The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-09
LEND 4 WOODEN EAR
MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE DEAF To
APPEAL OFF FRANK HOS
kINS.
WILL NOT ExPUNGE RECORDS
RELATING TO HIS COMMITMENT
TO THE FERGUS FALLS HOS
PITAL.
STRONG PLEAS MADE BY FRIENDS,
But Enough Were Opposed to Lay
the Matter ON the Table if Not
indefinitely Postpone.

The sensational case Of Frank Hos
kins, the Populist editor, who was COM
mitted to the insane hospital at Fergus
Falls, came up in the house in the
shape Of a committee report upon the
Vigen bill to expunge from the records
of that institution, all reference to the
matter. The committee on insane hos
pitfalls, to which the bill had been sent,
submitted majority and minority re-
ports. Chairman Kendall made the
majority report for indefinite postpone
ment, which was signed by Messrs
Head, Won Lehe, Severance, SOule,
Shell, McGrath, Olds, Coe and Lloyd.
StockweIl, Of Hennepin, led the minor
ity force, which also included MeSsrs.
Lee, Sederberg and Nyquist. When
both reports had been sent up, Mr..
StockweH moved the adoption of the
minority report. He said that he had
know Hoskins for number of years,
and that while he was radical in his
views, and questionable in his appear
ance, and while his notions ran counter
to those which govern most men, yet
he was not more insane than any men,
her on the floor of the house. Mr..
Johns pointed out that Hoskins had
been irregularly committed to the hos
pital, and had been helde contrary to
all laws on the statute books, and, that
as soon as this was brought to
the notice of the proper authorities, the
unfortunate man had been given his
liberty.
Mr.. Feig spoke for Hoskins. The
man, he said, was what was common
ly called a crank" but was in no
sense crazy. His commitment, together
with the circumstances surrounding it,
constituted one Of the most damnable
outrages ever prepertrated upon a citi~
zen Of the state. He said that Hoskins
was as sane as any man in the house,
and that his trouble resulted from
bit of spite work, and that Hoskins, for
having attacked the bankers in Fergus
Falls, had been found crazy on the
strength of having taken a Bible into
court to prove that usury was a crime.
Mr. Coe, of the committee, spoke for
the majority. The record was clearly
a setting down of the facts as found,
and should not be eXpunged. Contain
ed in the findings were the opinions of
some Of the best physicians in the state,
and, in addition to this, the fact that
Hoskins has pending number of civil
cases, made it necessary not to obli-
terate any facts which might be found
necessary.
Mr.. Kendall explained that Hoskfns
had been examined by physicians of
his own selection, and had been found
NV medical f.
tentiOn. The hospital authorities could
do nothing else than accept the man
when he was brought there, and the
record of their action should be allowed
to stand. To the statement that
the record would leave the man dead
to all purposes, and with a blot upon
the name, Mr. Kendall believed that if
the man was insane and his malady
could be transmitted to his children,
the record was all right. and if he were
not, the record could in no way affect
his progeny, even If allowed to remain
a record. Hoskins was discharged on
the ground that the law by which he
was committed, was unconstitutional,
and that some 200 other subjects re-
leased at the same time, had been re-
committed. but that no additional in
formation had been filed against Hos
kins at the time. He had been released
on q writ of habeas corpus, as shown
court, a second in the hospital, and the
third in the governors office. If any
expunging were to be done, it must be
begun in the probate court, and not the
hospital The record, Mr. Kendall
thought, was no stigma, as the man was
simply detained for a kind of illness
and not for any crime.
Mr.. Donnelly made strong plea for
justice to his fellow Populist and fellow
editor. The case was that Of man
fighting for his reputation as a sane
man, he said. Hoskins was in the po-
sition where the stigma Of hereditary
insanity hung over him, and the re-
quest was that it be removed. The
case was not a partisan matter, explain
ed Mr.. DOnnelly, HOskins had attacked
the banks; had contended that usury
in the shape Of big interest from the
telling masses of the state was wrong.
Usury in the early Christian times had
been made the subject for eXcOmmuni-
cation. Certainly 1t was no good proof
of insanity for Hoskins to say that the
banks were unsound. Had not subse-
quent events proved that he was en-
tirely correct?
He hoped that the unfortunate man
would be accorded what appeared to
him to be but his fair rights in the
premises.
Replying to Mr.. KendaIPs statement,
tAln1 Il I1lS ICCO1Q was SAPuA5GO, IL
would unprecedented, Mr. Feig took
issue and cited the case Of E. st. Julien
Cox. who had been impeached as a
district court Judge, and the record
| Of it expunged at the request Of his
children.
Judge Hicks, member Of the house
and of the committee, which acted on
the impeachment case twenty years
ago, demanded to know if the fact that
the record of Impeachment had been
wiped out, would ever act as making
the disgraceful actions Of Judge Cox,
while on the bench, any less reprehen-
sible or disgraceful
Messrs. Grondahl, Foss and Johns
participated in the debate. A vote on
the adoption of the minority report
developed a tie, As on each side, so
it was lost.
The minority mustered an additional
vote against the adoption of the ma
jerity report to indefinitely postpone,
and upon the motion of Judge Hicks
the bin, together with both reports,
was laid upon the table.