The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-02-28
BEN ness
IS GUILTY
Of ATTEMPT
At BRIBERY
VIII Also Have a Hearing In
District Court
Was Sentenced to Jail Until
Saturday Night
Fargo Woman Testified Against
the Briber

Bismarck, N. d.. Feb. 2S.-Ben J..
Ness, former druggist and life insur-
ance agent, was found guilty today in
the house of representatives of at
tempting to brihe members of the leg
islature in connection with the killing
OF what is known as the anti-snuff
bill. Ness was arrested Tuesday morn
ing and taken to the county Jail where
his hearing was set for Thursday
morning at O'clock. After Ness was
found guilty by the house he was SEN
fenced to be reprimanded and confined
in the county Jail until Saturday night
at 6 o'clock. His hearing will come up
in the district court at 10 o'clock Sat
urday morning and IL he is found gull
~ there ne Will be sentenced to a term
in the penitentiary:
From the evidence that was intro
duced before the house Thursday 1t
does not appear that there is any guilt
attached to the members OF the house
or the senate, either this session or
the session of two years ago and those
findings will be incorporated in re-
port Of the management committee
that Will be made to the house to-
day. Representative Thompson filed
an AFFIDAVIT with the chair to the ef-
feet that he did not have anything to
say to Ness nor to anyone else regard
ing the snuff bill and that he had new
er been approached on the matter
either this year or at any other time.
1t would appear from the hearing yes
terday that Ness probably never had
any money in his possession that he
could have delivered and that his
statements to the effect that he had
fixed" certain members of the house
were without any foundation whatever
TWiehell on Stand.
When Rep. L. L, Twichell Of Fargo
a -.
the first time he met Ness was In a
room at the Grand Pacific hotel and
that first they talked about the drug
gists' permit bill in which 1t appears
Ness was somewhat interested. Ac-
cording to the evidence Twichell was
not favorable to the bill and there was
somewhat of an argument, Twichell
taking the stand that the bill was
simply introduced for the purpose OF
making 1t possible for the druggists of
the state who so desired to sell whis-
ky.
Twichell testified further that he
then went down stairs and that it was
only a few minutes until Ness follow
ed him there and started to talk about
the snuff bill and that Twichell then
started to feel Ness out to see what he
knew about the rumored effort to kill
the bill. He said that Ness argued for
q time about the bill on it's merits and
tried to show him where the claims
that snuff was a harmful drug were
wrong and used q great many techni-
cal terms of which TWichell knew
nothing as he was not q chemist nor a
druggist.
1t was at this point that a pack
age of papers was introduced as evi-
dence. The papers had been given
Twiclleu by Ness and were offered by
the prosecution to bring out the fact
that Ness was connected with the
American Tobacco Co., or the Copen-
hagen Snuff Co.. but when the de-
Tense insisted that the papers con-
tanned in the package be read in full
the speaker ruled that the objection
of Bangs that the proposed evidence