Omaha daily bee., 1899-04-04
BALkS THE BOODLERS
Legislature Declines to Be Bought on
Certain Proposition,
AB0LlSHES FEES OF DISTRICT CLERKS
Soandalous and Disgraoeful Means Employed
by Interested Parties.
CORRUPT LOBBY V.RY MUCH IN EVIDENCE
All Sorts of Disreputable lractioes Used to
Defeat the Measure.
OF DOLLARS PLACED ON TAP
oil Room Workers DO their worst,
but i'm spite OF All Their Excr-
tiuns the Bill Finally
Reaches the Governor.

Reaches the Governors.
LINCOLN, April 3.--(speclal,) The most
scandaious ana disgraCetul feature of the
entire legislative session just closed was
the brazen work OF the LOBBY that nearly
succeeded in defeating the bin making the
position OF clerk OF the district court a
salaried office Thousands of dollars were
distributed by the parties interested in pre-
venting this piece Of legislation and the
desperation Of the boodlers stopped short of
nothing within the shadow of the penten-
tiary. Members were bribed, committee
clerks bought to pigeonhole the bill and
desperadoes were hired to steal the bill and
engrossing clerks subsidized to mutlate it
after its passage. Only the most watchful
care of its supporters kept it from harm. 1t
is even said that some of the money hung
up for 1t is still available to the popocratlc
hrelings who have undertaken to deliver a
governors veto in the bargain.
! H. II. PSI the bill to limit and regulate
! the fees and salaries Of clerks of the dis
/ trict court, had behind it all those mem
/ bers who believed that the income of an
! office in this state should not be allowed
! to be so large as to become a corrupting
| influence in local and state elections. The
! opposition was in the interest of the dis
/ trict clerks of Douglas and Lancaster
counties. Even before the bill saw the light
of day, Albyn Frank, in anticipation of
| trouble, introduced himself with several
| jugs of whisky distributed with effect
among susceptible Legislators.
! The bill was introduced in the house by
| w. j. Taylor Of Custer county and on the
| 18th of January referred to the COM
mittee on fees and salaries One or two
other bills on the same subject were intro
| duCed at about the same time After a
| long consideration of the bills, members OF
the committee unwittingy adopted the sug-
| gestion of parties paid by the Douglas
county district clerk to defeat the bill, and
drew up a substitute bill which was pre-
sented to the house on the 9th of Feb
| ruary.
This substitute was almost exactly li,o
the original except that it's sections were
numbered differently, and the clerks of the
court in Douglas and Lancaster counties
/ were allowed to draw s., 500 salary instead
! of $4,000, while the clerk in Gage and Otoe
! counties were raised from 81 500 to 81, 600,
the limit on counties in this class being 25,-
! 600 inhabitants.
Oil Rooms Fine Work.
After this substitute bill had been
|
! work The lobby managed it so that some
| senators were supplied with one style OF
| printed copy and some with the other, the
| object being 10 confuse matters in the final
| windup IN case the Doodle failed to accom-
| plish the death of the bill in some other
| way.
When the bin came up for consideration in
| committee of the whole in the house the
! greatest opposition was made to it by a
| Douglas county member who maintained that
competent man could not be induced to
take the Office in his county If the salary
were limited 70 $500. He favored the pres
ent system of allowing the fees of the office
| to go to the clerk other members Joined
| teehly in the fight against the bill, but it
was fnaly passed with only six opposing
votes and sent to the senate.
In the senate the lobby was the most
| thoroughly organized, syndicate having
been formed to pass certain bilrs and de-
feat others according to the way the stuff"
was to come TO get this syndicate thor
oughly in touch with the business of the
session Judge Bourne and Charley Rgg on
Beatrice and Elmer Thompson of Grand
Island we're provided with places on the cler-
ical force of the senate and through their
| influence and invitation all the oil room
lobbyists were quarered in the rooms where
the clerical work being performed and
where they could keep their eyes open to
the main chance. Thus Tom Benton, Frank
Barber, Bob Druesdow and others of that
ilk were able to hover around over the
desks of the senate officials and were able
to keep those informed who had to stay ou
the outside The syndicate took the con-
tract to kill The district clerk bill and in
cluded It in the general file of the oil
room"
In spite of all efforts to the contrary the
bill came to the front Of the list In the
ate on Friday. In the afternoon it was
ready for third reading with only three bills
ahead Of It. After supper, however, Vt had
been showed down the list until it was num-
ber ten, and after that, by some hocus pocus,
it was kept back and fully twenty bills
were put ahead OF It without the knowledge
Of the senate far the record dis
closes Every hour the list of advanced bills
was changed either in the back room or at
the behest OF some individual senator, the
secretary of the senate being so busily en-
gagged iO the rush of work incident TO the
closing hours of the session to prevent or
even notice the manipulation of the list.
Keeping Close watch.
While this was going on Albyn Frank OF
Omaha. Tom Benton and the Riggs crowd
were keeping close in the secretaTys office
or were hanging about the tables where the
legitimate work was being performed The
newly appointed clerk OF the court in Lam
caster county, fanked by friends and rela-
tiyes from other counties, kept a Watohful
yigil over the progress OF the scheme, scarce
remembering the fact that Sam Low the
late clerk Of the Lancaster court, had been
in his grave less than a dozen hours. Some
persons opposing the passage OF the bill
came direct from the Low funeral TO the
senate without stopping to draw long
Z breath.
The news hoated around that a pot OF
$4,000 was the prize for killing II. r. 251
, and member Of the lobby was heard to
tell another that II necessary the bin would
! be amended by the senate and that the
printing of the amendments would be de
layed until 1t was too late to get the bill
through.
I On Saturday Senator Noyes Oslled for the
. bill FIVE times before he got It up On
: statement that amendments were desired
al