St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-17
The Celebrated Building H.
Speetion Case Given an
Airing.
AnimuS Of the ScandalOuS At
tack Being Made on Mr..
Starkey.
Record Which the Latter Has
Made in the City Of st.
Paul.
A Turn at Mr.. Johnson'S AL
legged knowledge Of SAM
tary Science.

The reading public must by this time
| be nauseated by the mud -hinging of the
| Dispatch and the delectable Herald.
| of this city, in relation to the Starkey
| family, particularly E. c. Starkey, re-
| Gently elected by the common council
| Inspector of buildings to succeed Gates
| \. johnson, whose term expired on the
| 18th day of January, 1892. Johnson was
| candidate for reelection. but he sui
| fered defeat at the hands of the friends
| of the present incumbent. and like al
disappointed aSpirants he still held on
| to his official chair until removed there
from by police officer. His next step
while Wincing under the gall of defeat
was to rush into the supreme court and
obtain writ of quo warrantO,, citing E.
Z. Starkey to appear before the su-
preme court and show cause why he
SHOULD not be Ousted from the office of
inspector of buildings. 1t is to be re-
GREETED that he was not content to raise
certain issues that require judicial de-
termination, but follows this up by as
Stunning the right to question his sue
cessor's competency to fill the office,
| and in his complaint uses the following
language: said Starkey is ineligible
and disqualified to fill the said office of
inspector of buildings for the reason,
among others, that the said Starkey is
not practical architect and sanitary
engineer; that he. the said Starkey, is
wholly without experience in the matter
of the
Construction of Buildings.
or the sanitary parts pertaining to said
buildings. That he is wholly without
experience or knowledge of the profess
sion of architecture or sanitary engi-
neering and uniformed in the matter
of planning, constructing or supervising
the construction of buildings and other
structures" The above language has
been quoted in full, SO that an impartial
public may at once see to what desper-
ate straits this Self-cOnStituted Judge
has been driven in his Intense desire to
hold on to an office which he has held
tor the last eight years and still clings
to with dea.hlike grip, cutting and
moving down Of he cam all
and every obstacle in his way,
even to the immolation of his
successful opponent Oh the altar of his
officehOlding ambition Well may In
spector Starkey eXclaim, ION whose
meat does this our Caesar feed?" 1t is
to this particular wall by johnson of
Starkey'S incompetency, ETC., etc, the
in doing so will have to make some
references and comparisons which,
generally speaking, as Mrs. Parting
ton would say, ''are odOrous," and in
fact may be very Odorous to the nos
trils of Mr.. Johnson. 1t will be re-
membered that in January, 1884, John
son was elected inspector of buildings,
principally through the
lnstrumentalitY off G. Starkey,
then an alderman of this city, and it
would certainly be pertinent to ascer-
tain what were his qualifications for i'll
spector of buildings at that time? He
certainly was neither architect nor SAIL
itary engineer; he was, however, what
is known as surveyor and civil eDgi-
neer: to what extent he was entitled to
be even called civil engineer arose from
the fact that by a combination OF cir
cumStanceS he was appointed chief en-
gineer of the Lake Superior e Missis-
Sippi railWay-nOW the St. Paul & Du-
luth-but we fail to find any great work
OF civil engineering OH that road-any
structures built from his designs, or
in fact anything that could be
credited to his engineering ability; for
it is we'll known that to other men be-
longs whatever is due to their credit in
matters of construction, whether the
permanent roadbed. tracklaying, round
houses, machine shops, stations, etc.
Outside of this his experience is a
perfect blank, and 1t was only on his
election to the Office of Inspector of
buildings that all at once he became a
full-f1edged architect and sanitary eu-
gineer. And after his eight years eX-
perience in the inpector's Office it is
grave question as to his knowledge of
sanitary engineering, or his skill as an
architect-reference need only be made
TO the late fearful holocaust of human
llUpG 0QnGQH Inv tho faIljnrr Of l1n
burnt building in this city. His failure to
perform his duty in the premises so
plainly provided in the building ordi-
nanceS and laws of the city stamps hi III
as man totally incompetent and IN
worthy to longer hold so important a
pOSitiOn-to which conclusion there is no
doubt the common council came when
they elected E. c. Starkey to succeed
him, whose
Reputati on Is Untarnished.
whose executive ability is coupled wit h
lifelong experience in works of con-
struction, and years of practical expert
ence i'll sanitary engineering, co nstruc-
ton of sewers, house drains, and, in
fact. all that pertains to an efficient
sewerage system. What record has
johnson in these very important quail
fcations for building inspector? Echo
answers, What!
Now, let us look at Starkey's record
since his advent into the territory of
Minnesota in 1850, and what are his
qualifications for Inspector of buildings?
1t IS, perhaps. proper that the writer
of this communication should state that
long and intimate acquaintance
with the present building inspector
enables him to testify as follows: Com
ing from Illinois with his parents in
1850 to st. Paul, he received a common
school education, but did not graduate
at West Point, but chose a more prac-
teal school of experience, as herein re-
corded:
He when scarcely sixteen years old be-
longed to militia company, and on the
call of President Lincoln for troops, en-
listed as a private in Company NJ.
First Minnesota cavalry, was mustered
into the service of the United States,
Served His Full Term,
and afterwards honorably discharged
on expiration of his term of service.
After this he engaged in the business
OF general contractor, embracing the
construction of railroads, sewers, cul-
verts, bridges, ETC., as we'll as the coll
structIOn of stone foundations for
heavy business blocks in Duluth. He
also worked in the machine and fitting
shops of the St.Paul harvester works. He
also superintendent the construction OF
several important sewers in st. Paul,
where knowledge of masonry, brick
or stone, and the strength and quality
of the material used was neces-
sary to determine the weight those
structures would safely carry so
as to protect the constant public
traffic over the same, all of which he
id most successfully. Again we find
h i'm engaged in railroad construction on
the Northern Pacific, st. Paul & Du-
luth, Lake Superior & st. Croix rail-
road, from Northern Pacific Junction to
Surerior City, and other roads, the con-
struction of which embraced the per-
manent readbed, bridges. culverts,
timber work, etc. He also superintend-
ed the branch line of the st. Paul, Still
water & Taylor's Falls railway from
the Saltwater junction to the Lake st.
Croix bridge; in fact. his whole life,
Of lao &N