The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-17
WILL SUE FOR LIBEL
STREET COMMISSIONER sTEEG TO
~-BRING.ACTION AGAINST
GEN. POPE
WANTED EXAMINER ARRESTED
Matter to BE Also Laid Before the
Grand Jury-No Further De-
veIopments Made
Public.


Street omTIissioner Stecg is on the
waIB;tth, and IS making no attempt to
conceal the fact. He declares that Bank
Examiner Pope has attempted TO attach
odium to his good name unjustly and
says ne Will carry, the matter to the
courts.
It called on Gen, Pope IN company
with SIr. Wood of this office. today and
asked to be shGwu the letter which is
responsible for all this trouble" said
Mr. Steeg to the G o b yesterday aft
erIl'oon. ;'SiIld, the request was refused. He
has attacked my character and propose
to make him take the consequences.
Mr.. Steeg said he also called on County
Attorney Kane and asked for a warrant
for thea arrest of Mr.. Pope on the charge
of malicious mali . prosecution, but it was also
refused AZ am now debating a letter
to the grand Jury continued Mr., steag.
land viii see If they viii not take the
matter up. Surely there is some way of
compelling this man to. explain. L will
send the letter tonight"
Mr.. Steeg added that. he had Instructed
his attorneys to bring srit against the
bank examiner for Tibet and would ask
for S25,eO0. He hoped, he said, to be
able to have the papers in the ease
served on Mr.. Pope today.
Under the advice of friends, John F.
Gehan, who, according to the bank ex-
aminer's department, is. involved in the
discrepancies, was rather retfcent yes
terday, except to say that he and his
particular department would be vindi-
Gated when the investigation was COM
pleted g,--.yl .ss<-=- ~,
He still holds that he did nothing wrong
and intimates he Will ask for redress when
oh
takes, and he is sure the whole thing
will be found to- be such, he. says it is
due to the fact that he has tried to help
poor people cut by furnishing them with
a way of getting their money, instead of
having to wait weeks on the city. Men,
he says, might have taken advantage of
his generosity and sold their time to two
men or divided it among the same num-
Der.
No NEW DEVELOPMENTS.
If there are amy new developments in
the Investigation ,of the alleged fraudu-
lent practices, Bank Examiner Pope has
not seen fit to make them public In
answer to the stereotyped query Of "any-
thing new, General?'' yesterday, he re-
piled no. adding that nothing would
be given out until the matter had been
thoroughly sifted.
The Investigation is in the hands of
Assistant Bank Examiner Harris, and he,
while refusing to commit himself, init
mates that the investigation SO far has
not been barren of results.
The foundation for the accusations so
far made is, based on the fact that the
numbers of the time checks and the
comptroller S warrants are Endorsed in the
same hand writing. In several Instances,
however, haste evidently caused the
party who welded the pen to spell
name differently. from that on the check
The whole thing may be satisfactorily
explained, says Mr.. Harris but there is
a discrepancy that should hardly be
permitted. Mr.. Harris does not say so,
nor does his superior attempt to ex-
plain, but it is plainly evident that both
are confident that dummies have been
used to draw. checks for work alleged to
have been done.
STANDS BY HIS MEN.
City Engineer Claussen yesterday said
that he would stand by. the accused men
until it was shown positively that they
were guilty of fraud. 81 put the highest
trust in all my Office force, and while
have seen the best of men ga
wrong" said Mr.. Claussen, 'syet i can.
not think they have betrayed me or their
trust. Mr.. Pope is probably doing his
duty, but thinks he has done wrong in
casting suspicion until he is sure of his
position I'm this Office many thousands
OF dollars. are disbursed in a year, and
as far as can ascertain the discrepancy
found does not exceed $780, That covers
nearly a year, # every business man in
the city was sure that his annual short
age by reason of mistakes did not ex-
eeed that amount he would be more than
satisfied
The letter which Mr.. Steeg claims i'm
plieated him without reason was dated
Oct, H., aEdsr according to Mr.. Pope,-
would tend to indicate that the parties
involved knew what was coming, and de-
sired to, square matters.
Men from the examiners department
We're scattered all over. the building YES
| terday, and the records in every office
We're given a thorough examination. So
far nothing wrong has been found in any
OF the other offices, but as an official
remarked, More than one clerk received
a mild scelding for mistakes found in the
records"