Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-04-09


tail the disgraceful and indecent scenes
Legislature stamp the disgrace of these
servants of the people upon our whole
State; be it.
Resolved. That we desire to express
our Indignation and disgust at such a
terrible exhibition on the part of men
elected to public office; that we have
been betrayed and insulted by these
men: that we protest that they are no
longer fit to represent the people of
New Jersey. and that we urge upon all
bodies, religious and civic. to enter their
protest against this betrayal"
Speaker Ward issued the following
statement:
speaker of the House of the AS
sembly it is my duty to speak out re-
garding what has been characterized
by the press as the disgraceful scenes
connected with the closing hours of the
LEGISLATURE, which. it is stated in the
papers tool place on the ground floor
back of the Speakers rostrum.
THE room on the ground floor in
back of the speakers rostrum is the
private office of the speaker, with the
clerks office to the left and my secre-
tary's room to the right. Not a single
woman and no liquor of any kim were
in these rooms at any time. The SUI
perVisor of bills rooms are on the floor
above. and not connected with the
speakers room or with the floor of the
Assembly chamber.
The records will show that the MEM
bers, with one or two exceptions, were
III their seats during the entire night
and were attending strictly to the just
ness of the House. The McCran water
!. bill. the railroad r~evaluation bill and
other important bills were discussed at
length and passed that night.
During the recess l was told tlat
there was something going on upstairs
in the Office of the supervisor of bills.
I was very busy, as everybody knows.
NJ took the time TO go up there and
see what was going on. The assistant
supervisor of bills, one member of the
Assembly and some other men, to-
gether with half a dozen women, we're
there. Everyone was seated and all
were quiet, / simply looked in, and.
seeing nothing Objectionable, left i'm
n~lediately.
Later in the night I saw a bottle of
beer standing on the desk of the same
member / had seen upstairs. [ imme-
diately went to this member and asked
him what he meant by having that
bottle there, and ordered him to take
it out at once which he did.
This is all I know of the alleged
5sGurroaf,1 aara Matthew raxr-alF nnr
the members of the House would stand
for a minute for anything such as is
described in the papers as having
taken place, and l do not believe the
members generally knew anything Of 1t
If it did happen. I certainly would
have instantly stopped such a scene
If il had taken place or I had known
about ii.
81 wish an investigation could be
had. because the State ought to know
that the officers and members of the
House, with perhaps one or w excep-
tions. took no part in and know moth
ing about what took place in the super
visor of bills room, and If anything
such as is described did occur, those
individuals responsible for It should be
publicly named and driven from pub
lie office in disgrace.
Officers of the House should not be
held responsible for what they knew
nothing Of. and the State should not be
disgraced by the acts of a few ire
sponsible persons.
HARRY p. WARD.
Speaker of the House"
Minard Denies Orgy.
Duane e. Minard said that the stories
of the scenes in the State House were,
for the most part, untrue. He de-
clared that he saw no women in any
Of the side rooms and but one bottle
Of beer in the Assembly Chamber. This.
he said. was put on a members desk
in a spirit of fun. and was removed
almost Immediately. Regarding the
reports Of a fight between a member
and two policemen, Mr.. Minard said:
That was a bit of horseplay for
which I think Ed Murray was re-
sponsible. The officers were sent to Mr..
Goldingay's desk to make a fake ar
rest. Mr.. Goldingay is a big, wiry man,
and in a spirit of fun he engaged in a
friendly tussle with the policemen and
foored them"
Assemblyman Goldingay said:
There was some horseplay on the
loo: Of the House during the closing
hours, as there always is, but the re-
ports of what went on are an outrage.
1t was almost necessary for some Of
the members of the House to nave re-
Taxation after being at work for nearly
twenty-four hours, and the throwing of
paper and a few waste baskets around
the hall was surely harmless enough. l
saw no women or intoxicating liquor
In any of the rooms
Mr.. Nissan expressed the same opin-
ion as his colleagues. He said that he
could not conceive of any way in which
the scenes reported could have occurred
without becoming generally known. He
declared he saw nothing but the usual
~horseplay."
The Essex eleven all agree that there
were many respectable women in the
gallery and that at no time was there
a woman on the floor Of the House
The wife of Assemblyman Nissan was
in the gallery and there were several
young ladies from the State Normal
School in the gallery. They admit on
two occasions waste baskets were
thrown around the House, that pieces
of paper were torn into bits and scat
tered around and that confetti was
freely thrown about. The Essex men
say that it was all simple FUN.
Essex's leader, Mr.. Minard. says that
the members were voting as late as
7 o'clock or Thursday morning. and
that at no time was there less thar
zee v, -aiub+ 10 tho c{vtv MAN apr re fha