The St. Paul Globe, founded by Harlan P. Hall in 1878, was published daily until 1905. Anyone interested in the courts during this period sooner or later turns to the Globe for help. Its reporters were keen and insightful observers of the trial bar and the bench.
On March 2, 1902, the Globe published a long article on the Minnesota Supreme Court. For the most part it was simply descriptive and, to fill space, reprinted passages from recollections of the territorial era by Henry L. Moss and Charles E. Flandrau.
In his recollection of Chief Justice Hayner, Flandrau wrote that "there seems to be no record of his ever presiding at any court." This was wrong and prompted retired federal District Court Judge Rensselaer R. Nelson to write a "Letter to the Editor" of the Globe correcting Flandrau's error. Nelson had personally appeared before the Chief Justice when he sat on the district court. Nelson's Letter is posted in the Appendix.
Aside from Judge Nelson's Letter to the Editor, Court historians will not find anything new here except the reporter's brief but colorful descriptions of how Chief Justice Charles M. Start and Associate Justices Loren W. Collins, John A. Lovely, Charles L. Lewis and Calvin L. Brown participated in oral argument.
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