St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-27
A HOLE AS Is A HOLE.

and come out smiling and MASTER than
any paper in existence.
having disgraced itself and Journal
ism in its ''imprudent indiScretion" de-
Tense OF fifteen-dollar Franklin; having
been rebuked, slapped III the face, ham,
mered and kicked up and down the line
of popular contempt by the report of
the council committee, it comes up Smil-
ing with the announcement that the
committee must have had some evidence
not made public, and ill that case the
report may be i'll accordance with the
facts.
The wonderful missing link" of evil
dence which the p. p. claims was not
forthcoming was that Franklin did
not know where the money came from. "
This is brilliant. A man receiving
fifteen dollars per month for eighteen
months, and never has a suspicion
where it came from" when it was
regularly given to him by one of the
city employees. What an unsophiS-
ticated youth AIR. Franklin must
be. He might make more than fif-
teen dollars per month by uniting forces
with the editor of the Pioneer Press
and playing star engagements through
out the country. merely exhibiting them
selves as The Two Verdants Abroad"
If Counselor Townley and his hen
could DE added as a side show, il would
be Il combination which would eclipse
Barnum's historic Greatest Show on
Earth"
A glance at the evidence. to show the
size Of the hole through which the P. P.
has crawled, is interesting. We do not
quote from the very complete report in
the GLOBE, but from the official record
made by the committee stenographer.
j. C. Mccarthy, the chief clerk in the
building inspectors Office, testified:
II took him down Sl5 and 1 said to
him:1 MIR. Franklin. the boys in the
Office thought fit to make up purse TO
defrGv your expenses and loss of time
on those committees: 1t is small
amount to US Well he says, Il
refuse to take it, 'Why?' said /. He
said it would be bride. He did not
say that in words. but substantially
that
a little further along the witness
said:
" w IIdG ltiu GIullhtlll Say Tue SOC-
ond time you went to him? A. Moth
ing; he accepted it, and thanked us for
it. told him in the first place we were
making up monthly contribution for
him."
When the matter began to ''get out. :"
and there was danger that the GLOBE
would get mold of it, Mccarthy testified
that she (Frankliu) was willing to give
their money back to them"-the en-
ployes-and naively added:
@. Did he ask TO have any statements
or affidaVitS signed? A. That was
spoken 0f-that we make an affidavit
that they had no money Of his"
As to what was expected in return for
the fifteen dollars, the evidence of j. a i.
Meyers, another employee. is entertain-
ing. After explaining that he heard
two or three days after his first contri-
button that the money was for Aid.
Franklin, the witness testified:
@. Where did you hear that; from
whom? A. In speaking of one thing
and another it came up that Franklin
WAS with US, and in that way suppose
| | came to consider it went to him.
q. What do you mean by Franklin
being with you? A. In regard to that
ordinance, l suppose; l did not know
anything differently.
Q. You understood he was with you
to prevent the turning out Of Mr.. Morris?
| a. Yes.
When the Investigation reached the
celebrated proposed affidavit. the wit
| ness said: ~es
Mr.. Woolsey acted as spokesman for
/ franklin, and he said: 1--WE have all
agreed on this matter, and Mr.. Me-
| Carthy will give you check for the
amount you have paid him, and we
| want you to sign a joint affidavit that
| Franklin owes us nothing" | do not
know how the affidavit was to be; it was
not there; did not see it. and of course
| would not accept the check.
MIR. Townley-For the giving of the
| affidavit what was you to receive back?
A. The amount given.
@. That you had given because you
| thought he was staying by you with re-
gard to the Office? A. Yes, sir.
Phillip Anfang, another employee, had
this to say as to what he was getting for
his money:
@. What would be the effect if you
did not do 1t? A. That is easy to un-
derstand; if we didn't do it we might
be let out of the Office.
Q. That is the reason you paid the
money? A. Yes.
@. You were not DESTROYS then OF
making donation. you were DESTROYS
of protecting yourselves? A. Yes, sir
Did you think your position depend
ed on paying it?" was asked of Mr.
Bailey, another employe, and he said in
reply:
A. To some extent, yes: and ]
thought as long as the rest of the men
were paying. did not want to be a
backslider, and was willing to do my
share.
And now comes W. P. O'Brien, who
tells of call on Mr.. Franklin before the
contributions began. Here is his story
l said l was acquainted with gentle.
man in the Pioneer Press building
named Kelly. and that we could &c
down end see Kelly, and possibly gel
an introduction to Mr.. Franklin; so we
did; we went down, and Kelly intro.
duced us. Mccarthy and franklin
stepped off to one side and had little
conversation, of which know 10th
ing. When through we came away. A
little while after Mccarthy asked me il
l would have any objections to con-
tribute towards any fund; and asked
him his purpose, and he explained tC
me that Mr.. Franklin would probably
see us through in whatever little meas
ureS might come up. and that he had
lost some craftsmanship, and we ought
to make it up.
And so on ad nauseam. That the
GLOBE may not be accused of doing its
small-hole contempora ry any injustice
we quote from its "ffteen-dollar apol.
ogy continued given in yesterdays
issue. in the face of this evidence.
Here is its sagacious and pure conclu.
sion:
THE whole question, therefore, turns
upon the simple fact whether he knew
where this money came from and what
was the service expected in considera.
ton OF it, The committee assumes that
he did know. If the testimony supports
that view there is nothing more to be
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