St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-15
Men at Work on the Sewers Lived in
Glover.
POLITICS IN CITY WORK.
Aid. McArdle Admits Asking Foreman
Dolan to Help Him Po-
itically.


mittee and attorneys. The committee
consisted of Aid. Dwyer, Morse. Hans
com, SwenSon and Clark. Swenson was
the only one absent. When the conf
mittee was called to order Aid. Dwyer
read the interview in the papers which
contained the engineers charges.
Mr.. Rinker took the floor, and stated
that he was willing to plead guilty TO all
the charges against him. but he wanted
TO be allowed to go into the whole mat
ter. He wanted power to call III Wit
nesses who could prove abuses, but ne
did not want the committee to tie MIN
to any one thing.
1T seems to me-" said Chairman
Dwyer, that we should be given the
names of the aldermen the city engineer
referred to, so that they can be here 10
defend themselves"
1.-The names of the aldermen will APP
pear as we go along" replied Mr.. Rink
er. "Now, / will state that | have let
tiers here which will subStantiate my
charges. Here | have a letter from Mr..
Dolan, foreman of the pumping sta
ton, in which he says that certain al
derman waited upon him. and requested
that his friends be given work. Among
the aldermen are Aid. John Kerr ana
William McArdle."
THE ALDERMEN WITH LETTERS.
The city engineer then read several
letters from Aid. McArdle to Mr.. Dolan,
in which employment for certain friends
of the alderman was asked forever
demanded.
Il made the statement" continued
Mr.. Rinker, ''that certain aldermen
took men from the sewer trenches INTO
saloons. | don't know that you have
any right to compel me to prove this,
but can do it, and | will. Now want
to present the testimony have III my
possession. / have been brought here
to answer certain charges, and l am
going to do it,"
Andrew Dolan was the first witness
called. He had been employed at the
Single Creek pumping station during
the past season, he said, and he could
say that he had been terribly bothered
by requests from certain aldermen TO
put certain men-friends of thelrS-to
work. There was not much work to be
done, but the men kept coming until
he was overwhelmed.
There are several abuses know Of"
continued the witness, land II am
asked about them | will tell the truth'
in regard to what know. Aid. Mills
sent in frequent requests to put men TO
work. At a guess ] should say Aid.
McArdle sent rom thirty to fifty men
to me to get work. / had about seventy
five men working under me, and Ofthat
number not many were sent TO me by
the aldermen. The reason was because
the men sent TO me by the city officials
were not flrst-class men,"
Did these aldermen use any pres
sure to get you to give employment to
men they sent to you?" asked Aid.
Dwyer.
Before Mr.. Dolan could answer the
city engineer took the floor and made
few remarks, in which he showed that
one man whom Aid. McArdle had
recommended for aplace had criminally
assaulted a little girl, and was now do
ing time in saltwater. :
II want to say right here" continued
the city engineer, THAT our foremen
are not allowed to give work to any
man because of his politics. Now
want TO ask Mr.. Dolan if Aid. McArdle
ever went to him and tried to get him to
use his political influence in securing
his election?"
Eyes, sir, he did" replied Mr.. Dolan.
"Mr. McArdle came TO me and said he
wanted me to get the men under Inc to
vote and work for him."
INFLUENCING WORKMEN.
The city engineer read letter from
the employees of the Northeast Mime
apolis sewer. stating that Aid. Liter
ault had told the men there that they
need not work haru as they were work
ing for the city, and had seen him take
some of the men employed there into
saloons during working hours. Mr..
Dahlgren, one of the men signing the
letter, was called to the stand. He
swore to having seen the alderman from
the First ward take the men into sa
loon and treat them to beer and cigars.
Mr.. Cappelen, of the engineers depart
ment. said he had read the interview
which brought about this Investigation.
He had had charge of the North side
pumping station, and had seen MANY
men sent there by some of the aldermen
at work when there was no use in en-
ploying them, ard he had discharged
them.
AID. LHerault came tome one day."
continued the speaker, land requested
TO put his brother-in-law on the works,
as he had lame shoulder and could
not do any hard work."
Il want it understood right here" ex-
claimed Aid McArdle, "that plead
guilty TO sending men to the foreman,
but | did not take employees into the
saloons, nor did tell them that they
need not work hard because they were
working for the city,"
ibid any other alderman ask you to
put men on the work, Mr.. Cappelen?'
asked Mr.. Rinker.
"Yes, Aid. Mills did and Aid. Kerr
did. The latter sent letter TO me In
which he intimated that if did as he
requested might some time become
city engineer. Other applications were
made to me by County Commissioners
Lennon and Swift and tile trades and
labor assembly,
That's what l wanted TO show re-
marked the city engineer.
Mr.. Cappelen went on and showed |
that trouble had been caused by the |
stone cutters union over the giving of |
employment TO man who was not a |
member of the stone cutters union |
Some of the members had told him that |
if he ever employed the man again |
they would make the engineers depart /
ment
ANY AMOUNT OF TROUBLE.
Mr.. Cappelen told of some of the |
troubles which had occurred at the |
works in a graphic manner.
do you believe the statements l |
made in this interview" asked City |
Engineer Rinker.
"Yes. sir: do was the emphatic re-
Spouse. Il know that abuses will creep
in in spite of all that can lie done"
mfr. kBowen, who has been en-
played by the engineers department as
paving inspector, was next called. He |
said that about week before election |
Aid. Nc Arale had come TO him and
said that it would be good thing for
him to get out and rustic for the Demo
cratic nominees, as they were coming
back into power"
did you not make the first advances
in this matter?' asked NcArdle.
Il did not, and the statement that l
told Mr.. LAWYER that wanted to help
you is false in every respect"
'.You told me-" continued Mr. Bowen,
Mr.. McArdle, '-that there
roc aapcidorahla indian oh r-o,, |