The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-25

George S. Heron was yesterday di-
rected by an order of Judge Otis to
show cause, at the special term of the
district court today, why he should
not be removed from the position of a
commissioner in the proceedings to
condemn lands for the new Rock Island
terminal in West st. Paul. The petit
ton and af1davits on which Judge Otis
acted in making this order do not
charge Mr.. Heron with misconduct or
interest in the values Of the land to be
condemned. but they present ques-
ton as to his strict competency and
impartiality.
Judge Otis on Sept. 81, appointed Mr..
Heron together with Charles w. Far
mum and Charles N. Bell, as commits
Sloners to appraise the compensation
to be paid owners of property taken for
the terminal. The commissioners have
held several hearings, at which a large
number of property owners have teSti-
fled as to land values. If the court de-
cides that the objections raised by the
petition filed yesterday are we'll taken
new commissioner will be appointed
in his place. thus probably making it
necessary to hear all the testimony
anew.
Supposed to Be Impartial.
The order to show cause was granted
yesterday by Judge Otis on the appli-
cation of Albert w. Snyder and jose
phine Snyder, of New York, and Edgar
Snyder and Harry H. Williams, of st.
Paul. The petitioners aver that when
the matter of the appointment of the
commission was before Judge Otis 1t
was stated to the court that neither
Mr.. Heron nor either of the others Sc
lected by the parties had ever had any
dealings with the ST. Paul Terminal
and Transfer company or the Chi
cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway
company which was known to be back
of the terminal company.
To show that this was not true in
the case of Mr.. Heron the petition al
leges that he had, in September, 1901,
sold a lot in West st. Paul to the Rock
Island company for $1,000. which he
had shortly before offered for $500. This
lot was not decided directly to the COM
pany, but to a man named Espenschied,
a friend of D. H. Michaud, the land
agent of the company, for the purpose,
according to the petition, of "deluding
the public and other property owners
and concealing the fact that a railroad
was buying said land"
A. Lawton's Affidavit.
The petition is accompanied by sew
eral affidavits, among them that of
Albert M. LaWton, a real estate agent,
who deposes that at a hearing before
the commissioners on Oct. 10 he was
testifying as to property values, and
when asked whether any factories had
been located near the lots then under
consideration he had answered, mo,
neither was there any near lot Z, in
Marshalfs addition, sold by Mr.. Heron
to the railroad for $1,000, and which
he had previously instructed me to sell
for $500 net
At this point, according to Mr.. Law
ton, Commissioner Heron spoke up and
said, mo, it was only $1,000" But Mr..
Michaud, the company's land agent,
apparently not hearing what the COM
missioner had remarked, said to the
deponent, 1--WE are willing to admit that
we paid Mr.. Heron $1,000 more for that
lot than it was worth
On the basis of this showing the
petitioners allege that Mr.. Heron is
not a competent and disinterested per-
son to act as commissioner and they
ask for his removal.
NJ. V. Seymour, of counsel for the
company, declined last evening to af-
firm or deny the assertion in the petit
ton that he had told Judge Otis that
Mr.. Heron had had no dealings with
the company. He declared, however,
that the commissioner was perfectly
disinterested person and that his ap-
pointment had been asked for by many
of the property owners, as well as by
the company. Mr.. Seymour admitted
that the company had bought the lot
from Mr.. Heron at the price of ST 500.
Counsel for the company will make a
spirited fight against the commission
er's removal.