St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-20
A MODERN FAGIN.
Weingaertner Convicted of Receiving
Stolen Goods -Several CONTINUE
ances Until Next Term
The Jury List Ex-
hauSted, Etc.

stolen goods, to the value Of $40, from Emil
Kaesmiller, a lad between twelve and thirteen
years of age, employed as a store and errand
boy by his uncle, Fred J. Schultz, wholesale
and retail millinery goods, East Third street.
The offenses run for quite period last sum
mer, when Schultz discovered his losses, OBJ
tanned confession from the boy, traced
some of the goods where they had been sold,
and, procuring a detective, searched the
premises of the accused, after having him
arrested, where he found the balance of the
goods among some rubbish in an clubhouse
connected with the prisoners hat-pressing
shop and residence on Sixth street. Vein
gaeter is a kind of Swiss hermit, of nearly
seventy years OF age, and the
transactions between him and
the young thief reminds one of
Dickens character Of old Fagin the Jew and
the adventures of Oliver Twist. The state was
represented by Messrs. Egan and Cothcart
and the defence by Messrs. F. j. Shultz who
went over the stolen goods before the jury
and recognized his trademark on the arti-
cles contained in three boxes, consisting of
ostrich plumes, ribbons and gold braid,
handkerchiefs, gloves, fancy plush and hat
ornaments, and named their value. He aslo
told when they were kept in stock, of the
confession of his nephew, where he found
the plumes and some of the other goods
which had been disposed of by the defend
ant at Wabashaw and Seventh street mil
linery store, and of his finding the balance
of them in the clubhouse.
The juvenile Kaesmiller was then called
His acquaintance with the defendant came
from bringing hats to press from his uncle's
store. The first theft was when the defend
ant told him to bring him an artificial flower
wreath worth twenty-five cents from the
store and not to tell anybody, for which he
was rewarded with five cents. This he
was asked to follow up by Juggling over
to the modern Fagin ostrich feathers and the
other articles which he was told to get unbe-
knownst to any one, from the store, being
assured that he could do it without detection,
and for which goods he received as his share
of the swag all the way from fifteen cents to
81 in cash, according to the lower or higher
value of the articles. Finally Fagin tells
him to bring over to him anything he could
take conveniently which he did, and sue
cessfully delivered to him according to in
structions when no one was looking, there
being an understanding between them when
the receiver of the booty would be at home
He explained to the jury how Weingaertner
told him to effectually conceal the large os-
trich plumes under his clothes without in
juring them, going through the operation
several times with so feathers without Civ
ing them a rutfle He did not know he was
doing wrong when he stole the articles He
knew the sacredness of an oath. He had
never borrowed any money of the
defendant, and had spent the money
given him by him for pretzels and
such. He never slept at defendants house,
,sl,rH b. IL I,
er if he told anything, or had any other asso-
citation with him but to bring what he ordered
him to bring and to get his dividends for the
transfer He, the boy, was tried at the NUM-
cipal court for the theft, but his sentence was
suspended, and having lost his situation with
his uncle, he was now going to school. In
answer to the judge he said that when the
defendant asked him to bring him "a flower
wreath he said nothing about pay for it, but
gave him five cents for doing it. He
however, told him not to let anyone see him
get it.
Detective Ahern corroborated the evidence
of Mr.. Schultz as to the finding of the stolen
goods on the defendants premises, and to
the latter's showing a good deal Of emotion
when they were pulled out of the rubbish,
saying as each box was found, "Dot vosh
all,n and also that he cried and was much
excited
Miss Jennie Forgie of the Wabashaw street
millinery firm of Jameson e. Forgie testified
to purchasing black feathers of the defend
ant to the amount of $40, which she recog-
nized in the court, paying him $50 down,
but she had not seen him since. Had
known him three or four years, but he had
never offered such goods for sale to her be-
fore. He pressed so hard for her to buy, and
they were so cheap in price, she invested
and was consequently out $50.
Mrs. Smith of East Seventh street had
known defendant many years. She had
good feather stock when he offered to sell her
plumes. She asked him where he got them.
He said his sister had broken up her millin-
cry store at Cincinnati and had sent him the
plumes and other goods to sell. He offered
her plumes for SCI with other things thrown
in the bargain and as the feathers were styl-
ish and nice she offered him $50, paying
him $25 down and telling him to call soon
for the balance. The next day he came to
her and did not want her to say she bought
the goods of him, as some one was going to
make him pay 80 for peddling without
license. She had not seen him since.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
At this session the prisoner, Weingartner,
was examined, when he said that he had
been in st. Paul eleven years, and carried on
the business Of making up hair goods and
hat cleaning. The boy, who was il the en-
ployment Of Mr.. Schultz, used to do a great
deal of, delivering of packages, and used to
leave them in my store, and call afterwards
and get them, and among them were the
boxes which contained the feathers, but
which at the time | did not know was stolen.
Before l knew that any Of them were stolen,
had given the boy $4,000 which he borrow
ed from me, saying that he wanted clothes,
and that his father was sick. The boy used
to bring me large number of hats from
this store to do up, and became fond of
him. After a time told him l wanted the
money he borrowed, when he opened the
boxes he left with me and told me to take
that for my pay. / charged him with steal
idg them, and l told him to take them back
to the store, but he said he would not Then
told him 1 would tell Mr.. Schultz, when he
drew a revolver and said he would shoot me
if said word about it. He frightened
me as l was old and sick, and did not dare
to tell on him. l then wanted to get rid of
him as | knew there would be trouble, so
sold whatI could of them as | was in much
need of money. l did not know they were
stolen until after he brought the last box with
them in. know l told lies about where
got them when l offered them for sale, and
when hid the boxes, but was afraid of the
pistol. | never was arrested before or had
any charge against me. 1 am sixty-seven
years of age.
The old man, who was quite feeble, and
at times during the recital wept bitterly. Be-
ing Swiss, he gave his evidence through an
Interpreter
The state summed up very shortly, and
Counsel Egan showed the evidence given
clearly, and Mr.. Willis on behalf of the pris-
oner, made touching appeal to the jurors
in behalf of his client The judge charged