The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-14
INVESTIGATION COMMISSION WILL
BEGIN AT SALTWATER PENI-
TERTIARY TOMORROW.
NO TESTIMONY PROBABLY
AFTER THE ST. PAUL
SESSIONS.
BOARD OF MANAGERS TRAVELLERS.
Some Interesting Reading Dug Out
of the Files in the State Audi
tors Omce.

The commission appointed by Gov
Clough to investigate the cruelties al
legged to have been practiced at the
| Saltwater prison will meet at that in
! stitution tomorrow afternoon at
o'clock 1t is understood that Mr.. Har-
rison will be unable to be present, but
| the other two members will take up
the preliminary work. That will be
along the line of acquainting them
selves with the prison rules. This will
take all of the time Monday and pos
sibIy Tuesday afternoon. 1t is not
likely that any witnesses will be eX-
amined at either session. After the
commission has posted itself on what
the prison officials have to do, 1t. will
probably adjourn to meet in st. Paul
or Minneapolis, where such witnesses
as are available will tell what they
know of prison life and prison prac-
tees. The Clio e, at the time 1T
published the various statements, re-
ceived assurances from each man who
felt disposed to talk about the prison,
that he would go before an official body
of men and repeat what they had to
say If invited to do so. When the
date for meeting in the city where the
witnesses reside has been fixed, the
G o b e will notify each man of the
fact and the chances are they will all
respond. Some of them certainly will.
In last evenings Minneapolis
Tribune appeared letter purporting
to have been received from George
Farrell, Jamestown, N. D., in which
he denies the authorship Of a letter
printed in the G o b some days ago
substantiating some of the cases Of
alleged cruelty previously referred to
in the G O b e. The Glob b has the
letter which it published, which bears
the name, George Farrell, and has no
reason to doubt it's authorship, not
withstanding what appeared in the
Tribune. 1t is written on letter paper
Of the Commercial hotel of James,
town, of which William Stone is given
as the proprietor and has every ap-
pearance Of being genuine, whether it
is or not. The Gil o b e will allow the
commission to pass on it's genuineness
If it cares to do so, at the proper time.
The G 10 also has an unpublished
communication or two which it will
submit to the commission.
PRISON TRAVEL CLUB.
There are five otherwise unofficial
members of the state board, which is
entrusted with the management of the
state prison at Saltwater. They are
James S. O'Brien, of Saltwater, chair
man; Edwin Dunn, of Eyota; M. O.
Hail. of Duluth; Frank w. Temple, of
Blue Earth City, and ]. F. Norrish, of
Hastings
There is a coterie of geographical
students at Merriam Park, who call
themselves the Travel club. They bor-
row lantern slides and imagine that
they are seeing the beauties Of the
old world and the new.
This concern at Saltwater, spoken
of above, is something of a travel club,
too, but 1t has no lantern slides. 1t
just goes and lets the state pay the
bills
Within three years, or a trifie over,
every man on the board has had a
junket of not less than 1000 miles, for
which the state has not only paid eX-
penses, but has allowed. in addition, S.
a day for the time spent by the men,
Der. The compensation of the mem
bers of the board is S. a day, and
cents a mile for the shortest distance
from their respective homes to Still
water, on the occasion of board meet
lnSS. But THERE are where
they go dashing around the country
buying twine machinery, selling Irvine,
and the like, and sometimes, people do
say, going to horse races, for which
more than one member Of the board
has a confessed fondness.
On official junkets, the members of
the board have been in the habit of
paying themselves S. a day and their
expenses of travel, including, in some
| ,,o1 ~,
| road dining cars, either.
In April, 1885, Messrs. Dunn and
| Temple and the warden, too, if the
| G b e is informed Alright, went East.
| They took a twelve days trip, for
which Messrs. Dunn and Temple, ac-
cording to the expense lists filed in
| the office of the state auditor, collect
ed $50 each. Mr.. VOTERS salary, of
! course, continued, whether he accom-
panied them or not.
In addition to the allowance to the
per diem of the two members named
there was a bill for railroad fare
shaves shines and so on, amounting
to $3S533, making a total cost for the
trip of $5O533.
In the same spring, Gen. J. F. Nor
IRISH, of Red Wing-they call him gen.
| eral because he was once surveyor
| general of logs and Underwent to
! L
| penses of this trip.
Manager Temple was allowed $65
! for a trip to Denver, too, In addition
to the amount above named. At least
the charge on the expense list filed al
| the capitol looks as much like Denver
| as it does like anything else in a geo
graphical line, and, as a matter OF
| fact it seems that was where he went
NJ o. Hall only got as far as Fari-
bault the same month, so his bill was
much less, but they both enjoyed theil
trips, no doubt.
Mr.. Hall, of course did not content
himself with trip to Faribault, wher
the others were going to Paris anc
Denver and the borough of Manhat-
tan. He sought pleasure, not in the
crowded streets of the metropolitan
communities, where the mad rush Of
the cable or the trolley might at any
time create vacancy on the board o.
managers. No indeed. But he sought
the rural domain, where the zephyrs
from Hudson's bay crossed the broad
prairies of Pembina, and whistlet
sweet music in the managerial ear. L
was in January, 1896, that the state
paid Mr.. Hall $207.70, of which 500 wa:
for four days work selling Irvine, $22.7
travelling expenses, and $165 shortage
| on Irvine, which the state, for some
unexplained reason, evidently has t.
| make up.
The voucher for travelling expense:
| fixed Brandon, Manitoba, as the OBJ
jective point of Mr.. Halls Irvine trav