St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-06-08

third vote to suspend a call. so the mo-
ton was declared lost.
From that time for the next five days.
and until the close of the session, the
council remained under the call, eating,
drinking and sleeping in the council
chamber.
The sergeant-at-arms. John Lamb,
was instructed every morning that 1t
was his duty to report Rolette~ in his
seat
Either Dead or Alive.
The fact was, however, that Lamb
was nea~r-sighted, and perhaps would
not have been able to recognize ROlette
across a card table. The air was full
of rumorS as to what had become OF
Joe. A Red river courier stalked n
morning into the central house and
stated that on his way to st. Paul from
Pembina he had passed Joe at Sank
Rapids going north with a double team
of dogs hitched to his sled. A half
breed irony abashaw said that Joe had
passed that place in the night on his
way to Wisconsin. 1t was hard to tell
whether Joe was going north or south.
Tie fact Was, however, that after Joe
safety he stepped into the Fuller house
and told the prOprietorS, the Long Bros,
that his health required him to retire
from public life for a few days, and that
he wanted a room where no "unfriendly
cuss" would be able to find him. Long,
who understood the situation of affairs,
provided rooms on the top floor for his
distinguished guest-where for the next
five days he held high revelry-by day
recounting WondrOus stories to the
chambermaids of life on the frontier
at night playing poker and pinochle
with the boys.
On the last night of the session the
president had hardly declared the coun-
Gil adjourned sine die, when Joe
Marched Into the Council Chamber
with as much Indifference and careless
ness as if he had not been absent tie
minutes, ready to report the bill as corn
rectly enrolled. But he was too late.
While Joe was in retirement the friends
of the capitol bill had Que enrolled from
a COPY, to which Hon. John b. BriSbln,
president, and Hon. Mr.. Furber, speaker
of the house, refused to attach their Of
ficlal signatures. The bill was approved
by the governor, however, and published
as one of the laws passed by the legiSla-
ture.
The st. Peter company, being OF the
opinion that the law was valid. erected
g small frame building at st. Peter for
a capitol building, and then applied to
Judge r. r. Nelson for a writ of man.
damuS to compel the territorial officers
to remove their several offices to st.
Peter. Judge Nelson, in a lengthy
opinion, after reviewing all the facts,
held that in his opinion there had been
no law passed by the legislative power
of the territory removing the capital
from st. Paul to st. Peter. And thus
the curtain was rung down upon a legiS-
lative struggle which, at the time. led
to a great deal of i'll feeling.
Unique Records.
1t may be further said that in the
Office OF the register of deeds of Nicollet
county may be found the marketable
value of nearly every member OF the
legislature who voted for the bill. Some
of the members received two lots, others
three, four. five or six. as the case might
be; frst-class husJlers received a block,
and in two cases five acres or SUBURBAN
property is added.
The earlier members of the legiS-
latlhre were simple-minded fellows who
did not hesitate to take deeds of town
lots, railroad stock or checkS-our gen.
Grafton is more wide-awake. Nothing
will 90 now but bankable funds in
sealed envelopes. and even those in
some cases have to be placed under a
stone.
Perhaps it may not be amiss to say
that it was on the front portico of the
old territorial capitol that Gov. VII.
Seward in addressing the people Of st.
Paul in 1860 said: Il find myself now
for the first time upon the highlands in
the center of the continent of North
America, equidistant from the waters
of Hudson;s bay and the Gulf of Mex
leo, from the Atlantic ocean to the
ocean in which the sun sets;" and he.
might have added that within a third OF
a century the seat of empire of the. great
Northwest. - 80
Several years had passed after the
attempt of the st. Peter Land company
to kidnap the capital. Senators and
representatives came to aud went from
the sessions of the legislatures, satisfied
that the quaint old capitol would answer
every purpose until Minnesota would
become more wealthy, and the people in
a better condition to pay taxes. During