St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-22
TELLS OF BRIBERY.
More Sensational Testimony
in the Investigation in
Kansas.
Legate Admits Handling the
$4,000 Furnished by
Kline.
Men Paid to Vote One Way,
Sold Their Votes Over
Again.
Kline Going to Topeka to
Tell Of the Part He
Played.

1OPEhA, NALL, MARCH Sl.-116 SEN
ate committee, which has been investi-
eating charges of bribery by the Capital
of high state officials to defeat certain
anti-gambling bills in the recent legis-
lature was continued today, and pro-
duced some more sensational testimony.
After a number of witnesses had given
unimportant testimony, James F. Le-
gate was sworn. Having exam
ined the letter he addressed to
Maj. Hudson and fully identi-
fed it, in reply to questions by Judge
Thatcher, he said that he had received
a draft for $1,000 from P. w. Kline be-
fore the legislature met, and s., 800 soon
afterwards. Said he:
"There was considerable conference
with reference to the organization of
the legislature. 1t was discussed by
the greater lights, with reference to
bringing certain cases before the SUI
preme court. | thought the undertake
ings were all childish, because the court
was politically
Against the POpuIists.
looked over the list of members of
the legislature, and from my knowledge
of the men and Of~Lhe canvass, there
were at least six men who were counted
in-not fairly elected. then made
canvass of my own, sending men out
over the state, and | went to Kansas
City, Mo-, where | tried to make a deal
for Kansas City daily paper.
II was told that w. j Buchanan had
received $4,000 or $40, 900 from Kansas
City whisky men for number of years.
l struck Pete Kline, who told me that
the gamblers had been compelled for
the last two years to contribute $4,000
year to the Republican party of Kan
saS. In the late campaign | tod him
that if he would lend me $4,000 l
would buy the paper / was after, and
l would get him protection from
these demands. Kline liked the idea,
So did the whisky men. Meanwhile my
men came in from oyer the state, who
told me they could get eight or ten Re-
publican members of the house to vote
with the POpuliSts on organization. I
wanted to pay my men, and l went
back to Kansas City and told Pete
Kline l wanted 5000. l said to him
that he would be reimbursed by the
POpullSt party. He gave me a check
for $1,000 and
K1lO WY wen.
"Eight members of the house came to
me in Topeka; four were for Hoch and
four for Douglass. Douglass was NOM
mated, and the four Hoch men said they
would not vote for Douglass. The rival
houses were organized and nobody knew
how anybody voted. This started the
war. My judgment is that 1t cost the
railroads $4,000 to get those four men to
Gin bnk -
where my $1,000 went Later on
Judge Doster told me that the
three Democrats would go into the Pop
ulist house as soon as three Republicans
would make the break. L sent word to
Kline that l wanted $500, and he
brought it to me. | had said to Kline
before that l was going to get bill
through destroying the policy business.
i wish you would he said. There are
so many in the business that there is no
longer any money in it,"
Legate explained that he paid the
81, 800 to some men to secure the three
Republicans to vote with the POpuliSts.
The Democrats. however, would not
join the movement. Failing to get the
Republicans to break, he sought to get
the PopulistS to go into the Republican
house, but the railroads interfered.
Kline VIII Tell All He Knows.
KANSAS CITY, Mo-, March 2l.-Peter
Kline will go to Topeka tomorrow to
testify before the legislative commits
sion. He declares that the most Sensa-
tional testimony is yet to come. Kline
declared that he cannot afford, now that
the Investigation has gone so far.
to withhold any evidence he may
have. 1t becomes a matter of self-de-
Tense with him, and he will talk to the
legislative committee freely. 1t is in
timated that the corruption in the state
legislature of Kansas did not end or be-
gin with the acts of the gamblers in
Kansas City, Kan, and that several
prominent men will be Implicated before
the investigation ends.