The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-04-15
Hoot Mon

lar which looked as tho it had been turned with a
plow, began history with the declaration that it
was fortunate that the beginnings Of history which
were SO d1ncut to get at were the very parts that
people cared nothing about
If Oliver had been right about this il would have
been happy thing for historians but unfortunately
ne was wrong The portions of their history which
are obscure just the parts that people delight in
digging up and talking about. How else do YOU
account for the fact that the first five parapranbs of
Russell A Ayers Autobiography taken up with
recounting the low wages he received in 1886
He takes pains to recall that in those years he re-
ceived only So a month In the first half of the
seventeenth century Andrew Carnegie puddled in a
foundry for ID cents day. John Wanamaker turned
bricks for cents day in colonial times WHY do
these men faunt the fact that these men were such
poor providers for their families in their early daysf
They do it because they know the world wants to
know About the crooked things in their lives. They
do not specify any crooked things but the Inference
is plain that the man who lays up $4O0,00OOOO OF
$50O,OO0,000 out of 81 week must be crooked
It is the same with the history of nations Tbs
story of Romulus and Remus, the wolf brothers il
OF more interest than the ascertained facts about
Cesar and Cicero. We hang breathless on the story
OF King Alfred and the baking and Robert Bruce
and the spider tho we know that they are probably
both made up stories It will be SO with the history
of Minneapolis when it is written. The splendid
achievements of the Comercial club and the her
culean 1abors of the public affairs committee will
pale before the recital of how Lars Rand carried
the sixth ward the first time or how George R.
seaton scaled the Nicolle house and took down the
flags. r.5 d.. ..r-
There few still living who know the
history of Minneapolis and it would seem to be the
duty OF the historian of the city to make an assault
upon these men and compel them to disgorge their
"reminiscences before it is too late. There are for
example, Ed A. Stevens, who carries more of the
late noliti in had
any man living C. M. Loring who dates back to the
time when First avenue S and Seventh street was
considered the wilderness and when wild ducks made
their annual visit to the pond in Bridge square;
George A Bracket, who was mayor of Minneapolis
before majority of the present voters were born.
Mr.. Bracket to his fists the fact that he is
alive and citizen of Minneapolis. His experience
was not different from that of Abraham Lincoln with
the Clary's Grove boys When he came to Minneapolis
from Maine there collection of two-fsted Irish
boys who hung about the blacksmith shop in Bridge
square, and he had hardly time to change his
fore they lit down upon him and gently unfolded
the information that nobody expected to remain
in Minneapolis unless he made good
"That so7'' asked young Bracket. "What does
he have to do7''
"He has to fght.n
'But never fought anybody in my life Fighting
is against the law where I from.''
But you have come long ways and the law is
just the opposite here.''
The argument was keen and tense and the upshot
was that Mr.. Bracket declared he would fight no.
body but that if attacked he felt that he had the
right to defend himself.
This agreeable to the managers of the town
and the first time Bracket passed the blacksmith
shop the village champion strobe and soaked him
one in purely impersonal way for the honor of the
community. .-. -.
Mr. Bracket then opened for the defense using
Uptons tactics, What-d 'ye-call- 'em torts, the
statutes n-such-cases -made-and- provided and two
horny fists, which had been trained in the lumber
camps of Maine. When the defense was all in the
village champion looked tho he had met the entire
japanese army in a no-thorofare. Mr.. Bracket
ceived his citizen papers and his license to remain in
Minneapolis to ask for whatever he did not see.
+ I before the board of pardons day, not
in my case, but in that of fellow citizen in
Jail in st. Paul. No Minneapolis ought to be
compelled to langush in St. Paul Jail when we
have jails of own and when st. Paul needs hers
badly went before the board and the consequence
is that the Minneapolis is still in Jail in st.
Paul. The pardon board is not much moved by eo-
quence but believe it must be considerably bored
by people who before it merely to request as a
personal favor that their friends be let out. This is
the kind of was and the amount of at
tention I got showed that the board onto me
from the start But when the broken-hearted wife
and mother appeals what you to do but gof
/ interested to sit down and hear how others
Jared. It was hard lines with everybody. But was
glad I stayed because I heard an old minstrel joke
exemplifed in due earnest. You have all heard Of
the who, when asked whether he had anything
to say, pleaded the youth and inexperience of his
attorney. Well heard attorney, fine, tall clean
cut young fellow stand up and tell the board that the
victim for whom he plead innocent and never
would have been convicted if he, his attorney, had
not been green Somehow after got thru with
small internal laugh thought better of that young
because he straight and tall and frank
and thought the board ought to let the out But
I know they will not.
People have strange notion about the pardon
board. They look upon it committee of SYM
pathetic phanthropists who hired to reetfy the
hiatus between the incarceration of the citizen and
the longing of his family to see him once more.
Some of the pleas made before the board are ndict
able offenses against the peace of the community
and the dignity of the board But with patience they
are all heard and with propriety put away. In the
anteroom I talked with attorney who had case
before the board He said I don think the pardon
board ought to hold stated meetings. 1t amounts to
an invitation to relatives and friends to