The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 4, 1919, Page 4

. 'T'he Star Witness for the Prosecution ‘Ferdinand Teigen, State’s Chief Witness at Jackson, Indicted Disloyalist, Mention the Léadsr When Writing Adve A e S e 0 S VA A i e A e LB 2 X . showed himself willing to betray OW Ferdinand A. Teigen, chief witness for the state in the re- ‘cently completed Townley-Gil- bert farce at Jackson, Minn., became a particular chum of the political patriots of the state after his indictment by a fed- eral grand jury on a charge of 3 disloyalty and his discharge from the Nonpartisan league, give an interesting sidclight on Minnesota politics. Men who believed they had a corner on patriotism opened their arms to the discredited Teigen in an effort to hit at the organize farmers and to stop a progressive polit- ical movement that was threatening their control, Teigen, discharged from the League and under a federal charge of violating the espionage law, became a fit companion for these political flag- wavers as soon as he had quit the League. The record of Teigen, sufficiently exploited by the oppo- sition papers before his associa-: tion with the anti-League clique, was glossed over as soon as he his former employers for gain. Here is the record that caused Mr. Teigen’s discharge from the League: > Accused of stealing jewelry from a woman of bad repute. Accused of converting League funds to his own use. Accused of accepting mon- ey for making out draft ex- emption papers after giving draft subjects the impression that he could obtain their ex- emption. g Indicted by federal grand jury on disloyalty charge. Utterly discredited as he was, Teigen set out to make capital of his dishonor. The League then was a pet subject with the polit- ical patriots of Minnesota, who felt their grip on state politics being shaken by the hand of the organized farmer. Teigen, al- ways shrewd and cunning, saw this terror and saw in it his op- portunity. PATTERSON CLIQUE LINES UP WITH DISLOYALIST How he approached Patterson, or whether Patterson and his clique approached him, is not def- initely established, but from facts produced by Clarence F. Johnson, another employe of the Patterson organization, it is reasonable to ’ assume that the latter surmise is correct. At least, there was no time lost in establishing close re- lationship between Teigen, in- dicted for disloyalty, and Patter- son, head of the business clique thatewas fighting the League as a business proposition under the cover of “loyalty.” It was this organization that first started the “loyalty” propaganda against the League., N Plans for the production of a book “exposing” the League followed immediately upon the completion of the coalition between Tei- gen and Patterson. That Patterson Ppromised to finance the entire proposition is established in let- ters which are presented herewith. The labor involved in writing the book itself, however, was. not entrusted to Teigen. It was passed on to a man named Ingalls, . who was to receive a lump sum for the work. Teigen, it is assumed, was to furnish the material. This he did with a lavish hand. The material consisted largely of the product of Teigen’s fertile fancy. The “ex- posure” was completed at length, and the question of distribution came up immediately. - 3 The state political campaign was approaching at this time, and politicians all over the state- were bending their efforts to defeat the League candi- dates.” The campaign was getting warm, and it was necessary that these men have a weapon with which to fight the organized farmers. Above is reproduced a letter from E. H. Nicholas, county to Teigen regarding the sale of the latter’s book. Yet Mr. that he had had no correspondence with his chief witn before the trial, Particularly was this true of the southern part of Minnesota, notably Jackson and Martin counties. Officials in both these counties were making capital of their fight against the League. The prosecuting attorneys of both these subdivisions of the state were especially active in the campaign against the League. In Martin county there was Albert R. Allen, in Jackson county E. H. Nicholas. Both had seized on the League as a method of furthering their own political ambitions, and both to accom- * plish their ends indulged in a series of petty per- secutions of League men and in an open campaign against the League. Teigen sent around -the state a series of letters asking help in disposing of these books, which were first published under the name of “Dr. Mum.” Small-town bankers and village politicians were Teigen’s chief agents in the disposal of these books. Some of them, a great many of them, it has been learned from some of Teigen’s correspondence MR. NICHOLAS WRITES which has come into the possession of the Leader, bought books on their own account for free dis- tribution in the community. Others gave time and effort to disposal of the volumes. By this time Teigen published another edition of the book. Every move that Teigen made was passed on by Patterson, who kept an accurate check on all the expenditurés of his willing tool. Patterson, though entrusting Teigen with the work of $urnish- ing material for the book, trusted him no further. Fearing that having betrayed the League he might - repeat the trick this time against him, Patterson hired a spy to keep in close touch with Teigen. This man became the close friend, the confidant of Teigen. Mr.- Patterson adopted the Russian system of engaging a spy to watch a spy. But this evidently did not trouble Teigen. He went blithely about his work of disposing of his book to gullible bankers and politicians who were blindly fighting the League. In PAGE FOUR attorney at Jackson, Minn., Nicholas said on the stand ess except immediately .when he had offered voluntarily to testify. Was Prime Tool of Minnesota Political ‘‘Patriots” Nicholas and Allen he found ready aid. They showed their willingness, even their anxious- ness, to push Teigen’s book. Nicholas gave considerable time to the effort, in conjunction with Teigen, to align the business men of the farming' communities against the League. Con- siderable correspondence passed between the two men—one of the letters is reproduced in these pages. Allen, as the telegram here shows, also acted with Teigen to circulate the anti- League book. Teigen also was used by these “patriotic” poli- ticians to testify in the bankruptey trial against A. C. Townley, but his testimony proved valueless - for the Patterson clique. But finally, when his usefulness to them ended, Teigen was dropped by his chums, and he drifted off to Wisconsin, leaving his wife and family behind. Teigen, always a plausible chap, approached a League organizer there and with repentance on his lips-sought for a position with the League. The story of his activi- ties in _Wisconsin was told in Jackson by the organizer who hired him as an assistant, J. H. Strong, and by John Wiebele, an- other League organizer in Wis- consin. : TEIGEN GIVEN JOB FOR PARENTS’ SAKE “Last March,” said Strong, “I employed Teigen as an assistant organizer to work under me. I had been warned about him "and knew he was a crook, but because I knew and esteemed his father and mother in Minnesota, I gave Teigen a job for their sake. Tei- gen promised to keep straight, and God knows I tried hard enough to help him. “After he had worked a few weeks, I discovered he had col- lected $300 which he -had failed to report. This loss T made good. Teigen wept over it and pledged to make good and pay up. I be- lieved him, and continued to keep him on the staff. Finally I found that he had forged my name to a check (all checks were made pay- able to me as head organizer) and had pocketed the money. My pa- tience exhausted, I had him ar- rested and he was placed in jail at Manitowoc. “Immediately he sent for Or- ganizer Wiebele and myself. He wept like a child in his cell and begged that we get him out of jail. He promised to do anything we wanted him to do, declaring he could not stand the disgrace. He offered to give us a mortgage on a Nash car which he said he owned and which he declared was thén in Minneapolis. We are look- ing for that automobile now, but so far we have been unable to, find that Teigen ever had such a car. 5 “However, we relented, and - Teigen was released. He accom- ‘panied Wiebele to Fond du Lac after Wiebele had paid $22.12 for the costs and his board while he was in jail. The next I heard, after he went to Fond du Lae with Wiebele, was that he had testi- fied against Mr. Townley at the trial in Jackson.” Wiebele took up the story from this point: “After Teigen was released from jail,” he said, “I went to Fond du Lac and Teigen went with me. That was on June 27, the day following the refer- endum in North Dakota when the League laws were upheld by the people. That night Teigen sent a telegfam to County Attorney Nicholas at Jack- son, Minn., telling the latter where he. could be found and stating that he was willing to testify in the trial. To me he said that while he expected to use county money to return to Minnesota on, he planned to testify at the trial for Townley. “He seemed strangely confident that: Nicholas Yvou]d send him money, and his confidence appeared Jjustified, for he received a telegram. on Sunday