Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, March 14, 1913, Page 1

- SHORTEST TERM OF COURT ENDED Spring Session which Closed Today With Fenner vs. Botting Was Record Breaker NINE CRIMINAL CASES Three Men Pleaded Guilty and Each of Remaining Six were Con- victed After Jury Trials, SAVING TO TAX PAYERS One Thousand Dollars Estimated to Have Been Kept in Treasury.— Stanton Here Until March 23 ‘Synopsis of the Term. Grand jury in session four days; returned nine indictments and two “no bills”; considered other matters. Court lasted two weeks and three days. Six criminal cases tried and all convicted. Three defendants in criminal cases entered pleas of “guilty” and so saved county the expense of a trial. Several important civil cases tried and dispositions made. With the end of Fenner vs. Bott- ing before a jury today, the jury trials of the spring term of district court have been finished and Judge Stanton is now occupied with bench ! cases only. The present term has probably been the shortest ever held in this county and possibly Northern | Minnesota. Although the calendar was not as large as at other terms, the dispatch with which the business was handled materially assisted in cutting the number of days required | for trials. The trial of August Johnson for manslaughter in the first degree in connection with the shooting of Sam | Marin in his saloon the mnight of February 1 was the shortest homi- cide trial ever held in this county and one of the shortest in the history of the state. Twenty-five hours from the time the first juryman was called, the twelve returned a verdict of! “guilty as charged in the indict- ment.” The jury was inpaneled by noon, case tried by four, state argu- ment was finished as six and a recess was taken until 7:30 when the de-' fenses argued, the judge instructed and the jury retired. At ten the next morning their verdict was in. Criminal cases affecting eight men were put on the calendar by the ac- tion of the grand jury. Three of the criminals were persuaded to enter pleas of guilty and the county was' thereby saved the third of the trials. of the remaining six should have been found guilty is eonsidered a case ; without parallel in the history of the county. County Attorney Torrance, who personally prosecuted all of the cases expense of one- the cases were handled and the num- ber of convictions. . ! A sypopsis of tue eriminal msesi follows: Entered Pleas of Guilty. David Dixon-forgery. In determ- inate term in Stillwater. Ben Overby-forgery. Indetermin- ate term in St. Cloud. Barney Lynch-grand larceny in the second degree. Indeterminate term in St. Cloud. Those Who Stood Trial. Alex Sayers-forgery. Found guilty and given an indeterminate term in Stillwater. William Clark-grand larceny in the second degree. Found guilty and given an indeterminate term in Still- water. t August Johnson-manslaughter in | the first degree. Found guilty and sentenced.to Stillwater. I Ferdinand Busick-grand larceny (Continued on last page). = (NS I VOLUME 10. NUMBER 270. up That every one! ,has been congratulated on all! sides because of the dispatch in which | e | GEORGE W. DONAGHEY | Governor of Arkansas Who Recently Freed 360 Convicts in a Day. TRAINS WRECKED IN BAD BLIZZARD Five Killed and Nine Injured in Two mash Ups Caused by Bad Wea- ther—Relief Trains Out. By United Press. B La Crosse,March 14—Newton Nel- ison, fireman was killed and Charles Whiting, engineer, was probably fa- tally injured when a Southern Min- {nesota division passenger train on lthe Chicago, Milwaukee and St.| lPaul railway was ditched this morn- ing. Both men lived in La Crosse. The accident ocured five miles' west !of Hekah, Minnesota, at three o’clock | this morning when an engine-and (four cars ran into a wash out 600 ifeet long. The train went into the | Root river where a bridge had been carried away in the night’s storm. Nelson was crushed when the ten- der was tellescoped by the mail car following. The precaution of the engineer saved the lives of the pas- |sengers but did not save him. He| {was proceeding at slow speed on ac-l ,eount of the spring freshets. He |reversed the power at the last mo- {ment and prevented the entire train from going into deep water. A relief train with doctors and nurses was sent out from La Crosse | ]and is expected to return with the| {injured this afternoon. l | FourKilled In Nebraska. Omaha, Neb., March 14—Four per- ! !sons were killed and eight injured lwhen a Union Pacific passenger train !No. 16 plunged into the rear of train |No. 4 between Coseoda and Gothen- iberg, Neb., today in the worst bliz- | 1zard of the winter. Two cars, a sleeper and a coach, left the rails. A special train carrying doctors and nurses left Omaha at ten o’clock and will return this afternoon with the dead and injured victims who were crushed to death as they lay asleep in their berths. The dead are Edith Honn, Cheyen- ‘ne, Wyoming; E. J. Outerboutt, Sal- amanco, N. Y.; August Meyers and {Mrs. August Meyers, Long .Beach, 1Calif. Among the injured is A. R.§ Coldin of Sioux Falls, S. D. 3 FIRST ARREST IN BAGLEY t . +Hotel Bartender Arrested This Morn- ing for Blind Pigging. | Special to The Pioueer. } Bagley, March 14—J. E. Schmidt, 'bartender for the Clearwater hotel, was arrested this morning on a charge of blind pigging, found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of $50 or spend thirty days in jail. This is the first arrest of this na- ture since the saloons were voted out Tuesday. Bagley was incorpora- ited in 1895 and under its charter a saloon must cease business as soon as the votes declaring the town dry +have been counted. 1t is said on the streets here that the proprietor of the Hotel wired the bartender from Bemidji to keep ‘open as he had been advised that if he was arrested he would be released on habeas corpus proceedings. The hotel man claim that the saloon had a right to operate at the the present time. KILLS HIS LIVESTOCK Homesteader in Kitichi Country Shoots Farm Animals With Rifle While in Crazy Rage. “NEIGHBORS FEAR FOR LIVES” ‘W. J. McGrath, a hpmefi@eader liy- ing in the Kitichi lake country near Pennington, has shot and killed “all of the stock on his farm at different | times during the past four months, McGrath is said to have an ungovern- able temper and when any animal has aroused his wrath, it has beejn‘ quickly dispatched with a rifle. Neiéhbors have noticed for some time past that his apparently insane rages have been becoming more fre- quent but the climax was reached last week when he shot and killed two valuable draft horses. One horse had injured its leg and was lying down a short distance from the barn. | McGrath became enraged and killed| it. He then hitched the second horse to the dead one to pull the carcass away from the barn. The live horse did not back to suit his fancy so he—’\ohhe,r basket during the entire even-ipy uniea Press. shot that one also. ; According to the story brought toI Cass Lake and Bemidji by settlers, his wife protested the kilings and he told her that she would go next. Mrs. McGrath and two children came to, Cass Lake yesterday and went to Minneapolis. A few weeks ago, McGrath killed | a calf and when the pelt was taken off, twenty-two small bullet holes were found where he had shot the animal before with a small calibre rifle. McGrath is said to have also killed off his pigs and cows. The people of Pennington 82y, that they are afraid of him and “are walting P for some action to bé taken by the county officials. SELLS 100 FANCY CHICKENS 0. C. Simonson, representative of the Beltrami Elevator and Miling comany and breeder of fancy chick- ens sold 100 fine breeders to a Minneapolis man yesterday. Mr. Simonson has been successful in the| chicken raising business. |K. C. MEETING DEPOPULATED At a K. C. meeting last night, the members appeared so much interest- ed in the basketball game that final- 1y P. J. Russell stated that those who wished to attend the game would be excused. It is said that there were three men left in the room after quiet was restored. | Basket Ball Game Last Night Went . To a Tie, and Bemidji Lost in e Extra Five Minutes. FINAL * SCORE NINE TO EIGHT. i | game-cannot be decided upon a foul. An extra five minutes will be played ‘lat the close of the game tonight to decide the winner of the game last Z 'Y {might. . g In ‘the fastest and closest basket- ball game ever played in Bemidji, {defeat last night before the Superior [the Big Bemidg team went down to Y.'M:"C. A. by a score of 9.to 8. It was a defeat but-it took an extra five minutes of time to play off tlie !lar_period and the best Superior L6ould do was to win on a fouls The game started with a snap with Bemidji apparently on the defensive. Superior shot two goals and then Be- midji tightened and allowed but one fng.. Bemidji lost the game because of inability to connect with the bas- ket on free throws.. Bemidji’ made four 'baskets to Superior’s three but Superior threw three-out of six fouls 1 while Bemidji missed all five chances. { At the end of the second half, Su- perior committed a foul just a second | before the whistle blew, Superior yrotested claiming that time was up before the foul was committed buti the protest did not stand. Referee Earl Carson announced ‘that Neu- manx would try for the throw-amd that if it was missed, the game w&uld continue: for five minutes to Yy Jioff - the. tie.. . Neumann missed. is chance. The extra five miutes were the fiercest of ~the.:evening, neither side being able to make a basket although missing narrowly time after time. A foul was called {on Bemidji and Art Olson, of Su- perior, tossed his basket and won the game. ' Superior expected to have an easy time of it but the first two baskets made Bemidji wake up. From then on the fight was under the Superior basket most of the time and it was WAS A FINISH FIGHT] An examination of the rules this! morning disclosed _the fact that a! | tie that stood at the end of the regu-! TEN CENTS PER WEEK . JESSE E. DADE Leading Man in Play to be @iven in Blackduck Tonight. SOUTHERN STORMS BRING 30 DEATHS Wires Down and Communication is Practically Cut Off.—Wind Causes Big Property Damage. New Orleans, March 14—Meagre reports reaching here of the storm which swept the southern states dur- ing last night give thirty deaths and a property loss which is estimated at sevrral hundred thousand dollars. It will be hours before news can be received from towns struck. Wires in all directions are down. Reports from towns in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, West Tennessee and Texas which were visited by the storm show a heavy loss of life and property. ‘Wisconsin Badly Hit Also. . ... Sheboygan, March 14—Hundreds of lives were endangered and enor- ‘mous propéerty -was damaged by a storm which reached the proportions of a cyclone here early today. The 'wind attained a velocity of seventy miles an hour. Rain fell in torrents, roots were blown away and chimneys destroyed. Hundreds of windows throughout the entire city are broken. The south- west section is flooded from a jam in only occassionaly that Superior was able to try for a basket on the Be- midji goal. Bemidji outplayed Su- perior at nearly all times and had any one of the baskets which were missed been madfi, the result would have been a victory for the local boys. One basket was made by Be- midji which was dlsallowed as the TFontinued on 1ant_pawe) the ice in the Sheboygan river which started into the lake when the tor- rents broke the ice up. ° 4 Many persons have been driven from their homes by the rising wat- er. At noon prepartations were being made to dynamite the jam to release the flood. Many business firms have closed down as their lower floors have been flooded. BUZZ OF THE BASEBALL BUGS THEM FELLERS GOT THE DoPE (Copyright.) AWHY HAT'S A wm-rm WITH | 'v0' 2 THERES: | 220 )| prcners, wow WN\TS A TEAM. “@OINTO UT0 OWNERS MAY PAY A BIGGER TAX i % House Has Reconimended For Pas: sage Bill Providing for License Fee of '$5 Per Year. AT PRESENT IS $1.50 FOR THREE Money to Be Used For Good Roads But Movement is Opposed By Some of City Members REAPPORTIONMENT UP TODAY Senate Expected To Pass Measure After Amending—Employes Ban- queted Last Night. By United Press. . St. Paul, Minn., March 14.—After a lengthy debate, the house yesterday: . afternoon decided to recommend for passage the bill offered by the com- mittee on taxes, which proposes to in- crease the automobile license fee to $5 a year. At present it is $1.50 for three years. There was much opposition to the bill from city members, although they were not united in this respect. The argument against the bill was that the automobiles are already taxed as. personal property, and that in addi- tion, the various clubs voluntarily contributed money for good roads. The house devoted the entire after- noon to’ the consideration of bills qu. general orders, while the senate ad-’ “{journed at noon to this morning. The senators devoted most of the after- noon-to committee meetings. i Reapportionment s the- big lssuo‘ before the senate today. The general opinion-is expressed that the bill will pass. However, as the senate commit- tee has amended it to the extent of adding two senators and five repre- sentatives, inspite of the fact that house had previously added a like; number, it will be necessary to ap- point a conference committee to arbi- trate the differences. In its present form, the bill pro- vides for sixty-seven senators and 130 representatives, which are four sena- tors and ten representatives more than at present. Among the bills passed by the sen- ate yesterday was Senator Wallace’s bill to authorize savings banks to cols lect funds from school children for deposit. The plan is to encourage thrift among the rising generation. The banks are privileged to employ teachers as agents to collect for them. No sum less than $5 is to draw inter- est, and when the depositor has ac- cumulated $1 he is to be given a book. Another bill which - passed was drawn up by Sen. C. F. Cook, It pro- vides for a commission to erect me- morials to Minnesota soldiers in the- national cemetaries at Little Rock, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn. Rep. B. G: Bjornson’s bill to per~ mit the state treasurer to publish a condensed annual report, instead of & detailed report of the affairs of his office for each year, was recommended to pass by the house. About ‘200 legislative members and employes attended the “third house” banquet at eight o’clock last night, at the Merchants hotel. The dinner was given-by the “Gopher culb” composed of legislative employes. house, was toastmaster, and Lieuten- ant Governor J. A. A. Burnquist, Ole Sageng, W .I. Nolan, J. D. Sullivan, E. J. Westlake and Speaker Henry Rines were the speakers. The St. Paul quartet and Joseph McCres furnished the music. Fifty-one years ago during the In- dian uprising, state troops of Minne- |sota confiscated a team -~of horses from Albert Freitag, a resident of Nie- ollet county. Freitag sought to ob- tain payment for the team from con- gress, but his claim was disallowed. Yesterday Albert Pfaender of New Ulm introduced a bill in the house ap- propriating $250 . for . reimbursing. Freitag for the team.. The mothers’ pension bill puse\i 2 (Continued on last page; Oscar Arneson, chief clerk-of the- S S S A N OSSO R S S S