
placing H. Z. Stevens, an honorable gentle
nan. in a rather compromising position. AS
| have been accused of being the county OIL
eial in question. and desiring TO set myself
right in the premises, | wish TO say that do
not believe that Mr stevens IS concerned
,l,a. tP6
deal, if such thing ever existed outside the
mind of an oyer-Zealous reporter. Yours
truly. NJ. r. MURSASE, Abstract Clerk.
st. Paul, Mimi, Dec. Is, lsSo.
II think that is a sufficient refutation
of the allegation that the Title Insur-
ance company is involved In this matter
in any way, and the action taken by the
directors this afternoon should effectu-
ally stop further charges against their
corporation"
The petition filed Monday in court
was for mandamus against Register
of Deeds Bell to compel him to deliver
an abstract of title for property situated
in the Homes for the Homeless addition
to St. Paul. The attorneys in the suit
for the plaintiffs were Messrs. Kerr &
Richardson and W. G. Gordon, and the
ease was set for hearing Saturday. Dec.
%. 1888. Mr.. Gordon was sitting in his
cosy Office in the Globe building when
interrogated about the suit in which he
is one of the attorneys, and said:
am the relator and also one of the attor-
news in this suit. The petition is subscribed
| TO bv me, with Kerr & Richardson and VIII
| lam c. Gordon as attorneys. The object OF
| bringing this suit is. as the writ of mandamus
| Granted us last Saturday by Judge Wlkin
States 10 compel the register of deeds 10 fur
nish a cariain abstract of title This IA IS
| authorized and empowered 10 do by the GEM
| eneral statutes 1873, OF which section 1885,
| chapter 8, reads as follows:
sgThe register of deeds shall make ont, I'M
der his certificate and seal, and deliver to
| any person requesting the same, a full and
{ perfect abstract of the title to any real es
/ tate. together viii the encumbTances. liens
and instruments in sny manner affecting
such title as the same appears Of record or
on file in his office on being paid his lawful
! fees therefor.
we hold that the law passed in 1885, under,
which the abstract ONCE mas us existence,
| in no way divests the register OF deeds of his
! original capacity to make and deliver alb
straets to any person requesting the same.
| As far as l am aware, there is nosueh thing
SIS an abstract Office. separate nd distinct
| from the Office of register of deeds in any,
other county OF The state, and a comparison
| of the acts of 1873 ana those OF SS0wiu
show the inconsistency of the one with the
| other; which gives rise to considerable doubt
| as TO the constitutionality OF the acts OF
1888. II is for the purpose of definitely set
| Ting this question that the matter has been
brought into court, who viii pass upon the
validity OF the act of 1885.
| As to The Title Insurance company being
| behind us in this matter, if such is the case,
| am in toni ignorance of 1T; nor can con-
ceiye how they wonld in the least profit by il
one way or the other, in spite of the opinion
put forth in the Minneapolis Tribune's edi-
tiou of the 18th, which, after all, is purely
an inference, and to my certain knowledge
only guesswork.
While the board of directors of the
Title Insurance company were in ses-
sion Col. G. ID. Kerr. another attorney
in the suit against the register of deeds,