St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-10-24
THIMBLE-RIGGING TACTICS.
How He Guarded the Inter-
ests Of the State land 9th
ers Involved"
ESPECIALLY THE "OTHERS."
A Pitiful Whimper That He
Has Been Treated Un-
kindly.

The attorney for the defense in the
ease of The People of Minnesota against
knute Nelson has filed his answer in
the official organ of the state admins.
tration. The charge is that knute NelA
son. acting rs governor of the state,
surrendered the interests of the people
to the greed OF a corporation, and as
consideration fol political support
agreed 10 secure for said corporation
a. valuable tract of land, said to be worth
more than s5,OOO.000 to the detriment
and loss of the taxpayers of said state.
AS soon as the charge was made In the
GLOBE Gov. Nelson was made aware of
1 and had twenty-four hours i'll which
10 prepare his defense for the next issue
Of his official organ.
In addition to the official correspond
ence published in the GLOBE the gov
ernor's organ yesterday morning pre-
sented a letter alleged TO be from the
governor to the auditor. which is here
given as published in the Pioneer
Press:
Here Is the Letter.
Hon. A. Biermann. State Auditor. Capitol,
City-Dear Sir: Your letter of Oct. 2 is re-
ceivad Bv your letter of Sept. % l under
stand you TO suggest change of policy. If
you do not | fail to understand what you
mean by the language: There certainly can
be no reason for continuing such policy"
Ny remarks TO the time you have taken
to reach conclusion may not as you state
have been warranted by facts. My only in
formation as to how long you have been at
work is contained in your letter. l should
judge, from what you now state, that when
yoU wrote your first letter Jou were misin-
;ormed as to the length of time you had been
ST work.
concluded from your letter that the mat
ser was of great importance to the people of
Shis state, auI therefore submitted it at once
TO the attorney general tor his opinion as to
the course to be pursued. Your last letter
impresses upon me the fact that, in view of
the magnitude of the transaction. involving
as IL does I'll 1-6J-Q acres of land, this is the
proper step to take.
When | receive his opinion, and satisfy
myself as to the facts, will inform you as to
my conclusions in respect to the edvisabilty
of signing the proposed deed Yours respect
fully, kNUTE NELSON, Governor.
This letter confirms what has all
along been apparent-that the COVER
nor was simply seeking to delay action
as long as possible.
BADLY Conc ealed Trick.
1t will be observed that the above
letter bears no date. Early in business
hours yesterday reporter of the GLOBE
called at the governors office and asked
to see copy OF the letter. He was told
that no copy had been made; that the
governor, as he frequently does, had
written the letter himself and mailed it
to Auditor Biermann. Entirely satisfied
in his own mind as to the truth of this
statement, the reporter called on Au-
ditOr Biermann and asked to see the
original. Mr. Biermann, after a few
sarcastic alusons to the manner in
which The GLOBE had secured posses
sion of certain other documents, declared
that he had never received any such
letter. Still further satisfied as to the
amount of truth contained in the state.
ment of the governors clerk, the re-
porter spent the greater part of the
day around the capitol. At exactly
3:55 p. m. the mail carrier came
in and placed on the desk of the auditor,
among other correspondence, the gov.
ernor's letter. 1t bore the official STAN r
of the St. Paul pOstotfce, showing thai
the letter was received at that Office al
s'St. Paul, Mimi, Oct %. '94, ZOO p
m." The letter itself bore the date OF
Oct. 16, 1894, and was Typewriter on
the official letterhead of the depart
ment. Mr.. Nelson had simply taker
twenty-one days in which to prepare &
cunning answer to a simple state docu
ment, and then descended to the petty
trick of dating it back eight days.
The reporters estimate of the state
ment made by the governors clerk wa.
here
Completely Confirmed,
for the letter was blurred from The
pressure and moisture of the copying
press, and was not fully dry when tht
auditor opened it In the presence of thu
reporter. Either the governor is a yer,
excellent and precise operator on tn,
typewriting machine or else the state
ment of his clerk that he had "wrttel
and mailed the letter HIMSELF was
departure from the literal truth b,
about as many degrees as there are in
complete circle. But why should tn,
governor mail letter to the audito
when it was only twenty feet to TIL
auditors office and quarter of mil
to the postoffice? The reporter asket
Auditor Biermann if it was customar
tor him to receive communications from
the governor by mail. The auditor ia
cetiously replied that the custom wa
probably just being established. as tha
was the first. Such silly child's pla
by the governor Of great state in
matter involving vast interests is O
itself a sufficient explanation of tn
widespread dissatisfaction with tn
present administration.
But that Mr. Nelson may be fairl
heard and fairly judged, the GLoR
takes pleasure in giving wider circu
lation to some of the
Salient Points
of Mr.. Nelson's defense. The first mi:
statement made by the governor in h
defense is this:
He [Blermann] has had a controvers
about these swamp lands with tn
Great Northern Railway company, an
desires to make it appear that in h
dealings with that company he has e.
ereised a high degree of public virtue.
Now the reader will at once see th
Biermann had no controversy with tt
Great Northern road. He simply d