The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-05
FIRST CLAIM ON PENNY PRESS.
Delis Paper Company Files Lien
on the Newspaper Plant.

The kaleidoscope has been given
another whirl, and now it is not a re-
celVer or an assignee or a trustee that
the Penny Press is to have, but a lien
upon all its effects.
Whlle the life and career of the Pen
ny Press has been a checouered one
ana many truths have been told, not ali
OF the inner workings of that Chinese
puzzle ensconced in the building ON
fourth street have been made public.
ana 1t remained for the complaint made
Dy the DellS Paper and Pulp COMPANY
70 expose some of the inner workings
OF the dark days of the company. The
Qeiehdants IN the case are the Penny
PFess Cooperative Printing company
ana many others, among whom are M.
w. NaSh, Il. e. Bishop, G.. A. PiIlsburv
John T. Rea, Frank M. Nye, Henry J.
GJertsen, John Goodnow and E. B. Zier.
me complaint goes voluminously
INTO the early history of the paper, ali
OF winch has been made public more or
less frequently. 1t recites the giving
of the trust deed to John P. Rea. to
secure the first mortgage bonds in the
amount of 100000, May l, 1895, and al
leges that from time to time these
pcnds We're parted with to various par
ties by Alden j. Blethen. The various
| struggles of the paper are gone into.
and then the story leads up to the time
when the Northern Trust company was
made receiver, and the Penny Press
was for sale to the highest bidder
Then Blethen purchased it, and it was
turned over to the Penny Press Co
operative Printing company
Just at that time, however. the CO.
operatives were in very hard posi-
ton. They wanted to get out a paper
| but they needed money. They could
not secure money by loans on the
| plant, for even if it had been as val
liable as was asserted in the various
| affidavits filed by interested parties
there was that 100000 Of first mort
gage bonds which cut out any oppor-
| tunity to secure second loan Then
a bright idea occurred to the manage
ment. 1t gathered the holders of the
mortgage bonds together, or as many
as could be gathered, or cared enough
about it to mobilize, and on April Is, of
the present year. it was agreed that the
co-operatives should be allowed to Dor
row $4,000, which the holders of the
| bonds would agree should be prior
lien above the bonds. This was done
| in order to keep the paper aflOat a
trifle longer. 1t was a pumping pro-
cess, and by it the hulk was supposed
to be able to keep it's body to a float
ing displacement. There was joy In
the camp for time, and preparations
were made to get along swimmingly.
The joy was short-lived, however, for
| Try as tHey IHlSnl, even WITH the EN-
barge of the 100000 bonds lifted, and
| divided like the waters Of the Red sea,
yet the cooperative army could not
| pass because no one would lend them
the $4,000 at any figure. Here was a
pretty mess, to use the language of Mr..
Gilbert There was a great scurrying
around, and finally in October Of this
year the plaintiff in the case was pre-
| vailed upon to advance credit for white
paper, provided the credit should take
the same form as the agreement for the
| loan This was finally agreed to, and
| matters went along swinmingly, with
the figure placed at a $1,000 limit.
| Now the plaintiff claims that the
| $4,000 is due and owing, and that the
1 company is insolvent and unable to
| pay any debts whatever, and also that
there are absolutely no assets except
what are covered. The prayer in the
complaint asks that the $4,000 claim be