The Saint Paul globe., 1898-11-03
RINGSTERS. DIE HARD
IRISH, ALIAS CHAPEL, MAKING A
DESPERATE EFFORT To
BREAK BACK
TOO MANY CITIZENS ARE ON

~
County again - The johnson
Family LfabIe{ to Lose n Good
Thing, Too, Next Tuesday-And
There Are Several Others.
rom Lowry's slop-pail, in its distress
lalIs into poetry, or poetry falls into
the slop-pail, it doesn't matter which.
Here is the poetry-it is entirely uncon-
sclous on the part of the writer of it,
and is intended as argument in favor
of the cheap grafters:
Freed of the gas
The sailing machine drops. an inanimate
mass"
But the organ also drops into some
thlng besides poetry, and that is a
state OF 1mbecile collapse. After main
tanning condition OF helpless silence
regarding the exposures Of The G o b e
Tor many days past, it last evening re-
covered the power of speech and pro-,
ceeded to tell an astounded public that
Two deputies in the sheriff's office had
had falling-out, and that one of them
john Hammis-has quit his employ.
ment. All this is done under the
shadow of scare head in which the
unWary reader is led to expect frightful
developments Of official Wrong-doing.
Mr Hammis, the gentleman who re-
celVes such unexpected prominence
from the organ in it's despair, was
found last evening engaged in the dis.
charge Of his usual duties Of jailer.
lie was amused. He had not been
aware, until informed by the organ of
the cheap ringsters, that he was with
out employment He was asked by The
u o e reporter if he had been
clutching at straws to escape OBJ
HVlon, but he denied the soft i'm
peachment. That, by the way, was the
only serious charge made by the organ
In Its article. He hadn't seen the or
gan or any of it's representatives and
ne dldnFt know what all the excitement
was about. -All the prisoners were
quiet, and he didn't expect that any
general Jail delivery would take place
either before election or at any other
time. Indeed, Mr.. Hammis didn't know
anything at all, except that the writer
on the organ must surely be in the
1ncipient stages ofZparesis.
There has been no response thus far
to the charges made by The Clio b e.
ana 1t does not appear on inquiry at the
county treaSurer's office that any of the
money Illegally filched from the coun,
ty treasury has been refunded. The
county commissioners will not meet
until after the election. They are all
too busy in endeavoring to establish
| the wisdom of keeping themselves and
the others In office. to give any time OF
attention to any other subject pertain,
ing to their several offices. Lest the
silence should become altogether too
oppressfve,-it may be worth while to
! give some further elucidation of what
is now known in official circles as the
Johnson family graft.
| Existing law provides that the coun-
| ty surveyor shall receive 81 a day, his
deputies and help shall receive 81 a
day each and SO day shall be allowed
for the use of a team. From January
| to August inclusive Of the present year.
Gates A Johnson Jr. drew $4,005 This
was for eight months. This averaged
for the year $500.62 per month. During
that period the county surveyor work.
ed twenty-six days, as did his depu.
ties. and the following is the account
as it should stand for these eight
| months:
Per
Month.
County Surveyor. 26 days, at "a per day. .s1O4
Two chainmen. 26 days. at 81 per day -. 1Oi
One axe-man. 26 days. at 81 per day. So
One craftsman 26 days. at 50 per day. 50
One team. 26 days at IS per day.. Is
The difference between $5oO.e2 and and
$500 is $11062, and that for eight
months amounts to just 1886. Now,
whatever may be said by the friends
| of the benefciaries Of the salary steal
| for their failure to refund the money
taken, there can be nothing whatever
said in palliation of this. The cost of
| the county surveyors office during
| these months was $4,OO5, making the
| total for the year, on the same basis,
| $6007.4 A, milking total of over 81 800 for
which some explanation is demanded
| But these figures are really small when
| one considers What was ACCOMPLISHED
during the previous years. Here is the
! cost of this graft for three years back:
| 1895 ..........$ 81, ,623 81 1897 80 227 81
1896 ......... 6,S41 45I 1898 (estimate) s,OO7 90
| 1t was during the year 1897, when the
salary reduction graft was in full
! operation that the cost Of maintaining
the Johnson family represented the
greater part of this SO, 900. And how is
the Johnson family represented? First,
| there Is Gates Sr.; then there is Gates
Jr.; then there's James P. Johnson, and
then there Is still another member Of
| the Johnson family-this one being
| relative by marriage. Lest 1t might
be said that The G o b was unjust,
| let us give the exact figures paid to the
Johnson family during 1897. Here are
the names and amounts:
Gates Johnson Sr .....................$1 1862 so
Gates Jr ..... '................ 2.270 81
Assistant county surveyor (whose
name is not necessary ............ $50 90
Total -. :. ....... -. .........S5,1N ,1N 81
While the campaign committee Of
! the grafters are trying in every way
| in the world to perpetuate these things
! the condition of decentralization among
! the ringsters increases day by day
| fractional warfare is being carried on
! to such an extent now among the
! frightened ringsters that there are no
! two candidates that hre not suspicious
of each other, excepting alone Chapel,
! alias Irish. and his prospective deputy
Irish, alias Chapel. They are in COM
| plete accord.
The Democratic candidates for judges
! are not in need Of votes very much ;
! but they would have to be in pretty
i bad need of them before either of
these gentlemen would accept the sup
port which is being rendered to them
| every day by the Chapel-Irish COM
! bination. Irish is the spokesman, and
! his offer made to more than a half
| dozen Democrats who have vouched
for the story is that Irish and his
| friends will gladly vote for and sup
| for Judge if votes for Irish alias
Chapel are given in exchange. The
Democratic committee and John Wage
! ner have known OF the existence Of
these offers for some days past Messrs
| ToU0ord and IViJIricb have opI1, i,,ot