St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-26
FRANKLIN IS GUILTY,
Assembly So Found, and Sus.
tanned the Globe.
ONLY ONE DISSENTING VOTE.
His Case Recommended to the
Grand Jury.
A0RRiS ALSO cENSUREl
Discharge OF City Employees
in the Affair Advised.
FRANKLIN MUST EHcATE.

The report of the special Joint COM
mittee cn the charges made against ex-
Ala. Franklin was submitted to the as
sembly at the regular meeting of the
body last eve ming. All the members,
with the exception of Mr.. Schultz, were
present, and seven of the eight voted
for the adoption of the report, the ex-
ception being Mr.. johnson, vino raised
the point that unless the assembly
would go into executive session and
discuss the findings he would have to
vote against it, which he did.
The report. which is given below in
full, says nothing about ''imprudent in
diScretions" or "scandalous impro-
priety,'' bat it does state in plain lam
guage the facts as found in the investi-
CATION, and which were first brought to
the public notice by the GLOBE.
The following is, as your committee
believe, concise statement of the facts:
On June 2l, 1892. an ordinance was in
trOduced before the board OF aldermen.
and by that body passed by vote of 8
lO d, TIC NEGATIVE fOtGS UplN0 cast DIV
Aid. Cullen. Dorniden and Hickman:
the affirmative votes being cast by Aid.
Copeland, Franklin. Hardt, Montgom-
cry, Zimmerman and Iugersoll. THIS
ordinance, if passed, would nave had
the effect, it is considered, of removing
Mr.. Morris from Office and providing
for the election of his successor. All
the same meeting of the board of alder
men, subsequent to the vote upon the
ordinance, Aid. Hardt surrendered his
seat and Aid. Warren was seated
in his place. On June 2S. 1892,
the ordinance came before the as
sembly and was amended by unanimous
vote by striking out provision which
in effect provided that the building in-
spector 10 be elected should be a man
MO had previously served specified
time as building Inspector A motion
10 suspend the rules for the Eurpuse of
passing the ordinance failed at this meet.
ING. q / June so, 1892, the ordinance
as thus amended passed the assembly
by vote of 4 to 8, those vot-
Ing in the negative being As
stmblymen Lightner, Pike ana Van
Slyke. The ordinance as thus amended
was reported back to the board of alder
men on July 3, 1892. ana was referred
without debate TO q special committee
of three, conSiStingOt Aid. Zimmerman.
Copeland and Jensen. At this me etinE
Aid. Jensen was absent by reason of
illness. The ordinance was never re.
ported back from the special committee,
and consequently DO further action was
taken upon it. 1t was, however. gen.
orally understood that Messrs. Cullen.
ConleY, Dorniden and Warren, the
Democratic members of the board of
aldermen, and Mr.. Hickman would vote
against the ordinance in anV event.
This made five negative votes. As The
board Of aldermen consists of eleven
members, SIX negative votes Wonld GER
tainiy defeat the ordinance whenever il
should be brought before the board for
consideration. It is. therefore, clear
that If Aid. Franklin voted against this
ordinance it could never he passed. 1t
is further clear that if the ordinance
was at any time reported by the COM
mlttee and passed by the board of
aldermen it would only require the
mayors approval to become operative.
During the period from July. 1892. to
January, 1894, the employees OF the office
OF the building inspector Included John
{. Mccarthy. deputy inspector; j. 4.
Meyer, clerk; George 4. WUolsey.
Philip A. Anfang. J. J. Bailey, Will
lam T. O'Brien, /. I. KelIiher, assist
ant inspectors. Bailey was EMPLOYED
for two months and resigned his posi-
tion on Sept. S, 1892, and Mccarthy and
Woolsey retired from the Office on Nov.
l, 1898.
Statements were received by the
committee from Messrs. Franklin, Nor
ris and all of the above-named en-
ployeS.
At pay day in July, 1892. about the
18th OF the month, Mccarthy collected
from the building inspector and each of
the employees i'll the office small sums
aggregatlng SIS; these sums were con- >
tributed by each party in proportion to
the salary they were receiving, Mr..
Morris paying the highest amount.
This money was immediately taken by
Mr.. Mccarthy and paid TO Mr.. Frank
I'm. Each succeeding month 10 and IL.
cluding October, 1898, a similar coIlec-
tion was made in the Office amount
ing in each month to SIS. and
PAID or sent by Mccarthy to Frank
lin. In November and December, 1898,
MI Mr.; Meyer made similar collection
and paid the money to Mr.. Morris;
in November, 1898, Mr.. Morris sent
this money to Mr.. Franklin; in Deem
bee. 1898, Mr.. Morris paid the SIS per-
sonailY to Mr.. Franklin, and had
a conversation with him of about
half an hours duration. At this
time Mr. Morris was q candidate
for reelection as building inspector.
The election of building inspector would
occur on the first Tuesday in January,
1894. and it was understood that a cau-
Gus of the Republican members would
probably be held before that date for
the selection of candidate. Either at
the time of paying this S15 or within
a day or two afterwards Mr.. Morris.
solicited Mr.. Franklin's vote, and
also requested Mr. Franklin to stay
out of the Republican caucus. He con-
tinued his solicitations up to and in
Guiding the night of the election. and
caused ballots similar in appearance to
be prepared, bearing his own name and
Mr.. Gauger'S name, for the purpose of
having them used in secret ballot 1t
Will be seen that the amount thus paid
to MIR. Franklin aggregated S270. 1t
was we'll understood by Mr.. Morris and
the employees in his Office during all the
times these payments were made, that
they were collected for and to be paid to
MIR. Franklin; and it was also we'll
among them that the
ordinance pending i'll the board of
aldermen could be called up and
passed at any time, providing
sufficient number of votes could
be obtained for that purpose. While
this ordinance was pending Mr..
Franklin solicited the appointment of
George f. WoolSey as an assistant in
spector in the building inspectors office,
aud within very few days after this
first contribution was paid Mr.. Woolsey