Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, September 9, 1911, Page 1

¢ THE BEMIDJL VOLUME 9. NUMBER 114. SHERIFF HAZEN DEFEATED IN AT- TEMPT TO COLLECT HIS ILLEGAL. BILL Judge Stanton Decides Mandamus Case Brought by Sheriff Against Viggo Peterson and James BILL IS ILLEGAL---PETERSON AND GEORGE RIGHT, Judge C. W. Stanton has filed his decision in the mandamus case| bronght by Sheriff A B. Hazen | against Viggo Peterson as chairman of the County Board, and James L. George, as County Auditor, to com- pel them to issue a warrant in his| favor for the sum of $752.40 on a bill for services. as sheriff which had! been allowed by the Connty Board. | An alternative writ of mandamus| was issued by the Conrt requiring| Peterson and George to issue and sign | such a warrant, or o silow cause on | August 18th why they had not done so. | On the return day of the writ the| Chairman of the Board and the Audi-| tor appeared before the court. and by | their answers showed that they had | not signed the county warrants for the sheriff, and that their reason for having failed to do so was that the bill was illegal, and contained items of charges on the part of the sheriff | to which he was not entitled by law, and that the bill contained charges! for pretended services which had not heen rendered by the sheriff, and con- | tained excessive charges for services | rendered. After the filing of rthese answers, the County Attorney moved the court | to dischurge the writ and dismiss the | uction, because it plainly appeared from the undisputed facts, as shown | by the pleadings. that the bill was an ! illegal bill, and that the Court ought | not, by mandamus, to compel the Chairman of the Board and the Audi-!| tor to issue a warrant for a bill which was plainly illegal. The decision of Judge Stanton up- holds the action of Viggo Peterson and James L. George in their refusal | to issue this warrant. or any war-| rant in payment of this bill In his decision Judge Stanton plainly states that it is the duty of public officers, intrusted with the disbursement of publie funds, to use good sound judg- ment in the exercise of their duties, and that they have a right, and that | it is their duty, to guard and safely keep the public funds. and that they should refuse to pay bills allowed by the County Board, when they know | or have reason to believe that such bills are illegal. No evidence was taken in this case as to the illegal and excessive charg- es contained in the sheriff's bill, but the case was decided against the sheriff because it appeared. from the bill itself, and beyond any question, | that it contained a large number of* items of charges whick were plainly illegal. { In the memorandum attached to| the decision, the court suggests that | the remedy for the sheriff to nowl pursue is to file a new bill with the| County Board for such services as he is legally entitled, and that if such a| bill is disallowed that the sheriff has| his remedy by appealing. The following is Judge Stanton’s| decision: State of Minnesota, | County of Beltrami. In District Court | Fifteenth Judicial District | State of Minnesota, ex rel. ! Alvin B. Hazen, Relator. vs. James L. George, as county auditor, and Viggo Peter- i son, as Chairman of the | Board of County Commis- sioners in and for Beltrami | county, Minnesota, Respondents.; The above entitled action came be- fore the court, at chambers, in the city of Bemidji, in said county, on the 18th day of August 1911, at which time and place due return was made by respondents to the alterna- tive writ of mandamus theretofore on the 8th day of August 1911, is-|Cal. sued by the court. Mr. Graham M. Torrance, appear-| ing as attorney for respondents, moved that the writ be discharged as improvidently issued, and this motion was opposed by Mr. Henry Funkley, appearing as attorney for the relator, who asked that the ar- gument be deferred until August 28th, 1911, whereupon, by consent of respondents, said request was grant- ed and the proceedings adjourned to the 28th day of August 1911, at 10 o’clock a. m. On said adjourned date the parties |of a claim for serv | words: BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA;-SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 9, 1911. L. George on the said motion to discharge the ! writ was heard. ! After careful consideration of the arguments presented, and maturul consideration, and being fully advised ; in the premises, IT IS ORDERED That the alterna-| tive writ of mandamus issued herein on the §th day of August, 1911, be and the same is hereby discharged. | Dated September 8th, 1911. (Signed.) C. W. STANTON, District Judge. | | In this proceeding the relator, Alvin B. Hazen, sheriff of said coun- ty, seeks an order of the court com-, manding the respondents, James L.| Gecrge and Viggo Peterson, auditor and chairman of the county board. ' respectively. to sign and deliver to| said relator a certain county warran | for the sum of $752.40, in payment| es rendered said | county by ssid relator, as sheriff,| which said claim. duly itemized and | verified. was duly considered, audit- | ed and allowed by the county board | on the 14th day of June 1911, and | from which said allowance no appeal | has been taken. arate return of each of re-| spondents admits all of the allega-| tions made by relator in respect to. the filing and allowance of said| claim, and seeks to justify his refusal to si said warrant on the ground/ that the relator's said claim contains! many items of charges that are il-| legal and excessive. It is apparent: from an examination of a copy of the | bill presented to the county board,, which copy forms a part nfirelnfll’i%,fi“ application herein, that said claim comprises at least SOME items thatl are illegal, and for which no charge could justly be made against the county. 1 refer to the several charges, aggregating $66.00, for| bringing prisoners into court and for | mileage and attendance in court so| doing. Further, it was expressly conceded by counsel for relator,” at| the hearing, that the charges above mentioned are improper and illegal.| Therefore, to this extent, it is ad- mitted in this proceeding that the warrant demanded, if issued, would be illegal and excsesive. The legal question presented, then, | is: When a claim is presented to, and considered, audited and allowed | by, the county board, does it become |judgment and ability " |the mandatory duty of the auditor and chairman to execute and deliver a warrant for same? Or, in other| Are the duties of the auditor and chairman, in such case so purely ministerial and free from the right tory the payment of a claim conced: edly illegal and unjust. - Such a rule would destroy all of the safeguards that have been built around the ex- traordinary remedy of mandamus. 1t would relieve the courts of the duty to always exercise sound judi- cial discretion in such proceedings; it would do away with the rule that mandamus will not lie to compel the doing of an act which without its command would not be lawful; and it would compel a technical compliance ‘i with the letter of the law, whére such compliance would violate the spirit of the law. In State vs. U. S. Ex- press Company, 95 Minn. 442, the court says: “Mandamus is not a mere writ of right. It is ‘a legal remedy granted on equitable principles.’ In ordinary cases parties are left to their ordinary remedies. They are entitled to mandamus only when there are conditions of necessity or exceptional circum- stances, where there would oth- erwise be a failure of justice, and then only in the exercise of a sound judicial discretion, and not as a matter of course. That discretion should not be exer- cised unless some sufficient leg- al purpose is to be subserved. “The persons securing its aid must come into court with clean hands. Where the proceedings have been tainted with fraud and corruption, the relief will be denied, Lowever meritorious the application may be on other grounds. Mandamus will not lie to compel the doing of an act whieh without its command would not be lawful. Nor should a court allow it te compel a technical compliance with the letter of the law, when such | compliance will violate the spirit of the law.” “We think that the correct doctrine is expressed in High on Extraordinary Legal Remedies, section 9. where. speaking of mandamus. it is said that ‘The exercise of the jurisdiction rests, to a considerable ex'ent, in the sound discretion of the court’; and that ‘cases may therefore arise where the appiicant for re- lief has an undoubted legal right, for which mandamus is the ennropriate remedy. but where the court may, in the ex-, ercise of a w, discretion, still refuse the relief.” See, also, Wa- ter Works vs. San Francisco, 52 Cal. 117..and same vs. Bryant, 1d. 140. And in the second edi- tion of the work, in said secticn and noies, it is said that the it should not a compliance with azainst the spirit of In State vs. Commissioners, 26 Kan. 419, while the facts were what different irom those in"the case at bar, tne supreme court of Kansas stated the rule as follows: ‘The writ of man- damus is not wholly a writ of right, but lies to a considerable evtent within the sovnd judicial discretion of the court where the application is made, (citing au- thorities), and no .uurt should allow a writ of mandamus to compel 2 technical compliance with the letter of the law, where such compliance will violate the spirit of the law.’ Wiedland vs. Dodson, 30 Pac. 580." H By his oath the county auditor promises t and his bond requires him to. aithfully discharge tne duties of his offige to the best of his Would he fulfill this obligation if he signed and delivered a county warrant in the face of the full and certain knowl-| edge on his part that the county bourd, either wilfully, or through mistake, or inadvertence, had, by its the letter | to exercise discretion, that they be-|order of allowance of the claim, di- come mere machines to carry out the! will of the county board, whether/ right or wrong, legal of illegal? It must be conceded that many of the authorities appear, at first glance, to answer these questions affirmative- | ly. For instance, High's Extraordin-| ary Legal Remedies, a recognized au- thority, in Section 351, reads: “As regards the mere act of drawing a warrant upon the treasurer or other municipal of- ficer charged with payment, af- ter a demand has been prop-rly audited and allowed by the offi- cer or board charged with this | duty, there can be no valid ob- | jection to granting the writ. In such cases the amount of the indebtedness due from the cor- poration being definitely fixed by the proper authority, there remains only the ministerial act of drawing the necessary war- | rant for its payment, and man- damus is the appropriate remedy to compel the performance of this duty.” And in State vs. Ames, 31 Minn,, 440, the court says: “Where, as in this case, a de- mand against a municipal cor- poration has been duly audited, allowed and ordered paid, and the proper officer refuses to per- form the purely ministerial act | of drawing, signing, or sealing | a proper warrant in thepremises, | it is common practice to compel him to do so by mandamus. This is also evidently the theory of our statute, which provides that mandamus may issue to any person to compel the perform- ance of an act which the law specially enjoins as a duty re- sulting from an office.” So, in McFarland vs. McCowen, 98 329, the court lays down the! rule that: “Where the board of super- visors bears and determines the | facts involved in a claim and or- ders the allowance thereof, it be- comes res judicata, and. in the absence of fraud, is conclusive.” The principles so proclaimed by | these able text writers and eminent judges must be regarded as well es- tablished. But I cannot regard this rule of law as decisive of the case at| bar for the reason that I am confident | that the exceptional facts as disclosed | and admitted here present a situa-| tion not in contemplation in the cases cited. Surely no judicial tribunal ever intended to say that a court should, under any circumstances and appeared by their respective attor- neys, as aforesaid, and argument up- for whatever reason, require the per- formance of an act to make manda-|" rected him to issue a warrant unau-| thorized by law? i *hink not. "'i must be, in such case, tHat the audi-| ter is called upon tu exercise “best judgment,” and so, and to that extent, to exercise his discretion. In a very similar case to the one at bar, —State vs. Albrighi, 88 N. W. (V. D.) 729, the court said: “The auditor is ine agent of the county, intrascwcl with the | duty of careful performance of all acts devolving upen him. To deliver a warrant to the relator when it appeared thal there was reasonable ground to believe that none was due him, and that he had been paid for the services for which he asked ti:e warrant, would have been acting contrary to the interests of the county. Was the relator entitled to a writ of mandamus ogainst the auditor, under the facts alleged in the answer. The writ will is- sue to compel payment of salar- ies of public officers, when fixed by law, and when due and pay- able. Such is the general rule. The writ of mandamus will not be issued, except in cases where the right to it is clearly shown. In cases of doubt, based on rea- sonable grounds, arising from existing facts, it will not issue. It is not issued as a matter of strict legal right in all cases. If | the auditor was vested with any discretion, under the circum- stances, in regard to issuing the warrant, mandamus was not the proper remedy. If the duty was purely a ministerial one the writ should issue. In view of the facts brought to his notice, we think it was his duty to refuse | the warrant to the same extent as though it was his individual affair. “As auditor, he is the rep- resentative of the county, ard is trustee of its interests. No dif- ferent rule should apply in cases of issuing warran.s by auditors and paying them by treasurers. Under the facts as pleaded, the auditor had a discretion to ex- ercise as to his official actions, and mandamus will not lie to cause him to act when he is.vest- ed with such discretion.” Respecting the ducy of treasurers, the supreme court of Illinois has said in People vs. Johnsecn, 100 1. 537: “Hence, as a general rule, mandamus will lie to compel a county treasurer or other dis- bursing officer to pay an order legally drawn upon funds in his hands subject to tae payment of such order. * * * But where, in such case, by reason.of a co: plication of extraneous -circum- stances not specifically provided for by statute, ‘& well-founded doubt arises either “as to the wight of the applicant to receive the fund, or the duty of the offi- cer to pay it out, mandamus is not the proper remedy. The _ right in such case being doubt- ful, the claimant must resort to some other appropriate remedy to determine it.” * S In Evans vs. Bradley, 4 South Da- kota 83, 55 N. W. 721, it was said: “It is the duty Of the county treasurer, under all circumstanc- es, to pay.warrants drawn ac- cording to law by the board of county commissioners, when he has funds in his hands for that purpose. If, however, he has reasonable grounds to question the legality of the warrant, or the power of the county commis- sioners to draw the same, he is Jjustified in refusing to pay such warrant until the validity of the same is established by the judg- ment of a court of competent Jjurisdiction.” i It is important, too, to keep in mind the fact that a sheriff is never entitled to fees or compensation oth- er than such as are‘expressly pre- seribed by statute. The county board has no power, express or implied, to authorize the ‘payment”f any other fee. No diseretion rested with the county board to say whether the $66 for taking prisoners’into court should be paid. It was an illegal claim and no act of the county hoard could make it legal. In 7 Nebraska, 130, the court said: “But the relief by mandamus is granted only when the amount of the demand has been definite- | 1y ascertained and fixed in the manner provided by law. Nor will the writ go to direct the is- suing of warrants:for an amount claimed by the relator in excess of that to which he is legally en- titled.” As tersely said in State vs. Vasaly, 98 Minn. 46: “The law does and should scrut- inize with circumspection and care expenditures of public funds and charges of fraud, mis- take, or of any form of wrong on the part of any public body or official resulting in their mis- appropriation.” Following this salutary admoni- tion, it would be strange indeed for the court to insist upon the flagrant misappropriation of public funds be- cause the county board has through a mistaken idea of its power author- sue to compel | ized the expediture. Jounsel for the relator, after ad- the law. |mitting the illegality of a portion of the claim, contends that the writ should not be discharged because “a part of the relief asked for” may be granted. In this proceeding the rela- tor asksthe court (o ‘coinmand the respondents to sign this particular warrant for $752.40 and the court can require them to sign no other warrant for a different amount. The correct amount to which relator is entitled, if any, is in dispute. The only particular in which the parties agree is that the relator is not en- | titled to $66 included in the $752.40. And it is well settled by universal authority that “it is not the province of mandamus to settle differences of opinion between municipal authori- ties and claimants as to amounts due for their services.” Counsel for relator asks in his written argument: “Would there not be a most flagrant failure of justice in taking from relator nearly $600 for services rendered that the court cannot in this proceeding question?” I think not. By discharging the writ the court is taking nothing from the relator to which he is en- titled. What is there to prevent rela- tor from presenting to the county board a claim for all of the fees,— and only those,—to which he is leg- ally entitled. Then, if the claim is allowed, a warrant therefor must be issued; and its allowance would be enforced by mandamus if necessary; if the claim is disallowed his rights can be amply protected by appeal. In justice to Sheriff Hazen, the re- lator, I deem it proper to state that this proceeding has disclosed no facts or circumstances from which I feel at all warranted in ascribing to him the- slightest intentional wrong in the presentation to the county board of his claim for illegal charges. On the contrary, I think that he believed such charges to be proper and legal, and that he was led to that belief, at least in part, by the knowledge that similar, if not identical, claims for fees have been for years past pre- sented, allowed and paid, without question, in this and some neighbor- ing counties. But, as said by Justice Brown in Town of Buyck vs. Buyck, 112 Minn. 94: “It is no answer for him to say that while he knew the facts, he did not know the law. To sustain a plea of that sort would open the door to public plunder.” To entitle the relator to the writ, under all the authorities, his legal right to the performance of the par- ticular act south to be compelled must be clear and complete. Instead, |it is admitted here, that the relator has no legal right to the warrant in question. POLITICS DOMINION WARM Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Mr. Borden are Opposition Leaders. Ottawa, Ont., Sept. 9.—With but one full week to run beforp the day of election, the political campaign in the Domihion will be carried forward with a rush during the ensuing seven | days. |field. The Liberal stendard bearer, | Sir Wilfrid Laurier, wul put in the | week in Quebec. Mr. Borden, the | Opposition leader, will continue his {campaign in Nova Seotia. Esther, La —Cutting a moceasin snake in two as it sprang to bite him, Thomas Williams was bitten the force of the snake's strike carrying its head and part of its body forward. Both parties have prepared to| iput every available speaker in the! BEATTIE FOUND GUILTY Jury Reaches Deei,ion After a D'e- liberation of But Fifty-eight Minutes. VERDICT WAS FIRST DEGREE It took the jury just fifty-eight minutes to agree as to the guilt of Henry Clay Beattie, Jr., who has been gaining considerable notoriety in his trial for the murder of his wife. The jury declared him guilty of murder in the first degree. Beattie Louise Owen Beattie, on the night of July 18 last, while motoring with her on the Midlothian turnoike. Baker and Getchell Get Birds. Ted Getchell and Geo. T. Baker, two prominent business men of this returned today, after a two ’ hunt near Plummer. Between them they brought home sixty-one prairie chickens. They report the birds very plentiful in that vicinity. CHURCHES HOLD SERVICE Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and Swedish Churches Observe Sabbath. MORNING AND EVENING SERVICE PRESBYTERIAN. | There will be the regular services tomorrow conducted by the pastor. Morning worship at 11, Bible school at 12:15, Young People's meeting at 7, evening service at 8. The public |is invited. Rev. S. E. P. White, pas- tor. FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL. Services will be held in the Mason- is Temple with -preaching at 10:45 and 8. Sunday School will be held at 12, Epworth League at 7, with Lawrence Higgins as leader. Prayer Meeting will be held on Thursday ev- ening at the residence of R. S. Hurd, 706 13th street. Everybody is invited. Chas. H. Flesher, pastor. EPISCOPAL. Sunday School will be held at 10 o’clock. Service with Holy Commun- ion will be held at 10:30. Rev. Rol- lit of Minneapolis, will preach. BAPTIST. F. H. Luhman, a student in the Riley Bible School of Minneapolis who spoke in the Baptist church last Sunday will speak again this Sun- day both morning and evening. Sun- day School will be held at 12:15 and B. Y. P. U. service at 7, with Mr. Rice as leader. Evening service will be held at 8. SWEDISH LUTHERAN. There. will be services at 10:30, conducted by Student Carl Stromme in the Norwegian language. SWEDISH. There will be no services held in the Swedish Church but Suhday School will be held at 10 o’clock. John Oranger Dead. John Oranger, 50 years of age, died of lung trouble yesterday morning. Mr. Oranger has been ill for some time and about a month ago moved down by the lake shore near Diamond Point where he has been living in a tent, in the hopes that the fresh air of the lake might be of some benefit to him. - His death was not unexpect- ed. Mr. Oranger leavess three broth- ers nope of whom have been located as yet. Seeing the World. A pew light on the servant question in England is shed by Miss Loane in her book, “The Common Growth.” *1 asked,” she says, “one capable, steady servant of five or six and twenty why she changed places every year and by what curious chance her mistresses all lived so far from one another. She re- plied frankly, ‘I love to see the world, and it’s the only way I can afford to travel’ " One Thing Missing. A woman living in a small town, says Everybody’s, purchased from an art dealer there a water color outfit, with printed directions for its use These directions inciuded. among oth- er things, instructions to moisten the | brushes for the first time with saliva. Tn a day or two the dealer received the following note: Dear Sir—The outfit i complete as or- erea, except the saliva. Yours truly, Revenge. |- had such a good time the other day watching my wife’s discomfiture.” ““Nice thing to say. How was it?” “She 1s hard and fast in her rules about the house—worn’t even allow me a cigarette. Well, the chimney began in the morning and smoked all day in spite of ber.”—Baitimore American. was .charged with killing his wife, | U. 5. SENATOR OF KANSAS 80. Resides at 'l‘npeh—v ‘Was in Senate From 1891 to 1897. Topeka, Kan., Sept. 9.—Former Senator William A. Peffer, who rep- resented Kansas in the United States senate from 1891 to 1897, and whe ‘was one of its most picturesque mem- bers, will celebrate his eightieth birthday anniversary. For nearly a decade after leaving the senate Mr. Peffer continued to reside in Wash- ington, but last spring he returned to Topeka to spend the remaining days of his life. It is with a sense of the utmost satisfaction that the former senator reverts to the part he has played in public affairs. In the current trend of the people’s will he sees a vindi- cation of his theories and, in part at {least, a fulfillment of what as a sen- |ator he demanded. In a recent inter- |view he said: “The country now hotly demands legislation it abused me for advocating. I anticipated the evils against which it now cries out.” | THE SQUAW MAN COMING. Bemidji Theatre Goers Will Again Have Pleasuré of Seeing this Play. Edwin Milton Royle’s great play of western life “The Squaw Man,” will be seen here Monday, Sept. 11. This great American play enjoyed a re- markable run of one thousand per- formances in New York. This piece was spoken of as the closest ap- proach to the true American play that has yet been giver to the stage, | and its strength and truth, in the dis- { play of human emotion, has been sub- ject of discussion to a greater extent than any production made in years. There is a charm about it that is positively entrancing, for the charac- ters are gathered from many lands, yet the whole is so artistically blend- ed, and the story is onme of such straightforward huminity, that there note of inconsistency. The story plods can be detected in it not one false sturdily forward through four acts of tense excellenpe, and the result is one that is eminently satisfactory. The play was presented here in the Armory Opera house last spring, and those who saw it have nothing but the best to say for it. REV. S. E. P. WHITE BACK Makes Three Weeks’ Tour of East Visiting With /Relatives and Friends. HAS FIVE BROTHERS DOCTORS Rev. S. E. P. White has returned from a three weeks’ trip in the East.! He arrived in Bemidji last evening, | stated that he enjoyed a delightful | trip visiting with relatives and friends in his former home, also stop-| ping at Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, In- diana and Chicago. At Pittsburg he speut several days with his brothers doctors L. G. White and Fred M. White. He went from there to Loudonville, Ohio, to visit with his sister, Mrs. John C. Emer- ick. From there to Rowsburg, Ohio, where he paid a visit to another brother Dr. W. A. White, then he went to Hayesville, Ohio, where he has a brother, "'who is a farmer near that place and the only brother who is not a doctor. After leaving the state of Ohio he went to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he has another brother, Dr. R. P. White and at Warsaw, Indiana, where he also visited he has a broth- er, J. R. White, who is also a doctor. He made a trip to his old school at Wooster, Ohio, which university he attended when yet a young man. On his trip he stopped over in Chicago a day to witness the aviation meet held in that city. 700 FOOT LINER COMING. Will Reach New York About Septem- ber Fifteenth. Havre, Sept. 9.—The new steam- ship Rochambeau. of the French Transatlantic line, sailed from this port today on her maiden voyage to New York. The new steamship is more than 700 feet long and rivals the most modern of the transatlantic liners in luxurious appointments as well as in size. = ‘Washington—Increased cost of cas- kets, cemetery lots and hire for hearses and funeral livery, experts here announce, proves that the high cost of dying is greater than the high TEN CENTS PER WEEK. BELTRAMI COUNTY AWARDED 4th PLACE Secures 938 Points as Against 915 at Last Year’s Minnesota State Fair. GAINS TWENTY-THREE POINTS Is Tribute to Men and Soil of One of Northern Minnesota’s Best Counties. WILL SHIP DISPLAY TONIGHT To Be Shown at the County Fair to Be Held Here September 13, 14, 15, Beltrami county was awarded the fourth place in the booth exhibit at the state fair, first place going to Roseau, second to Cass and third to Clearwater. Roseau scored 971 points while Beltrami followed closely with 938 points. This is three points better than was received last year, although our position was third in the prize list. The rank and class of produce dis- played and the beauty of appearance of the booth exhibited by Beltrami county is a tribute to our soil and the men who gave their time and en- ergy in preparing such an excellént display. The Beltrami exhibit will probably be packed and shipped to Bemidji to- night and displayed at .the County Fair next week. Those in charge, in- cluding Secretary A. P. Ritchie, Charles Schroeder and August Jar- chow together with W. R. McKenzie and J. P. Riddell will probably re- turn Sunday or Monday. BASEBALL NOTES. b PPPPPPPPO0POOOO® The New Eugland league has turn- ed down an offer to consolidate with the Connecticut league. The Philadelphia Nationals had a list of players they wanied to land by the draft route. Pitcher Jeff Pfeffer of the Boston Nationals, will most likely perform in the Southern league next season. Rumors of a baseball war are fly- ing thick and fast, but ine chances are that there will be nothing doing. “Nap” Lajoie has passed Jackson and is crowding Ty Cobb for the batting championship of the Ameri- can League. Jack Dalton, now with Newark in the Eastern league, will be given an- other try out by the Brooklyn Club next spring. During the Athletics’ stay in St. Louis President Hedges made flatter- ing offers to Harry Davis to manage the Browns next season. Thursday, Aug. 31, was the first day this season that not a major league game was played. Rain put the kibosh on the entire schedule. As ‘the Atkletics will b2 playing at home while Detroit is hitting the road, prospects for the peunant look pretty sweet to Connie Mack. Catcher “Chief” Meyers, of the Giants, has his old war club on the job this season. He stands third in the National league batting averages. Larry Cheney, the Louisville pitch- er, has joined the Chicag» Cubs, and will be given a chance to show his puzzlers against the eastern teams. Tris Speaker says that the no-hit game pitched by Ed. Walsh, of the Sox, -against the Red Sox was the greatest exhibition that he ever faced. “Cy” Young, Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander and “QOtey” Crandall, stars among the pitchers, are all real farmers. Young owns Ohio farms, Johnson a Kansas ranch, Alexander a Nebraska farm and Crandall is buying Indiana land as fast as he can. 1t is said that the Pittshurg Pirates form the real “white ribbon” brigade in the big show this season. Last year some of the Pirates were in the habit of “cutting loose” now and then, but this season, with a pennant in sight, *he boys have lived close to the pump. Chicago—Refused a photograph of himself by her father, Alice Modei- ski, 19 years old, drank carbolic acid. Her life will be saved and she will get the photograph. Reno. Nev.—Fears of James Ma- honey had died of desert heat when he strayed from prospecting camp were alloyed when he returned with samples of silver ore he discovered cost of living. in a new ledge. B MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. POVROOOO0COOOOOD i 8