The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1892-03-24

ice Roth. himself. very much nastersd,
appeared and said he was ready to give
his testimony. He was taken before
the grand jury and told a rsmarkahis
story, and as result the indictments
were drawn up. The charge Against
w. j. o'BTien, D. B. o. Brisn and Pow.
ers is bribery. and the .spacifcations II
the other indictments .allege eonspixscy
to do an unlawful act. Il r. expsetSd'
that the indictments win nowsbe found
ut the rate Of one a day. The couspis.
acy indictments will include the nnmes
Of many other persons as accomplices: :,
Alderman Roth's Story.
Roth's examination, while long, did
not extend to the particulars of his
knowledge of dishonesty BY aldermen.
It touched only the. highest tisibls
peaks of the evidence around which
cluster many heaps of corroboratige do
tails. His story ran something like
this: 80. -, - 49,.
On July Is the alderman fromthe Thir-
teenth ward was approached by Aldsrman
Dan O'Brien, who suggested to him fhss
members of the council who would vote
for the Economic gas ordinance, Rosh
pretended to acquiesce, but demanded
time to consider the propositionssi TIT
was granted and the alderman sought Che
counsel Of friend, 10 whom he eonfideA
the facts. saying: asthfnkI have COED
chance nowsto trap. the Doodle aldermen, A
and asked for advice as TO what SorirseFts
pursue. This friend advised Roth to con.
tinue acting as if in. accord with the prop-
ositions made to him and, to acoept my
bride offered him, keeping cafe6nl record
Of all incidents connected with the trans
actions Roth followed this advice to the
letter. He was coy, however, and declined
to listen further. to Dan O'Brien.< iThsl
he was approached by Billy o. Brisn, to
whose eloqueRce, Roth appeared to yield.
Promptly Paid for His Vote. 49, -.
The Economic came up for passage and
Roth pledged himself to vote for it. In
return for this promise O'Brien gave him
$3.50 which he promptly deposited with tho
men who are now conducting the iayesti-
cation. Roth was now considered one Of
the initial members SO far as Doodle was
concerned, and when the Northern. Pa
ciic came up he was approached promptly
and for his vote he was paid, $1,000, the
money being given him BY Alderman
John Powers. The three other aldermen
named above also as stated approached
Roth at different times and offered him
money to vote for different ordinances In
which they were interested. - -.. 1888
The other witnesses examined were
President ]. s. Zimmerman of the Peo-
pies Gas company, who told the grand
jury that no aldermen held stock IN hts
company, and President E, D. Hosmss,
of the Chicago and Jefferson Crban
Transit company, who related the story
Of his unsuccessful attempt to secure q
right Of way and Of the efforts Of oee-
tain aldermen to blackmail him. ....
Some Figures Given.
"It costs a deal of money sometimes 10
buy the city council" said an attorney
who is closely connected with the STATES
attorney, 1.-The Northern Pacific has al
the worst of It in the last three big deals
the aldermen have made. The figures for
those three sales sales of city, franchises
are just these: Northern Pacific, $50, 600;
Economic Gas, $780, 900; Compressed Air,
$4,000
Alderman Roth is believed to be the
man who began the council Doodle In
vestigation. He is said to have received
81, 900 in two bills of $500 each in the 70
firing room of the council chamber sr
the Sherman house on the night of pas-
sage of the Economic Gas ordinances.
He kept the money, voted "yea." md
then "wilted." He went 70 . news.
paper Office and gave up the money and
told of other transactions that had como
to his knowledge. Most Of tho aldex-
men profess to be anxious to appear b.
fore the grand jury and claim, to have
no knowledge of the alleged bribery.
Nevertheless large force Of detectives
is employed watching the suspected
men with instructions to arrest them In
in case in attempt is made to leave tho
citU