Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1896-01-30
THE INSANE ASYLUM.
ME- Hopper Explains why He Changed His
Vote In the Matter,

Vote In the Matter.
Tho commission to locate tho fourth hospital
Tor the insane has filed Its answer In the In
junction suit, brought ut the instigation OF the
people OF Hastings. Commissioners o. G. Mer-
riman Alvah Eastmcn, II ,nry Hopper aud Julius
Block verified the answes.
The answer charges that DR.. Smith tried to
make deal with Chaska and that Hastings put
IN false plot OF the site offered to the com.
mission. s3t
The commission also served notice Of
motion to dissolve the injunction and the
hearing will take place week from
Saturday. The motion is based upon the
answer and upon four affidayits made by
Messrs. Merriman. Eastman. Hopper and
BLOCK, and petitions signed by q large
number OF the residents Of the Seventh
district, which. it Is claimed by the plain-
TIL, induced Mr.. Hopper to change his
vote.
The grounds for the motion are that
the court has no jurisdiction over the
commission. because they were entitled
to use their best Judgment in the matter
and because they are state board: that
no facts are set out In the complaint
which would warrant an injunction. be.
cause tho PLAINTIFF does not show an in
jury. Further, that the material allega-
lions OF the complaint are denied by the
answer, which claims that the commis-
sion had right to reconsider the action
taken on Dec. 49, when 1t was attempted
to locate the hospital In the vicinity Of
Hastings. and that the action of the
commission in afterwards locating this
hospital at Anoka and selecting and pur
chasing definite site there was proper.
1t is claimed, although the commission
voted for Hastings in the first place.
that they did this only to determine tho
general location of hospital and that
they never selected a definite site near
Hastings, and when the commission re-
considered the matter it simply changed
the general location from Hastings to
Anckn and afterwards voted to purchase
for the state a definite and specific site
| near Anoka. @
Commissioner Hopper, who was the
member who changed his vote, states In
his affidavit that he seconded the motion
to reconsider, made at the Fergus Falls
meeting; that the Fergus Falls meeting
was simply an adjournment of the st.
Paul meeting and that the motion to re.
| consider was carried by vote of four
to three, all the commissioners being
present; that thereupon resolution was
introduced to purchase specific site
near Anoka and that the motion was
carried by vote of four to two, Com
missioner Smith not voting at all. After
the resolution was carried, Smith stated
| that he could not understand how COM
missioner could change his VOTE and that
he thought it was illegal; but DR.. Smith
did not make the point until after the
motion to reconsider was carried and
| until after the resolution to purchase the
Anoka site was passed. Mr.. Hopper states
that when thus called on by Smith, he
replied as follows, instead of as stated
| in the complaint:
eat the meeting in st. Paul voted for
Hastings. I am now convinced that the
| best interests of the state will be served
hNCnitQ1
| the Twin Cities, and in SO voting I am
representing the sentiment of my dis
| trict. When I returned home I found
| that my people thought great injustice
had been done the northern part Of the
state and received petitions from many
| of the most prominent citizens In the
| Seventh district asking me to vote for
reconsideration and correcting the mis-
| take in Judgment had made" He also
| adds in his affidavit that he produced
| for the commission the petitions which
he received. They are attached to the
affidavit are very voluminous and con-
| tain the names of the
Most Prominent Citizens.
| of the Seventh district. Among the men
! signing are: S. l.. Melgaard, ]. o. Forest,
F. f. Lenhart. c. S. Mitchell. George L.
| Treat, w. S. Gilkin, w. K. Barnes, Fred
| Won Bombach, C. J. Gunderson, of Alex
| andria. Among those from Stephen are
| John Gillespie. E. J. Russell and r. \.
| Whitney. Among the signers from War
| rem are c. L. Stephen, John e. Ostrum,
| John e. Mattson, H. Grindelund. Among
| those from Fergus Falls are Elmer e.
| Adams, Charles c. Haupt, John p. Will
| liams, T. N. McLain, w. Brandenbury
| and e. A. Jewett, A. B. Cole. E. A. B:ck-
| ford. From Crookston are Halvor Steen-
| erson, Alexander McKinnin, A. D. Stew
| ems, John Comb, p. ]. Mcclure, Judge
| Wilkinson.
The commission in its answer. sets
| forth the different propositions by VIII CHI
| sites were offered. It appears that four
were offered near Anoka, two near Hast
ings, one near Jordan. one near Delano,
| and several others. When the commits
sion took the vote of the 18th day of
December at st. Paul, the members sinp-
ly voted by the names of the towns.
Eastman and Merr.man voting for Anoka,
but not specifying which of the sites
offered in the vicinity of Anoka they
voted for. Smith and Bondy and Hopper
voted for Hastings, but did not spec fy
which Of the two Hastings sites they pre-
ferred. The site near Jordan is shown
by the answer to have been actually in
the town of st. Lawrence. and yet
vote was cast for Jordan. The minutes of
the meeting are set out at length in the
answer, and from these it is claimed
that it is evident that the commissioners
were voting simply for general location
and that they were not attempting to
purchase any particular site at that meet
ing.
On the other hand, at the Fergus Falls
meeting it is claimed the commission not
only voted on location, but also voted by
majority vote to purchase a definite
tract of land.
If the claim OF the commission is cor
rect the point made by the Hastings peo-
pie that they had contract by which
they acquired vested rights. would not
appear to amount to much. The COM
mission claims that any legislative body
could, at the proper time and on the
proper motion, reconsider any vote.