St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-29
ANOTHER LIBEL SUIT,
Unless the Pioneer Press Re-
tracts It's Health Office
Charges.
Mayor Smith Declares DR..
Hoyt Must Disprove Them
or Resign.
The Latter Replies They Are
a Piece OF Political
SANDER,
And Demands a Complete Re-
traction or a Libel Suit
Penalty.

The Hoyt scandals, ordinations and
determinations have thus far passed
without official cognlZance. so far as eX-
ecutive action is concerned. Yesterday
| an entirely new phase was put upon the
case by the very emphatic and explicit
charges made in an editorial article IN
the Pioneer Press. That any citizen
even suspected the existence OF sum
corrupt relations between DIR. hoyt and
! any of the city contractors as IS so posi-
lively charged in the Pioneer Press, IS a
matter of profound surprise to the
mayor and his friends. The paper in
! question alleges thatiu his testimony IN
the very unsavory Hoyt- Mcclellan ease,
| the doctor made very damaging admis-
sio ms. The editorial charges that DIR.
! Hoy admitted conspiracy against the
city and in the interests Of the fleish-
mann Azotinc company, and pursues
| that Hoyt .. KID the bills Of the Azo-
| tine company against the city, when the
specific terms Of the contract held by
the company showed that the company
was not Justly entitled to cent. me
| article particularizeS that S50OO was
actually paid in this way. and, more
over, that further bill Of over $4,000,
| passed upon by him In like manner IS
| still pending in the council. Such
specific and overt charges could not be
| ignored by the executive of the city,
and Mayor Smith lost no time i'll dictat-
ing the following open letter TO DR..
Hoyt. 1t IS sufficiently explicit to eX-
! plain itself:
Ausya
DR.. Henry F. noyt, Health Officer, st. Paul,
| Mimi:
sir-My attention has been called to an edi-
| tora in the st. Paul Pioneer Press OF THIS
morning, IN which certain charges are made
affecting your integrity as pubic otilcial.
am not in possession of definite knowl,
| edge concerning the truth Or falsity nf said
| charges but deem il my duty to notify you
| that unless immediate and efficient steps are
taken by you TO Gisproye these charges snail
! at once demand your resignation AS heailh
! ROBERT A. SMITH, Mayor.
DIR. Hoyt had not waited for this Of
! fetal action, however. Immediately
upon learning OF the serious charges he
| took legal steps to secure redress.
| After consulting his counsel papers
! were drawn up and notice was regu-
| larly served upon the Pioneer Press to
! retract according 10 the intention Of the
! criminal statute, aud he AYERS that "
the retraction is not Forthcoming the
action will be begun instantly upon the
| expiration OF the time allowed for the
| purpose. lie seems to be desperately
| in earnest, and in his reply to the mr.
| raignment, which follows, he expresses
something of this sentiment.
Dr. Hoyt Responds.
ST. PAUL. Mimi. April -. 1892 Hon. Rob
! ert A. Smith, Mayor OF the City Of 81, Paul
| Dear Sir: acknowledge the receipt of your
favor of this morning, stating mat an ell
| torial was published in the 81. Paul Pioneer
| Press In which certain charges were made
! affecting my integrity as public ofhciaiand
| stating that unless steps were ut once taken
! 10 disprove the charges you should feel
| Obliged 10 demand my resignation as health
! otficpr of the oIty In reply thereto | have to
| say: First, as to the charge that am con
| nected in any way, directly or indirectly.
| with the Azotine Company OF st: Paul,
the charge IS in whole ana III de,
| tail UNANIMOUSLY false | do not and
| never have owned a dollar OF stock in the
| said company; | have never received any
salary, fee gratuity, favor, or anything else
| of value from the said AZotine company
since the time that the same was incorpo-
| rated, or from any officer, agent, employe or
| representative thereof; and any charge that
any official act of mine has ever been I'M
properly influenced by the officers or agents
| of the SAID company. or Dy any one elSe, ID
| absolutely false
unfortunately FOR me, have been falsely
| accused of n very serious offense by one Nc
| Clelan OF this city, and the SUIT which he
| has brought 70 recover damages from me IS
| Ms Won we'll know, Mt present OH trial I;
and in view of the fact that u political
| eampaign is now in progress in this city. the
newspapers which are politically opposed to
| the administration OF the city government
have seen tit TO make an especial attack
| - no fncf -Cof
| litigation is now in progress. The editorial
| in the Pioneer Press states that while giving
nv testimony in this suit on Tuesday
| volunteered the astounding statement that
had been connected with the Azoline COM
pany" The reporter OF the Pioneer Press,
who was present at the time my testimony
was given well knows that this statement Is
absolutely without foundation. | did say
this tand | am quoting from the Official
reporters minutes OF my testimony, Il
| might lust us well state that worked Tor the
company that he (F!eischmann represents
in New York in other cities; been con
nectel with them for two or three years.
MIR. Fleischmann. in his deposition, which
was taken to be used upon the trial OF this
case saws that he is the general manager OF
the Merz company. This is II corporation
which has its office at ISS Broadway, in the
city of New York. This company IS the pro
prietor of the MerZ system of disposng OF
garbage, and | have been employed, as have
the health officers and physicians
of other cities, by this company
as sanitary expert, to visit
cities where they are eudeavorlng to make
contracts for the destruction OF garbage, Il
give my testimony as 20 the value of the
system. | have visited upon this business
the cities OF Charleston, ). c.; Des Moines
10 ST LOUIS. Mo-, and Kansas City. Mo. Fol
this service | have charged and have been
paid reasonable compensation That is the
only professional connection or other bust
| ness relation of any caractef or description
that have ever had with Henry A. Fleisch
mann, or any company with which he Is con
! nected or in which he is interested | desire
to make this denial as broad and sweeping as
it can be worded. and l defy any newspaper
or person to produce any evidence whatever
| TO the contrary.
Now as to the charges with reference Ia
my official conduct as health commissioner
The editorial in question contains the follow
| ing charge: And yet we find i'll the comp
| uoller's report that 5000 was paid to the
Azotine company for disposition of garbage
| between April and Aug.1. AS the Azotine
works were burned down on April Is they
were plainly entitled to pay for only two
weeks work under their contract or the sum
of SOS They were actually paid for four
months work, or $1,000. OF which 81. S75 was
n pure steal Inquiry develops the fact thai
DR.. Hoyl, as president of the board of health
annroyed this bill of the Azotine company
with full knowledge that they were not en-
titled to have il paid under their contract"
|
| original bills themselves in the Office of the
civ comptroller will demonstrate. l ap
proved no bills of the Azotine company from
April l TO Aug. /, 1891, for the disposition OF
garbage. The work of the Azo.ine company
is divided into two rSrts. They had one con
tract for collecting the garbage of the city
and another for the disposing of the same
The work of collecting garbage was not done
| in a satisfactory manner by the Azotne com
pany during The first part OF the year 1891
and an inspection of the bills on file in the
com troler's office for the collection of gar
bage will show that from January to Angus
| approved but two bills aud refused TO ap
| prove of five They were all paid. however
BY the order of the eouneil,as am informed
Upon July last l addressed the following
communication to the city council: ~
ST PAUL, MIMI. July ito the Honor
able Common Couneu-Gentlemen would
respectfully call your attention to>the fac
that the contract between the .Azotine Manu-
featuring company aud the city of st Pau
for the collection of garbage expired some
mouths ago aud that the present system o
Il collection is not satisfactory to this depart
ment or to the public. Also that the con
tract between the said company an(
the city specifies that the garbag'
- No.,