St. Paul daily globe., 1892-03-22
SEVEN ARE INDICTED,
FIRST Names Placed on the
New Roll Of Dishonop OF
Chicago.
A Woman Suddenly Bobs UP
as a Witness Against the
BoodlerS.
One Indictment a Day Is
Promised Till the Last Man
Is Caught.
Alderman Roth Reeites How
the Lines Were Drawn on
the Bribes.

CHICAGO. March 21.-The great state
of Illinois may soon have a few more
Estate boarders." After three days of
investigation into the Doodle methods of
the city council the grand jury this
afternoon found true bill against
seven aldermen. This indictment
charges conspiracy to commit bribery.
The roll of dishonor is as follows:
w. j. OBrien, Daniel r. O'Bren,
Nicholas A. Cramcr, T. ]. German,
Philip Jackson, S. NJ. Goslin, John F.
Dorman. Two more indictments were
found, but not returned, against the
first named, w. J. O'Brien. They
charge bribery and state that OBrien
gave Aid. Roth $1,000 to vote
for the Northern Pacific ordinance
and $3.50 to vote for the Economic Gas
ordinance. The names of the witnesses
signed to the Indictment, besides City
Clerk Van Cleaye and Aid. KunZ,
Chasey, Roth, Vierling and Smith and
Secretary Zimmerman, of the Peoples
Gas company, are John Williams and
Hannah Larkin.
The fact that there is a woman in the
case has heretofore been kept quiet, but
it may prove an important factor for
the prosecution. In regard to her ap-
pearance, States Attorney Longnecker
says: "There are certain houses of i'll
repute which certain aldermen visited
while much the worse for liquor, and
they
Talked Too Freely
while there for their own good" Asked
if more indictments might be expected,
the states attorney replied: You may
look for about one day from this time
until the whole outfit is indicted" AS
soon as the indictments were out Judge
Anthony, of the criminal court, fixed
bail at $4,000 each. Capiases were at
once issued and placed i'll the hands of
deputy sheritfs. Rumor, however, flew
faster than the officers, and most of the
capiases were served in the criminal
court building, the indicted aldermen
having come i'll of their own accord. By
o'clock all except Aids. German and
Goslin had furnished bail, and these
two, although not yet found by the Off
i'll course OF preparation.
AID Roth this evening makes public,
officially, for the first time. the part he
has taken in the Doodle transactions OF
the city council. This statements, after
recitng the manner of his selection to
be member of the council, says: Il
had not been long in the council until l
found ordinances were not ALWAYS
passed upon their merits, nor ever upon
friendship existing among alderlncn,
but in some cases settled down to
Dispensation of Money.
At the time of the passage of the
Economic Gas ordinance over the may
Or'S veto, it was found by the Doodle
members Of the council it would be
necessary to bring into line some alder
men not in line on the original vote on
the ordinance. | suppose that, think
ing that my voting for 1t would be worth
more in satisfying the. public that the
ordinance was not wholly bad than the
vote of some members whose reputa-
tlons were less satisfactory than mine,
led them to prefer me to others who
might have been bought. | was spoken
to by one. of the O'Briens. who said that
| could receive a consideration for my
vote.
Knowing the Daily News and other
newspapers had taken vigorous pub
lie stand against boodling in the coun-
Gil, and that they would be friendly to
any exposure of the councils methods,
and with the view of bringing the COR
ruptlonists to justice, | called on the
Daily News. The matter was carefully
talked over by various persons inter-
ested in public affairs, and arrange
mentS were made for receiving the
money promised in such way that
witnesses could testify to the visit of
the man who paid the money. Seven
hundred and fifty dollars was paid me
in my Office, which money l impedl-
atelv showed to my bookkeeper, ex-
planning who had paid it and why it
was paid on the Wednesday after the
passage over the mayors veto OF the
Economic Gas ordinance.
Gave Up the Bribe.
This money within five minutes after
receiving | took over to the Daily
News office and in the presence of wit
nesses deposited it in sealed envelope
bearing the date and statement as to
what it referred to, About two weeks
after that the ordinance of the Northern
Pacific passed the council the second
time. A certain alderman from South
side ward informed me about noon on
July %, the day after the ordinance had
possed, that Billy O'Brien had the
money and that he was to meet O'Brien
at the Sherman house at 2 O'Clock.
| Immediately communicated the fact
to the Daily News office and | under
stand they had the Sherman house
watched and discovered the statement
which had been made to me was cor
rect, and that the aldermen met at that
place as appointed. Very soon after 2
city clerks office and conducted me
Into the washroOm, where he handed
me an envelope with the word sBoth"
written on the outside of it. The en-
velope was sealed.
went over to the Office of Mr.. Baker,
the attorney for the Tribune, and tele-
phoned for representatives of other pa.
pers. The envelope was opened in the
presence of all these witnesses and was
found to contain two $500 bills. The
witnesses took the numbers of the bills
and they were then carefully sealed up
in the envelope and the signatures of
those present placed on the outside of
the envelope. This was then, under
stand, taken to the Daily News Office
and placed with the other money.
Watched by Detectives.
Afterwards am told that the various
papers hired detectives to watch various
members of the council, and In this
manner secured much corroborative evi-
dence. But with this had nothing to
do. I myself took no money at any time
for any other purpose than bringing to
light the corrupt methods employed in
the city council, and have pFohted in no