The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-04-07
A COMEDY IN A JUSTICE coURr

During the past week one of those cav
ernous retreats of justice. known and
described as justice court. has been the
scene of farce comedy of unusual ex-
cellence. Some six years ago an indis-
Greet purveyor OF some article of diet.
the unrestricted sale of which was at va
Rance with the dairy and food laws of
Minnesota. was arrested and. being car
ried before the police court, was COM
PEELED to pay a fine for his indfscre-
ton.
1t has lately been discovered by the
state dairy and food commissioner that
the fine 50 paid into the police court of
81. Paul had never been paid into the
department fund and the attorney gener-
al was called upon to depute his second
assistant to bring suit against the person
who was clerk Of the police court at the
time the fine was paid, for the recovery
OF the money. The, honorable second
assistant entered into the case with all
the vast enthusiasm of youth He caused
summons to be issued, citing one John
j. Ahern to appear before Justice Mills
and disgorge the states money forthwith
On the day set for the hearing of the
case the second assistant state attor-
ney was there backed and supported bv
certain state officials and a CARLOAD or
books and records. all showing, it was
alleged. that the said fine had never been
paid into the state treasury.
Mr. Ahern-that is. a Mr.. Ahern-was
there attended by a lawyer. and he ex-
planned that he was not the right NJ
Ahern and had never been clerk of the
police court. The summons had been
served on the wrong man. So all the
records and all the state officials were
carried back to the place from whence
they originally came. and the honorable
second assistant attorney general pro-
| ceeded to shoot again. The second time
he made a bulls-eye. The CARLOAD NJ
state officials and the CARLOAD Of state
records were all in court again, and the
right Mr.. Ahera was represented by his
attorney. Then some one suggested
bringing over a CARLOAD of records from
the police court, which was done. and on
those being searched it was found that
the fine in question had been duly paid
to the state treasurer by the said John
j. Ahern in his capacity as clerk of the
police court of the city of st. Paul.
just how anyone came to think of ex-
aiming the police court records is not
known. 1t was one of those inexpicable
flashes Of genius which sometimes fall
upon man like stroke of lightning.
He can't help it. 1t just happens to
him, like any other visitation of provt-
! dence.
Then followed the discovery that when
| the fine or the money therefor was paid
to the state treasury it had been cred
tied to the fish and game commission $
fund, instead of the dairy and food com
mission fund. And so this wonderful
mares nest was discovered. and as none
of the present state officials were in Of
| flee when the affair occurred. no one is
! to be found to shoulder the awful re-
| sponsibiity, and as Mr. Ahern probably
cannot show that he reported it as be-
longing to the proper fund. no one is to
| blame
The last chapter will be a stern demand
by State Dairy Commissioner Maj. Bow
Ter upon State Game Warden Beutner for
the amount of which the dairy depart
mert has been for so many years, unduly,
improperly and so wickedly deprived
And incidentally, the excellence of the
bookkeeping Of the former dairy and
game wardens departments must be
beyond question, otherwise one depart
ment would have discovered deficit and
the other surplus