In the late 19th century, Minneapolis and St. Paul were constantly bickering over which city was larger, more cosmopolitan, more educated, more important. The stadium and arena skirmishes of today seem tame by comparison. The bitter rivalry reached into the early 1900s. A telling detail: In 1919, the Minneapolis Morning Tribune used the word here to mean Minneapolis, as if St. Paul were some far-off place.

In this story, which appeared at the top of page nine, legal representatives of the respective counties, arguing where a fur theft case should be tried, went toe-to-toe over which court calendar was more cluttered with important matters.

The case involved a theft from a Minneapolis furrier. Was it pure coincidence that an ad for a competing shop, the Siberian Fur Co., 428 Nicollet, offering furs, fur coats and fur storage, ran adjacent to the story?

Two Counties Jockey
Over Fur Theft Case

Hennepin and Ramsey Each
Want Other To Try
Accused.

Prosecutors Argue Matter in
Hearing in St. Paul
Court.

“Passing the buck” between Hennepin and Ramsey counties on the trial of Phil Morgan, Frank Levine and Charles Couplin, accused of stealing more than $15,000 worth of furs from the store of J.B. Wicks & Co., in Minneapolis, last June, has come to the shuttle-stage, so rapidly is the case being jockeyed between the two trial courts.

The latest development in the situation came yesterday when the case was to be reset for hearing in St. Paul before Judge Hanft in Ramsey county district court on the charge of receiving stolen property, under which the men are indicted in that county.

Frank M. Nye, assistant county attorney of Hennepin county, was present and urged that the case be brought to trial first in Ramsey county. Judge Hanft and R.D. O’Brien, county attorney of Ramsey county, hold an entirely different view and told Mr. Nye the case should be tried first in Hennepin.

“I think the case should be tried in St. Paul first,” Mr. Nye urged, “and that is why we are waiting in Hennepin county, that and the fact that our calendar is so congested with important cases that it will be a long time before we can reach the Morgan-Couplin-Levine case.”

To which Judge Hugo O. Hanft of the Ramsey district court replied that he could not see the situation in that light at all. So far as calendars being cluttered up, Judge Hanft said Hennepin has nothing on Ramsey. Judge Hanft pointed out that the men were indicted in Minneapolis on a charge of robber; that the goods were taken here; that practically all the evidence upon which the men had been indicted in St. Paul was the same as that under which they had been first indicted here, and that they should be tried here first.

County Attorney O’Brien made much the same objection and added that the defense would be given an opportunity to fight the case on a much better basis in St. Paul than in Minneapolis, because of the difficulty of proving a charge of receiving notes stolen property under the peculiar wording of the state law, which says “intent to receive stolen goods and knowledge of the fact they were stolen must be proved.”

Both Mr. O’Brien and Judge Hanft assured Mr. Nye that Ramsey county will be glad to act in the case as soon as Hennepin county is through with it.

There was no representative of the office of Attorney General Hilton at the hearing yesterday, although he has agreed to furnish one of his staff to help Mr. O’Brien with the case if it ever comes to trial in St. Paul.

By having me repair and re-coat your roof now you will prolong its life. W.S. Nott company. — Advertisement.

Are Corsets Underwear?
Makers Want to Know!

New York, May 2. — Are corsets underwear? This problem was put up today to Commissioner of Internal Revenue Daniel C. Roper, in a telegram sent to the Treasury department, Washington, by Lew Hahn, executive secretary of the National Retail Dry Goods association.

Mr. Hahn protests that the problem is causing grave perplexity to dry goods merchants throughout the country.

The new luxury tax is the cause of the difficulty. An unofficial ruling has declared that corsets are underwear, Mr. Hahn says, and a luxury and taxable. Some merchants are collecting the tax and others are not and Mr. Hahn appeals to Commissioner Roper to put corsets in their proper place officially.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 13th, 2005 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Crime, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.