The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-14
COLLINS AND NELSON
BREAK THE SILENCE
They Make Public the Core
spondence BetweenJ. j. Hill
and Themselves.


candidates for governor. and e. A. Nell
sin, state librarian, yesterday made
public the correspondence with j. j.
Hill regarding the charges contained
in an interview with R. c. Dunn some
days ago, and with which the public is
generally familiar.
The letters made public include let
tiers written by Mr. Hill to Judge Col
Inns and to Nelson in response to let
ters previously written by them ask
ing Mr.. Hill if he had been correctly
| quoted as saying that he had provided
funds for Judge Collins campaign in
1894, and that Nelson had visited his
office and solicited funds for Judge
Collins present gubernatorial CAM
paign.
Inc correspondence, as made public
by Collins and Nelson, is self explana-
tory. but is particularly explicit in de-
failing the circumstances of the Nelson
visit to Mr.. Hills Office.
The statement issued yesterday by
Judge Collins. with the copies of the
correspondence as passing between
himself and Mr.. Hill, follows:
Judge Collins Statement.
During my residence of fifty years
IN Minnesota never before have / been
called upon to publicly resent an at
tack upon my personal character l
cannot allow the recent attack of Mr.
Dunn to go unnoticed. He has a right
10 his own views upon public ques-
tons, and he may choose his political
associates, but he has no right to de-
fame others who differ with him and
his friends upon those questions l
judge him from his own language and
acts.
In the Pioneer Press of Jan. 8. 1902,
he is quoted as saying. concerning the
railroad merger, then the subject of
] heated discussion in this state: I be-
lieVe that the fight against Mr.. Hill is
inspired by rival railway companies,
and l am heartily out of sympathy
| with 1T because of this belief Mr..
Dunn has never announced a,change of
mind upon this subject. In fact, a
short time since he caused this inter-
view to be republished, with a state
| ment that he stood by 1t, and in his
interview with Mr.. Hill, published in
| the Dispatch of the 7th inst the latter,
speaking of the present campaign, as
sured Mr.. Dunn that he had his (Mr.
| HllPs) best wishes, and also that the
| hgureS to be obtained at the Office
might help Bob Because many per
sons, including myself have recognized
| and seen fit to refer to this we'll known
relationship and intimacy between
these gentlemen, which intimacy and
| exchange of sympathy Mr.. Dunn now
| publicly admits, he found provocation
| in a speech at Minneapolis, on May 6,
| to charge calmly and deliberately that
in 1894, when a candidate for re-elec-
| ton to the supreme bench l solicited
and secured the support of James j.
Hill to the extent Of a contribution of
from 100000 to 100000 to my cam
paign fund. This was a direct charge
! that l had solicited from Mr. Hill the
| large sum of money mentioned for my
! personal use. In a letter dated May z
| | asked Mr.. Dunn if he had used this
| language, but to this letter / have re-
| ceived no reply, and note from state
| ments in the public press that none
will be made. Knowing the utter
falsity of this charge, and believing
that Mr.. Hill would refuse to father it,
I wrote to him, asking the following
| questions:
Judge Collins Inquiries.
"First-Did you contribute any sum
whatsoever to my campaign fund when
! l was a candidate against the Hon.
! John Willis, or have you ever con-
tributed to that fund in any other cam
paign? If so, when, where, how much,
and to whom was the money paid?
| "Second-Did 1 ever solicit or re-
ceive from you, or from anyone con-
| nected with you in business or other
wise, any money whatever for cam
paign purposes? If so, when, where,
how much, and to whom was the mon
ey paid? Omitting the address, Mr..
Hills reply was as follows:
| Dear Sir: Your letter of even date was
duly received AS the same is rather am
biguous. would like to hear from you
further as to how far you wish me to go
int lnfc, lie iz,a with ttcT
referred to therein. Yours very truly
Jas. J. HILL
did not regard my letter as am
biguous, but, waving the point, I i'm
mediately replied as follows:
Hon. Jas. j. Hill, City-Dear Sir: Re-
ferring to the letters which have recently
passed between us, let me say that Mr..
Dunn explicitly charged in his speech, if
correctly reported, that / solicited and re-
cefved from you between thirty and forty
| thousand dollars in the campaign Of 1894.
But one construction can be placed on this
language and but one meaning can be at
tributed to it. which is that at the time
mentioned 1 solicited from you and that
you furnished to me for my own private
and individual use in that campaign the
large sum of money mentioned. 1t was
this construction and meaning I had in
mind when writing my former letter, and
| / therefore ask you, first did / solicit from
you any contributions of money in the
campaign of 1894 or any other campaign?
Ii So WHEN, WHERE anu now IQucn. Sec
ond-Did you contribute to me personally
or for my personal use any money in 1894
or at any other time for campaign pur-
poses? If so. when where how much and
to whom was the money paid? These
questions are as pointed and direct as
words can make them, and respectfully
solicit an early reply Respectfully yours.
L. W. Collins.
To this received the following re-
ply:
Dear Sir: l am in receipt of your letter
of the 10th inst, and if you desire a per
sonal interview on the subject of the let
ter, expect to be at home all of this week
and will see you at my Office at any time
| you desire.
No contribution was personally solicited
| by you or made to you by me-
BY whom contributions were solicited
and to whom paid is a proper subject for
personal interview rather than of cor
respondence Yours truly, Jas. j. Hill.
after submitting the above corre-
spondence, leave it to any fair-mind-
ed man to judge of Mr. Dunn's candor
and fairness of statement when maxine
that charge.
Referring now to Mr.. Hills invita-
ton to a personal interview as to con-
tributions made by him in the cam