St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-27
Defend FRAUD.
continued Fro,n First Pa~e.

Continued From First Page.
he calls upon Mr.. Piilsbury to let loose
his tongue that has so long been tied,
aud answer the following questions:
1. Did you use the same tactics with
the members from the rural districts to
bring them to your way of thinking
| that you used with your local agents to
| get them to do business on your plan. or
| in the way you marked out.
2. Did you tell one of your local
agents up north on the line of the st.
| Paul, Minneapolis q Manitoba railway,
when he shipped car of No. hard
wheat to a certain party to put in
''some" No. hard and have the car
| show up as we'll as possible? And did
| you tell him you expected him to make
| some grades, but not to overdo the thing
| and thereby kill the golden calf "a queer
phrase which lays the golden egg?
3. Did you not tell this same agent
| OF yours to give one of his customers an
extra cent pei bushel on 554 bushels. to
| satisfy him. but take it out of him on
| grade and dockage? And did you tell
| him in the same letter to make some
| thing out of some of the trade?
4. Did you tell this same agent to
sugar" some of the ringleaders from
certain locality? And did you refer
him to your travelling man who would
post him how to handle them fine?
5. Did you send one of your elevator
| men your check for 500, telling him he
was ahead OH grades, and in the future
you trusted he would be ahead on the
weights?
6. Did you tell this same man of yours
to insist on parties shipping their wheat
on their own account. if not satisfied
mil inf hot
ing would cure fault finding so quickly
and effectually as that?
Z. And finally, did you tell this agent
to sugar" certain fellows up and give
them all there was in 1t, and make it
up by giving big weights OH the other
side?
Now, hope you can answer all of
these questions satisfactorily to the
poor farmers. who are grooming under
the weight OF burden too great for
them to bear.
GEORGE G. WHITCoMB.
Capt. WhItcomb Found.
Patient inquiry developed the fact
that George G. Witcomb in 1855 was a
prominent farmer living near AleXan-
dria, Mimi. and large shipper of wheat.
Since that time he had retired from act
i've farming operations, and was sup
posed to be living in Minneapolis. Those
who knew Mr.. Whitcomb stated that he
lad lived in Minnesota for nearly forty
years; that he bore an lrreprOachable
character. had served as captain of
volunteers during the Indian massacre
in 1862. and that it was he who bore the
first news to Gov. Ramsey of the bloody
work of the redskins at Action. Every
body who knew Capt. Whitcomb stated
that his reputation for veracity was I'M
II til nd hot I<r l,aI1
highest regard.
This was the man whom the Herald
representative sought aud finally found
in pretty uncovered cottage at 40l
Forest avenue. In response to ring at
the doorbell a vigorouS-looking old gen
tlenian appeared. whose clear skin and
penetrating gaze seemed to scarcely ac-
cord with his whitened locks and snowy
beard.
rs this Capt. Whitcomb. formerly of
alexandria," he was asked.
Yes, sir: what can | do for you?
'Well. captain. [ am from the Chi
cage Herald. and would like to ask you
the meaning of a certain letter you
wrote to the Minneapolis Tribune in
April, 1885, wherein you call upon Mr..
Pillsbury to answer a few questions
A queer smile for a moment fitted
across the old gentieman's face, then
was instantly depressed as he replied:
20, that's story L guess had better not
be recalled: fought the fight once and
came out ahead. and am willing to let
bygoneS be bygoneS. But come in and
tell me what you're after"
In Capt. Whitcomb's cosy little parlot
the newspaper caller sat and unfolded
the details Of the robbery by the wheat
combine as published in the Herald.
Occasionally the captain would inter-
rupt with pertinent inquiry that
showed his perfect Familiarity with the
subject, and when the recital was fin
ished he leaned back III his armchair,
and. nodding his head briskly, ex-
claimed: Same old tricks: same old
tricks"
For several minutes the retired old
farmer sat in brown study; then he
suddenly asked what good will it do
to explain the meaning Of my open let
ter to Mr.. Pillsbury."
He was assured that if it tended to
cOrroborate the expose by giving addi
tional facts he would be doing the farm
erS of Minnesota and the Dakotas an
iuestimable service.
This was putting a new light upon
! the matter. As good Republican Capt.
Whitcomb had demurred against fur
niShing any material that would reflect
state, but here was situation that ad-
mitted of no partisan actioh; so after a
few minutes reflection he said: ''Wall,
if it will help out the farmers I'll just
tell you what those questions meant.
A Story of Wrong.
''ln the spring of 1885 | was working
| my farm at Alexandria i'll this state,
where | had the reputation of raising
| pretty good crops. l had between five
and six thousand bushels of wheat that
season, all of which | hauled to
the Pillsbury-Hulburt company ele-
vator at Alexandria. rather prided
myself Oh my systematic method of
farming, and was especially particular
in sacking my wheat before hauling it
| to the elevator. l had one man fill every
bag of wheat that went into the wagons.
and so evenly was each sack filled that
with the three teams that l kept haul
| ing TO the station the loads did not vary
| five pounds from each other.
''One day, after had sent in some
1900 bushels, my foreman came back
and, without saying a word, laid down
| check which he had received from
the agent in payment for that
days delivery of wheat. l was
busy at the time and did not stop to
| figure the loads, but later on l made a
the agent had made my loads forty
bushels lighter than my weights. l at
once called in my foreman and asked
him what it meant. He replied: oh,
they've all been getting it, and it's your
| turn now, that's ALL
is it?" said l. We'll, 1 guess not.
! You take that check back to Collins and
tell him he has made a mistake, and
that will see him in the morning when
go to town and get check for the diff
| ference
Next morning l rode over to the sta
ton on horseback, and, pulling up close
to the Office. yelled to Collins to come
out. See here l said, that check was
| short forty bushels. according to my
scales, and 1 want you to reetify your
error
"'Rectify nothing he returned. we
go by our weights, and you'll have to do
| fine samp'