St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-10
EICKH0FF'SSLAVERY
STORY OF THE PERSECUTION OF
NORTHERN MINNESOTA
WHEAT BUYER.
PAID ABOUT $3.50 A YEAR.
SUED FOR AN ALLEGED SHORTAGE
AND HARASSED IN THE
COURTS.
HE TELLS THE GLOBE HIS STORY.
1t Indicates the Methods of at Least
One Line Elevator Conn
pany.

pahys
Special to the Globe.
ST. HILAIRE, Mimi, Feb 9.--Will-
lam Eickhoff's slavery might properly
be the title of tne story of the per-
secution of one wheat buyer by the
wheat combine and the Fidelity ard
Casualty company, Of New York Mr..
Eickhoff had been in the employ Of
the elevator company for eight years,
and during one of these years Of sew
ice the elevator company had cleared
over $4,000 in the little fiat house where
he bought wheat. They allowed him
the enormous salary of $50 a month
after he had been in their employ for
eight years, and as the house is only
kept open for ten months he would
have received $500 for that years work.
The house was closed on June 20 of
that year, however, and he never re-
ceived pay for the twenty days he
worked in June, so the company paid
him but $3.50 for purchasing and grad
ing 1886 bushels and As pounds
of wheat, and paying therefor $34, ,222 q.
He was compelled to give a bond for
the faithful performance Of his duties
and to be responsible not only for the
money entrusted to his care for the
purchase of the wheat, but had to suar-
antee that weights and grades Of the
wheat he purchased and shipped would
hold out at the terminal.
The company claimed that he was
short, and the bond company sent cut
q man to make a settlement. This
man made an investigation, and told
Eickhoff that they had no claim
against him, but that he was all right.
Then, after waiting twenty-seven days
less than a year, the bond company
claimed a shortage Of 1,051 bushels
Of wheat-double the amount originally
claimed, and brought suit for $S93. 35.
The rights of Eickhoff, who resides in
little backwoods town, are ignored.
and the suit is begun at Minneapolis.
in Hennepin county. There Is not an
attorney in the town where Eickhoff
lives, and he has to go to Crookston
to employ a lawyer to defend him. He
secures the services of Hon. Halvor
Steenerson to defend him against the
attacks Of his oppressors The attor-
neys for the bond company place every
obstacle in the, way of the defense and
harass and worry them in every pos
sible way In short, they try to tire
them out and to pile up the expenses
so high that Eickhoff will be unable to
pay and the attorney unwilling to con-
tinue the case and advance the ex-
penses. They fail to appear when the
suits are to be tried, and when they
have been dismissed institute new ones
and add $500 to the amount claimed
for investigating the claim of the ele-
Yator company, or for investigating
and prosecuting" as is stated in the
complaint in one of the suits. When
the case has been decided against the
bond company, on the points appealed,
by the supreme court,
THE GROWING STROKE
of their outrageous methods is en-
ployed. Taking advantage of the alb
sence of Eickhof's attorney, they send
a man to get a settlement on the claim
that the supreme court has decided
against him, and that it was only
matter Of form to put it through the
court in Polk county and enter up a.
judgment against him They said
Steenerson had given up, and that they
wanted to give him show, and would
accept his notes or anything to settle
1t. Eickhoff refused to go into the trap.
and the case Is now in such shape that
he has only to prove that he honestly
shipped out all the wheat received in
order to defend himself. The clause
in the bond which made the voucher Of
fha p1aU9 tor fo
pany, for money claimed by reason of
alleged shortages, conclusive evidence
against the agent was rendered void
by the supreme court, because it was
against public policy, In that it made
the claimants the judges of their own
case.
William Eickhoff is now living on a.
farm near st. Hilaire, and the story of
his persecution was told the Glob e
correspondent in the little farm house
on the bank of the Red Lake river
1t shows the methods of at least cne
line elevator company and is complete
statement Of what occurred during and
since his service with the wheat barons
Eickhoff's story follows:
Il first began to work for the COM
pany, then the Sterritt Elevator COM
pany, in 1883, being employed as assist
ant in their house at Kittson, the first
station south of Crookston. The next
fall the name of the company was
changed to the Red River Valley Ele-
vator company, and I was offered a
fat house. AS I had an opportunity to
go to work as second man for Mr.
Smith, who was buying for the same
company at Carmen, T declined the
company's offer, as there was no diff
ference in the wages, $50 a month. and
by working as assistant I avoided the
responsibility a buyer is compelled to
assume. However, on the Sth of Jan
uary, 1885, after the company had in
sisted that I should come to st. HiIaire
and run the house, I took charge of it.
It was then only a fiat house, and
there was no competition in the town, I
SO the company had it all its own
way. That was before the Great North 1
ern had built the extensions to Thief
River Falls and Red Lake Falls, so
the territory from which st. Hilaire
drew trade was far more extensive
than 1t Is at the present day.
My instructions were to take all I
could get In every way, and the COM
pany kept continually writing letters
complaining that I was not taking
enough and telling me that they must