St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-03-13
Arthur j. Shaw Refuses to
Testify, and the Tribunal
Is PoWerless.
Emerson Cole Repudiates His
Interview on the Water
Street. Scandal.

The developments before the investi-
eating committee of the council on
Tuesday were not OF the character cal
culated to bring joy to the hearts of the
Republican politicians, and some of the
statements made by the witnesses car
ried CONSERVATION and alarm into the
ranks OF retrenchment and reform. 1t
was all right to sacrifice Aid. McGOWan
and B~rUeshaber, of the First ward, for
they were Democrats and were not sup
posed to have anything in common with
the retrenchment and reform policy
which has been supposedly the key
stone OF the present administration,
but when it was brought out that one
of the city official, and that official was
no other than City Clerk Haney, was
likely to be mixed up in the matter, and
was liable, perhaps, to go down with
the Democrats, a change of base had to
be made at once. President johnson
was severely scored i'll certain quarters
for mentioning names which, it is
claimed, would have remained a secret
had it not been for his testimony, but
he Justlties his course by coming out
boldly and saying THAT he wanted the
names to come out so that if the stories
NO'O ~ uC I1O uluIlS ICu llGu nllSIG
have a foundation upon which to base
tice to City Clerk Hany, who
has been charged with being
the go-between it is only fair to state
that he challenges any II who knows
anything detrimental to his character
or reputation to come forward and state
it. The Republican leaders, however,
didn't like the appearance of things,
and it is said that considerable wire
pulling and missionary work was done
between the time of adjournment on
Tuesday evening and the meeting of
the committee yesterday. City Attor-
nev Russell did not seem yesterday to
take the same keen interest in ques-
tioning the witness that had marked his
examination on the first day, and
apparently, the whole business of the
committee was to show that the article
on which the investigation was untrue,
and that the members of the Times
staff had testified falsely.
THE INVESTIGATION RESUMED.
The committee waited patiently until
after II o'clock before any of the wit
nesses whom City Attorney Russell de-
sired to examine put in an appearance.
Sidewalk Inspector De Haven had been
given GIl6 SuDpOlIdcS lOl MeSSTS. OldW
L Elliott and Aid. Emerson and Cole.
After several attempts to find Mr.. Cole
De Haven reported that Mr.. Weeks,
Mr.. Coles business partner, had told
HIM that Cole had skipped out and had
gone to Canada" Naturally the report
created considerable amusement, but
De Haven couldn't see whore the laugh
came in. De Haven was also unable to
find Mr.. Elliott. but T. II. Shaw.
of the firm of Shaw & ELL
lott, appeared before the committee
and was examined as to the charges
made against the two aldermen from the
First ward. MI. Shaw was the only
witness examined at the morning ses-
sion, and the questions put to him were
not as searching as those put to the wit
nesses on the first day. Mr.. Shaw tes-
titled that he was a member of the firm
of Shaw & Elliott, and that their place
of business was in the First ward. The
firm wanted Water street vacated to
allow an extension of their mill, and he
had talked with two of the aldermen of
the ward about it. He had seen Aid.
%Ingenhutt and Aid. McGowan, and had
taken them over the ground and showed
them what the firm wanted.
"Was anything said about the use of
money, or that it would take money to
get the aldermen interested in the va
cation of Water street," inquired City
Attorney Russell.
about money"
Ibid any n representing your firm
suggest that money be used to influence
the aldermen"
There never was any intimation that
money should be used. Personally, L
am opposed to such a proceeding. I
don't think that it is right, and | would
sOOner not had the street vacated than
to have used n cent"
In his crOsS-eXaminatiOn by Mr..
Penny, Shaw said that Mr.. Elliott, in
one of the many talks he had with him
about the matter, might have told him
that by the use of money the influence
of the aldermen of the ward might be
secured. but he didn't know that he
did. After the examination of Mr..
Shaw was completed, the committee
took a recess until $3.50, and Officer De
Haven was instructed by the city attor-
ney to find the witnesses for whom sub
p@naS had been issued and to bring
them before the committee.
AID. STERLING'S LITTLE 5 PER CENT.
After the recess A. NJ. Scott was
ONOlls V1Ls RCObU lCStlllCu IlldU VII HCUs
25 he had q talk with Aid. j. G. Sterling,
of the Eighth ward, about the city va
eating a strip of land on TWenty-fourth
street, between Dupont and Hennepin
avenue. In this block the street is
eighty feet wide, while the rest of the
street it is SiXty-six feet. Mr.. Sterling
proposed that a strip of land even feet
wide on each side of the street be va
Gated, and he wanted the property own
ers to buy it. Mr.. Scott represented
Mr.. Van Ness, who owned one of the
blocks. Sterling had said that if he sue
ceeded in having the strip vacated the
property owners ought to be willing to
pay something fol it, and he thought
about $500 on each side of the street
would be right. He said that this
should not be considered as a part of
his duties as an alderman, but that if
such a scheme was put through it
would give something for the ward fund
and something for his trouble. Unless
the property owners agreed to pay
something he would oppose the vaca-
tlon of the strip, and he didn't believe
it could pass the council if he used his
influence against it. j. B. Tabour, who
the street, testified that Sterling had
IoN ohC rLi PAOPOSlOiOi w Aihis Ouh
stated that the money which would be
realized from the property owners for
the land would go into the ward fund.
to be nsed for ward Improvements.
Fred G. Squyres, who was present dur
ing the interview between Sterling and
Tabour, ~corroborated the previous wit
ness. Andrew Rinker, the city engin-
eer, testified that he haa heard the
story from MI. Scott as the latter had
testified before the committe. He had
informed City Attorney Russell. E. M.
johnson and City Comptroller Calder
wood of the facts in the case but he had
never given the story to any of the re-
porters.
j. c. Sterling said he was one Of the
aldermen from the Eighth ward. He
had talked with both Mr.. Tabour and
Mr.. Scott about the land in question,
and that they had testified to the true
facts in the case. He expected as a
real estate agent making a sale of the
land to get a commission of 5 per cent
for his trouble. He had informed Mr..
Cole the chairman of the commit
tee on roads and bridges that
if the street was vacated the
money would 90 into the ward fund for