St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-05

patch from Pasadena announcing
the death in that city of William r.
Marshall, ex-governor of Minnesota.
While Mr.. Marshall is quite ill, suf-
fering from nervous prostration and
a partial paralysis of the lower
limbs, he still has a very substan-
tial lease on life, and his physicians
are hopeful of his recovery.
The aSininity of the st. Paul Dis
patch in publishing as a fact the
rumor of the death of ex-GoV. Will
lam r. Marshall without first ascer-
tanning whether it was true, has
caused general Indignation in the
pain 1t has occasioned the governors
family, relatives and immediate
friends. Gov. Marshall is still alive,
and was resting easy at the hour
the false publication was issued.
There was no occasion for the story
beyond the rumor on the streets,
and this the Dispatch distorted into
fact and published as such with
out a line of information from Pasa-
dena, Cal, where the governor is at
present, on which to base it. Such
action on the part of the evening
paper is regarded as wholly mex
cusable, as, had it made the least
exertion to ascertain the facts, it
would have speedily learned that
Gov. Marshall was far from being a
dead man. 1t was assured by Gov.
MarshalPs immediate friends in this
city, who took the pains to call at
it's office, that Gov. Marshall had not
died, and, after publishing this as
suranee, it follows with the bare
statement that Gov. Marshall had
died, and devoted two columns to
an obituary.
On the preceding night at 10 o'clock
word reached the GLOBE office that
Gov. Marshall had died at Pasadena.
The GLOBE did not accept the rumor
as true, and rush blindly into print,
but followed the rules observed by ev-
cry reputable, fact-giving newspaper,
and telegraphed to Pasadena for con-
firmation or denial of the report by
those at the governors bedside, or
others in actual possession of the truth.
This was not hard to do, as there are
numerous lines of telegraph into Pasa-
dena, and it required but an hour to
ascertain that Gov. Marshall was still
in the land of the living.
The Dispatch did not observe this
common-sense rule. Evidently 1t feared
being left on the news, and preferred
to run a chance of plunging the Mar
shall family into unnecessary grief
rather than be considered a truth-tell
ing publication.
The premature publication occasioned
the Marshall family much pain. Being
aware that the governor was alive,
they were naturally panied and morti-
fed to witness this cold effort to
hurry him into the great beyond. Near
friends of the family called at the
GLOBE Office last night and expressed
the Indignation they feel over the ac-
ton of the Dispatch, and it will be
many days before this unprecedented
stroke of enterprise will be forgotten.
MRS. LANGFORD'S DENIAL.
There is no foundation for these
painful reports stated Mrs. n. P.
Langford, sister-in-law of Gov. Mar
shall, when questioned last evening at
her home, 291 South Exchange street,
as to the published reports of the gov
ernor's death.
"Mr. Langford is not at home just
now" she continued, but he is utterly
worn out running about the whole day
trying to find the origin of the state
ments you speak of. He is now at Mr..
Cathcart's. Mr.. Cathcart, you know,
is a brother-in-law of Gov. Marshall,
and neither he nor his children, nor
Mr.. Langford's sister, nor ourselves
have received a telegram of any sort
as to the governors condition. 1t was
reported that Judge Greenleaf Clark,
who is at Pasadena, Cal, where Gov.
Marshall is i'll, had telegraphed to
Justice Collins or Justice Mitchell, of
the supreme court, the news Of the
governors death. Mr.. Langford post
ed down there at once and found that
no such message had been received.
1t is certainly very painful to relatives
and friends here that such rumors
should gain currency. Indeed, it is
likely to cause many unnecessary
heartaches.
"Of course, the governor was quite
i'll when he left St. Paul, and his
strength has been failing gradually
during the last few weeks But I'm
quite sure that he can't be very low at
the present time, or Mrs. Alexander
Cathcart, his own sister, would be in
Pasadena. She left there about week
ago, and is now in San Francisco, and
she certainly wouldn't have come away
if her brothers condition was at all
alarming"