Grand Forks herald., 1917-02-24
Affidavit Denies Truth of
Herald Article; If Mistake
Was Made Leaguers Aided

editor Of the Morning Herald. went to
Conway to report II possible meet
ing of the Nonpartisan league sched-
uled to be held there.
The first reference to the evening
meeting occurred during lunch at the
sentative and w. E. Quigley and j.
P. Craig, league organizers; Ed. Nc
Namara and F. P. Mcnamara, all
signers of the above affidavit. were at
one large table together. Mr.. Craig
made an allusion to q meeting sched
uled for that night, adding that it
should draw a larger crowd than the
one scheduled for the afternoon.
The Herald man asked If a meet
also saying that If such was the case.
he would stay and attend. IL possible.
Both Mr.. Craig and Mr.. Quigley said
that there would be such a meeting.
but the former added that the Herald
representative would not be allowed
to attend as 1t was private for the
leaguers. This conversation was list
ened to and Joined in by the two Nc
Namaras
The afternoon meeting was held ac-
cording to schedule and following it
, the Herald representative interviewed
B. II. Starry. whose name is also
signed to the affidavit.
MIR. Starry stated that meeting was
to be held that evening, at which ].
w. Brinton was to be the chief
speaker. Mr.. Brinton was to arrive
late in the afternoon, he said.
I'm sorry you can't be there, but
they (the league members) won't
stand for it. A good many of them
didn't want to let you in this after
noon."
Asked as to the purpose of the
evening meeting. Mr.. Starry stated
that 1t was to persuade the farmers
10 sign notes for the purchase of
automobiles for the use Of the league.
He stated that he had arranged to
sell the league 200 automobiles for
the coming season. including Over
lands, Fords and Chevrolets, ana that
before he delivered these to the
league he insisted on having the notes
guaranteed by the farmers at the
rate OF $3.50 in notes for every dollar
owed on machines.
IN support Of his statement was the
TACT that his garage was filled to the
utmost capacity with automobiies
There was also the fact, known to
me Herald. that William Maxwell
anton sobolik and others had already
signed the leagues notes for large
amounts The proposed meeting that
evening was also the subject Of gen
the day oo''"e
A report that a meeting Of such a
character as described was scheduled
70 ne held, appeared in The Herald
0 tuesday morning, February 20. in
connection with the account of the
meeting held in the afternoon.
On the evening Of Tuesday. Febru-
ary 20. a letter from Conway arrived
at the Herald Office. H was signed
Joe Urban" and contained. the ac-
count of an alleged meeting held at
Conway the night before. It was this
account which was published in The
Herald the following morning, with
the exception that several severe
structures against the league leaders.
contained in the letter, were omitted
IN the published report. Otherwise It
tailed with the forecast given out by
the LEAGUE boosters at Conway.
The Herald supposed the account of
the meeting given in the letter to be
true, largely for the reason that it
conceded almost exactly with the
plans for the session as they had
been given to the Herald representa-
tive by Mr.. QuiEley. Mr.. Craig and
Mr.. Stary, all Of whose names now
appear on the anidavit denying that
any meeting was held. any notes
signed, or that j.. w. Brinton waa IN
Conway q ths tims lnsntionsd.