Perth Amboy evening news., 1913-10-29
spscial 60 the EVENING NEWS.

tpccfd| 20 the EVENING NE
South Amboy, Oct. 29:-City
| Solicitor F. NJ. P. Pearse was severe
| ly reprimanded by the common coun-
Gil last night for his conduct in rela-
tion to the Susquehanna Coal Com
pany case, which matter was thor
Dughly threshed out following the
| reading of Mr.. Pearse's reply to the
resolutions passed by the council at
| its last meeting. An animated dis
cussion took place in which all the
councilmen as we'll as Mr.. Pearse
took part. The matter closed with
the statement by the city solicitor
| that the resolution of censure passed
! last night was unwarranted, coward
ly and unworthy of the action of the
council. He said he was willing to
let his case rest in the hands of the
public.
Following the reading of the reply
of the city solicitor, which has al
ready been published, Mr.. O'Connor
moved that it be received and spread
upon the minutes of the meeting.
Mr.. Manhattan stated he voted for
the resolution and he wanted the city
solicitor to understand he read 1t
and understood 1t and he thought the
money should be paid to the city of
South Amboy and the solicitor pre-
/ sent his bill. He thought it would
have been more dignified to have
presented bill and been paid in pro-
! per way. "You have never been re-
/ fused one penny while l have been
member of this council" he said,
and if you had presented your bill
! here l would have been one of the
! first ones to vote for it. / am not
prepared to say whether the bill is
too much or too little" Messrs.
Stratton and Slower stated they
agreed with the remarks of Mr.. Man
i haitian, and did not think for a mo-
ment but that the council would have
paid the bill, but that it now placed
the council in very embarrassing
position.
Mr.. Pearse Speaks.
Mr.. Pearse. II have refrained
ever since | presented my account to
make any remarks whatsoever, not
only here in the council, but also the
various misleading, garbled and un-
truthful statements which have ap-
peared in the local press. When I
first presented my account the next
day there appeared an article in the
New Brunswick Home News which
was SO headed that it gave the i'm
preston that the sum total involved
In the Susquehanna Coal Company
litigation was $10,700 and that from
that sum the city solicitor had re-
tanned for his own services $500.
1t is needless for me to say that that
report was spread broadcast, not only
throughout the county, but through
out the State of New Jersey and
came to the attention of friends and
acquaintances and clients of mine.
1t put me not exactly in an embar-
RAISING situation, but 1t put me In
the situation of one who had to ex
plain something he should not be
called upon to explain.
81 might add further that the
newspaper article which appeared in
the same newspaper gave a purpo-t
ed interview with the mayor, wheth-
er such interview ever took place |
am sure | do not know, but in this
newspaper article the mayor is quot
ed with saying that the city solicitor
received a salary of $75 per month.
Of course you all know that is abso
lutely untrue. AS | have said before,
this matter has been talked about
here. 1t has been talked about
amongst yourselves. 1t has been
talked about by the public in general
and so far as | can make out the
only criticism is that brought by the