St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-08-06
A LEGAL DECISION
py Judge Sleeper, Of Brain
erd, That Has Caused
Dispute.
e Settlers Aroused Over
What Appears to be an
Unjust
opinion on the Indemnity
Lands, and Which 1t is
Charged
May be Used to Affect an
Election Now Pend
ing.
Enecial 10 the Globe.

Special 10 the Globe.
BRAINERD, Aug. 5.-The decision rem
dered by Judge Sleeper, in the indem-
nifty land cases, adverse to the settlers on
such lands, has been much Wanted and
much talked about, not only by the
friends of the settlers who are now put
to the additional hardship of attending
trial here in September, but by the
general public who have watched the
entire course of this action with per-
fectly natural interest, and with now
and then broad, a very broad smile.
But there is side to the case and the
decision" from light thrown by the
GLOBES dark lantern of inside investi-
cation, that is liable to make
some one a good deal of trouble
in the political campaign entered
upon. The fact is that these
indemnity cases have been apparently
relied upon by Judge Sleeper and
friends to make a ten-strike for him in
a political way. But some of the fnesse
that has been resorted to the GLOBE
correspondent has uncovered.
There is the best OF authority to be
given, if questioned, that the original
design of allowing the injunctions, was
to secure greatly needed vote that it
was expected the Northern Pacific and
other interested land owners would
control for Judge Sleeper, the Repub-
lican candidate. But so great was the
howl that went up from the enraged
settlers, who were thus put to the ex-
penSe of a lawsuit, and so great the
sympathy among the masses for them,
that the judge seems to have seen the
necessity for hedging. At least, that is
the
ONLY REASONABLE EXPLANATION
of what was actually done in the mat
:er. For the judge and his friends let
the announcement go out authoritively,
as will be seen from statement made
below, that he had decided the cases for
she settlers, when in fact the decision
was the reverse of that. This juggling,
" nowyOu-See-it-and-n -you-dOn' t-see-
It," is best shown by the following state
ment, made for the GLOBE by Fl. c.
Stivers, editor of the Brainerd Journal.
MIR. Stivers says:
Judge G. B. Sleeper came into my
office Wednesday, Aug. 1, 1888, and said
that he had made his decision in the
Northern Pacific indemnity land cases.
then inquired what the decision was,
and he said it was to the effect that the
action of the plaintiff was premature
and was at present without grounds. l
asked him at what time actions of this
kind could be properly commenced, and
he said that such actions could not be
Sncfaina1 Of
offered their final proof. He used other
language. which canhot now quote
exactly, giving me to understand
that the decision dissolved the i'll
functions. l accordingly published in
my paper, the Brainerd Journal, on the
following day, Aug. 2, an article stating
that Judge Sleeper had rendered de-
cision as set forth above. The next day,
Aug, 8, Judge Sleeper came into my
Office, and said that after his talk with
me he had found an important decision
bearing directly on the point at issue in
these Indemnity land cases, in accord
ance with which he had modified his de-
ciSion, and that my statement in the
journal was therefore wrong.
H. c. STIvERs.
1t needs only to be added, to make the
righteousness of the matter perfectly
clear, to say that the official document,
as filed in the clerks court yesterday,
bears date of July 81, 1885," opposite
the courts signature, and is so printed
in the Brainerd Dispatch of Friday and
the Tribune of yesterday. Therefore,
when Judge Sleeper was telling Mr..
StiverS, in the latter's office, that he had
decided the cases for the settlers, a de-
ciSion the
REVERSE OF IT
was completed, signed and dated, and
then in the hands of the favored news
paper to be printed for campaign circu-
lation; in fact an extra order of 1000
''ready prints" to go abreast of the ''de-
cision' i'll the Sleeper "organ," had then
been made. The suggestion is made.
by one desiring to relieve the
judge from evident embarrassment,
that perhaps in fact he did not himself
know what the 'decislon' would be
until all his ''points" had been received
from Minneapolis.
The comment is frequent that this is
the first case that they ever heard of
where judge of the district court had
his organ issue 1000 extra copies of the
paper containing his decision and send
them broadcast over the district for per-
sonal political purposes, and further his
election to the high position of judge.
Meanwhile, the large bundles OF
marked papers containing this 'de,
cision," to which the judge says he gave
SO careful examination" are being
sent out in the mails to voters in the
district; but it is safe to say the several
hundred interested settlers will not re-
ceiVe any. Certainly, to make the thing
complete, this exposition should be
tackled on as very spicy supplement-.