The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-10-29

ciative of the turpitude Of the offenses
charged against Deputy Warden
Lemon and others Of the state prison
at saltwater, than the general public,
is shown by the personnel of the COM
mission of inquiry which he appointed
yesterday to make a thorough inquiry
into the alleged brutality at the peni-
Tertiary.
While the commissions, which set
forth with some whereases the occa-
sion for the appointment of the COM
miSSioners, were not given out official
ly yesterday, the governor did inform
the press and public that he had Sc
lected the committee to make the in
quiry and that he had appointed there
on Judge Charles E. Flandrau, of St.
Paul; Stanley R. Kitchel, of Mime
apolis, and B. F. Farmer, of Spring
Valley, Fillmore county.
The money with which to defray the
expenses of the investigation will come
out of the governors contingent fund,
which is already exhausted for this
year, or almost SO, owing to the heavy
drain upon it on account of the trip to
Gettysburg in July. But in some way
the governor will manage to serape
enough together to carry the investiga-
ton along to a swift close. His con-
tingent fund only amounts to $4,000 a
year.
Speaking of the committee, the gov
-ernor said: II think it best to have a
committee of three instead of five, for
two reasons: First, a smaller commit
tee will work more eXpeditiously; and
second, it will cost less. 1 also think
it best that two of the three should be
lawyers of acknowledged ability and
standing, this for the reason that the
testimony will have to be carefully
sifted, analysed and compared, work
which only attorneys Of experience
can perform. The third member 1 made
up my mind should be some business
man of Well-known standing from the
country section Of the state. l am also
anxious that no men are known merely
as politicians should have any hand
in the work.
Into this groove the committee Sc
lected fits most admirably Judge
Flandrau is one of the very best, men
in the state. He has been on the SUI
preme bench, and is known and re-
spected from one end of the state to
the other, He is not in politics for
uIIlSSIl, anu has UOl De6n Tor num-
Der Of years. He is a Democrat Mr.
Kitchel is one of the leading members
of the Hennepin county bar, clean-cut
without entanglements, political or
otherwise, a man who devotes all of
his large talent to the active practice
of his profession, and has no ambition
along other lines. Mr.. Farmer is one
of the best-knoWn business men in
Southern Minnesota, and will l am
n Of ctr lcrth 10
the committee. He is Republican
as also is Mr.. I<itchel, and for that
matter was not my friend in the last
state campaign, but this last fact
makes no difference in matter OF
this sort. He is an honest man, well
qualified to perform the work in hand
with ability and credit. I regard the
committee as being a strong one, and
hope it will recommend itself to the
people of the state, and show that it
is my earnest desire to get at the bot
tom of all the facts underlying the
charges"
1t is the governors intention that
the inquiry should be exhaustive. and
the committee is chosen with that end
in view. The two lawyers on it are of
opposite political parties, and should
be able to develop all the facts with
cut any coloring of political bias. The
paratiVely stranger in the state at
large, but is known in Southern Min
neSota as conservative business
man. He is a brother of Hon j. c.
Farmer. of the same place, who was
formerly speaker of the house of rep
reSentatlVeS.
The Democratic member of the com
rittee, Judge Charles e. Flandrau, is
known as a man who rises above par
tisanShip. He has been identified with
the history of his country and his
chosen state as soldier and as jurist
fer nearly half a century.
Notary public, court clerk and In
dian agent in territorial days, a men,
Der of the constitutional convention
which drew up the states fundamen-
tai law. associate justice of the SUI
preme court during the early years Of
the state. nominee of his party for
governor in later times, devoted
champion of the Union soldiers and
sailors wherever found, and lawyer
regarded by his profession as a strong
ally and courageous and manly oppo-
rent, few, if any, names could have
heen suggested that would have car
ried greater weight with the people
of the state, regardless Of political or
other Affiliations, than that of this
pioneer jurist, whose name is a house
hold word throughout what was for
merly known as the Northwest ter
ritory.
has not been as conspicuous in the
public eye, but he is not less respected
in his own community. A member of
the firm Of Kitchel. Cohen & Shaw,
than which none in the Hennepin coun-
ty bar stands higher, he has not neg
lccted his political obligations, and
has been known to his neighbors as
consistent and earnest Republican,
although not IN any sense an office
seeker. ~
He has been active In the Union
league and other organizations auxil-
larry to the party, has been PROMINENT
in its conventions. and NASHVILLE not an
aggressive candidate. been mentioned
by his friends as a worthy subject for
judicial honors. He is a man who, his
professional contemporaries believe,
viii not he moved by any impulse 9TH