The Irish standard., 1888-01-21
AN UNSATISFACTORY RErRACrIoN

travelling about the country on Orldge
business. The commits toner's refused
fatty to pay the bill They are not ac
customed to refuse any but improper
bills. They regarded lemons alleged
livery bill as an attempt to impose
upon the county treasury. Lennon, it
will be remembered, is the precious re-
former who charged Mr.. w. S. Ghowen,
the chairman Of the board of commits
sioners, with frand in connection with
the Hassan township road fund. 1t
turned out that Mr.. Chowen was in
fact the straight and upright man
everybody had always known him to
be ; but it cannot be expected that re-
formers will never get on the wrong
scent. Roally, $17S SO would not be a
very large sum to allow SO useful and
jealous a commissioner as Lennon to
draw out Of the county treasury,
whether Tor livery hire, for incident
ais" or for the wear and tear of feel
ings to which a reforuler in Office is in
ev1tably subjected. It was a very
small and narrow piece Of business on
the part of the commissioners to scru-
tinize the bill. How are the city and
county to get men who represent labor
and reform to serve OH their governing
boards, if they are to be hampered in
this style %
County Commissioner Lennon con-
sidered the above editorial malicious
and libelious, and Immediately wrote
the following letter demanding a re,
traction Of the same
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Jan. Z. 1888
To the Minneapolis Tribune Printing Company,
the Minneapolis Tribune, and Alden J.
Blethen and William 2. Haskell, as Blethen t.
In TO days issue Of the Minneapolis
Tribune, under the heading. ''Dlscour-
aging to Reformers. and in the second
ot said article, you sabstan-
italy charge me with attempting to
collect a fraudulent bill from Henre
pin county. Had you taken ordinary
precautions to acquaint yourselves
with the facts said article might not
have been published. Said article [
hold to be libellous, and hereby de-
mand a retraction CT each and every
statement therein, so far as the same
by direct charge or inuendO reflects
upon myself. This demand is made
pursuant to the requirements Of the
law governing civil suits for libel.
A. L. LENNON.
On Sunday. January II, the following
in what is known as "rruth-
full James, department. Of the Tribune
I'm spite Of my rheumatism, I am al
ways moved to do justice to those who
may have been injured by any asser-
ton. The rather sarcastic statements
which have been published in the local
columns of the Daily Press and edito
rally criticised in the same paper with
reference to that little bill of County
Commissioner Lemons has moved me
to make an Investigation. I incl
dentally called upon Mr.. Lennon, and
found q very bright looking little man,
or about so years, who impressed me
very favorably. and I therefore had g.
frank and open conversation, with re-
ference to his bill of expense, and
learned among other things the follow
ing facts: In the first place each
county commissioner receives the sum
of 5000 as salary, for the duties which
devolve upon that office. The commits
sion or commissioners who reside out
Of the city, are allowed also, 800 per an
mum for their travelling expenses.
Among the duties devolving upon q
commissioner, is the uperlntendence
of all the highways belonging to the
County of Hennepin, and of course
these are almost wholly outside the
limits of the City Of Minneapolis, and
extend over great deal of territory. It
so happened that Commissioner Len
non was appointed a member of the
committee on roads, bridges and lake
This duty required
Mr.. Lennon to ride over the county a
great deal, and the only possible con-
veyance was by team. During the
year he found that his livery bill for
such purposes exceeded $173. 1t oc-
cured to Mr.. Lennon that if country
commissioners were allowed 500 a
year for expenses, he ought to be al
lowed enough to cover the necessary
expenses while travelling over the
county. He thareupon consulted
County Attorney Davis, who advis sed
him that he was entitled to all 'neces
sary expenses accraing in the line OF. 4
his duty. MIR. Lennon made out his
bill, and procured the proof as to it's le-
yality from County Attorney Davis. and
presented it to the board Of commls
'ioners for allowance: But the boardI