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Al Capone — Part 36
Page 55
55 / 62
ament began its case in the
m Kronick, (4] Charles Wolk,
( CAuociated Press photo)
Guilford had mentioned were
ped, Guilford himself, accor
Oh was unexpectedly
perous. He changed his home
4 shabby rooming house to @
in one of the best hotels, he
hes" considerable sums” of
aod sported many new
1 & few weeks he re-
sd to his newspaper attacks
the underworld and upon city
ounis officials. Then the Min-
2 G87 Iw, parsed by the state
* was invoked
ast Guilford and his partner,
1. Near, se publishers of the Sy
y Press The cage ag uns! them
prose: od by Floyd Cis
he press eng law was pecuiiar
nnesoia alone, It permi
nt © state ofBclals to sup
néalous. er defamatory”
in 1934. Note the policema
ward the cost of carrying the fight
to the United States Supreme court.
Tr Cwicaco TRIBUNE individually
engaged counsel for Near.
In an epochal decision on June 1,
1901, the federal Supreme court
ruled the Minnesota gag Jaw was
1 because it inter.
e liberty of the press
as guaranteed by the fourteenth
amendment to the federal constitu
tion, In this battle Near and Guil:
ford won, and the Saturday Press
continued to be published
‘While these matters were in the
rts, Hei Cou
Floyd Olson was busy building a
political organization. Defeated tn
1924, when he ran for governor on
& platform which was almest wholly
communistic, Olson was out to gain
the support of labor in the three
ge cities in his state—Minneapo-
Ms, St Paul, end Duluth,
Hi unity came In 392%,
when boodiers in the Minneapolis
city council became panicky.
The boodlers had been operating
on a small scale, the ring consisting
of half = doren aldermen.
Leader of the ring was Alderman
Le’ Ritten of the " silk stock
ing” Second werd in Minneapolis,
He was a former president of the
elty council and a prominent grain
merchant in the town. Soon after
lered the council, according
's own confession, he begun
accepting bribes. Then he became
and of a committee which controled
purchases,
Within a short time Ritten worked
out an arrangement with Alderman
Frank E, Giebenhain of the Tenth
ward, a labor representative, and
J. Russell Sheffield, Eighth ward, to
ept h would later be
divided among the trio, Certain
other aldermen, including John P,
Eekbery, a twvor party politician
from the Twelfth ward; Fred Maur-
er, ancther lubor mun from the
‘Third ward, an¢ E. J. Sweeney and
W. HM. Rendell intermittensiy. tor
part in the bo»
Gov, Hoyd B. Olson of Minnesota, who as @ county aHorney in Min-
neapolis is shown to have failed in his du
members of the criminal
that during thet afternoon Ruff had
been in conference with Melvin Pas-
solt and Joseph A. Poirer in the
county attorney's office, and he be-
lieved Ruff had told them every.
thing regarding our meeting
“T asked Frank what he would do
It he were in my boots, He de:
clared I should get a good attorney
T asked him whom he would recont
mend and he said, ‘Get Archie M,
Cary. [Cary is known in Minne-
apolis as the lewyer who appears
for the syndicate hoodlums and
other criminals who are able to pay
large fees.)
“Brunskill called Mr. Cary from
my office and arranged for a gon-
ference, at the same time telling
Mr. Cary that ‘Lou is a very good
friend ”
‘That evening Ritten went to
Cary’s home for a preliminary con-
ference and Cary telephoned Brun-
skill to come to the home also. Rit
ten’s confession continues:
“I told Frank I was worried to
death and didn't know what to do
or where to turn, er words to that
Brunskill declared that he
hod got him
trouble”
we
The following day at anoth
ference Cary demanded a retaining
fee of $5,000, which Ritten produces
Ri tells al Woodward
demanded money to get ont of town.
saying @ grand Jury subpena had
been issued for his appearance. In
1 Ritten gave Woodward $3,300
to get out of town, Then he was
told that Ruff wes about to go be
fore the grand jury. He then ¢
cided to go bef
and try to get immunity, on advieo
Phe wentossi m sont ne
“A few days taler Cary arrange
for ® meeting between mysell
County Attorney Floyd B. Olso
and himself in 9 tusm at the Mini ¢
It
thing T koew, except the pay meats
to Woodward. ‘The next conference
of prosecuting certain
ment. Tribune photo.)
of business men also were indicted,
these defendants being named as
givers of bribes, the aldermen being
charged with thelr acceptance
But Olson's part in granting Rit.
ten immunity from prosecution
never before has been made pubi
That confession was obtained
two Minnearolis newspaper men who
followed Ritten when the latter fied
to California. When the ed
with the document their editors
chose to print only certain excerpts
therefrom,
During the trials which followed
the public was kept In the dark
about the Ritter. incident
cutor Olson was praised az » publie
servant, zealous to uphold the law.
Strangely enough the “ common peo
ple "—the laboring classes of Minne-
apotis, St. Paul and, in fact, all
innesota rallied around him.
Just what Olson did for the Jabor-
Ing men of Minneapolis is shown
in the foliowing table, which lists
the defendants ms to punishments
or lack of punishments;
retu
Prose
Prinon Sentencer
John P. Eckberg, Iubor alder
man, Twelfth ward, 19 years, ac
cepting bribe; Frank E. Gieben-
hain, labor alderman, Tenth ward,
10 years, accepting bribe; Fred
Maurer, Jubor alderman, Third
ward, 2 years, accepting bribe; E.
J. Sweeney, labor alderman, Third
ward, 2 years, accepung
Fines
Morris Eisenstadt, cleaner and
dyer, convicted of giving bribe,
paid $1,500; James E. Fox, olf
broker. pleaded guilty to giving
bride. paid $7
Charges Dismissed. Consent
of State
Russ 1b Shefhel "1% stock
ing” Eighth ward, mdicted for re-
ceiving bribe; Don Green, agent
for fire apparatus manufact
company. indicted for giving br
filieted fer giving bribe
Brown, business man
riving bribe; Henry
poad
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