St. Paul daily globe., 1889-10-26
C0LL0M'S DEFENSE.
It Was Outlined by the Prose-
cutiOn in the Case Yes
terday.
Anderson and Collom Charged
With a Conspiracy to
Defraud.
A Sad Suicide From Despond-
ency--Insomnia the
Cause.
Another Rumop About the
Sale of Minneapolis
Flour Mills.

COllom case yesterday was the unfo.d-
ing by the defense of its theory of the
case. This came out in the crOSS-eX-
animation of Mr.. Anderson, Mr.. BlalS-
dell's Son-in-law, after he had testified
for the state in regard to the alleged
confession of Collom in the Law Office of
Davis d Farnham on the afternoon of
Aug. 6. That theory proved to be that
COilOm and Anderson conSpired to-
getheT to get settlement of Collom's
Indebtedness at 50 cents on the
dollar; that as part of that conspiracy
COllOm was to claim that BialSdellS IN
doTSementS on CollOm's notes were all
forged; that the creditors would thereby
be frightened into the proposed settle
ment. Another point of interest was
the Testimony of 4. A. Chamberlain,
cashier of the Security bank, in regard
to what transpired at the Office of Davis
d Farnham. MI. Chamberlain would
not say that Colon used the words
forgery" OF forged" in his confession,
nor would he swear that COllOm did not
use the words, bnt he did say that Col
lOm said that none of Blaisdell's indorse-
mentS on his notes were genuine.
Mr.. Farnham again took the stand on
the opening of The court and was cross
examined. He said there were num-
ber of creditors at his office on the ia
nous 9th of August; that he did not
know who sent for them; that III. n.
Peck tried TO get into the room after
COIlOm had broken down, but that he
prevented him. telling him it was pri-
vate room and that they were having
private consultation there.
Frank A. Chamberlain then took the
stand and said: | am cashier of the Sc
curity Bank of Minneapolis. and have
been since Jan. l, 1887. L do not know
that l saw the alleged forged not
until took it out of the en-
with others. Mr.. Williams is the dis
count clerk of the bank. and handles
the notes. l probably saw it the day
before it became due. j know of Frank
COLON. and saw him at the Office Of
Davis & Farnham on the afternoon OF
Aug. 6. Davis, Farnham, Peck and
myself were there. We met there at
my suggestion. | was the first to speak
when We all got into the room. said
to CollOm:
Frank, have been trying to find
out the amount of your paper on which
MIR. BlaiSdell Is indorser, but every body
seems to be trying to keep me in the
dark. / have found a large quantity,
however, and have submitted some of it
to experts. One of them indOrsed by
Mr.. BIaisdell and Josiah Thompson
Sr. has been submitted TO MIR. 1hOmp-
son, and he says he does not recollect
of having indOrSed it. | sent 1t back to
him by Mr.. Peck, and he again said he
had no recollection of having indorSed
it. Now. how is it?''
COLON replied, "Blaisdell is not liza
d, L. ANll Of
| said, "Frank, it can't be possible. l
know Mr.. BlaiSdell signed one note for
5000 recently"
C0llom SAID, "YOu did not see Blais-
dell sign it,
| recalled to his memory the facts in
regard to the signing of the note. He
came into the bank and asked me if he
could get $1,000 for few days on MIR.
Blaisdell's Endorsement. Just then Mr..
Blaisdel came in, and | said, There
he comes now" [ think had given
COllOm a blank note, and he went to
meet Mr.. BlaisdelI. They spoke to-
gether. and my attention was called to
other matters. Very soon afterwards l
saw the note in the bank, and sup
posed that Mr.. Blaisdell had signed it.
COLON, after | made this explanation,
said: i'Blaisdell did not sign the note
there. He went to my Office and signed
a note. but tore it into piec9s. l think
| have the pieces now" l asked him
about the notes in the bank. He said:
1.-The original notes and part of the
renewals were genuine, but none of the
present Endorsements are"
COLON broke down and tried to SYM
pathiZe with him. | asked him if l
could not do something for his family,
and he said: ''lf you can, for Gods
sake do it." l do not recOllect that he
asked me to send out for any one. l
asked him about note of my own tor
S3, 800. He said: 1.-The original note
and some of the renewals are genuine,
but the present one is not"
COLON was anxious TO cut the matter
short, and wanted the sheriff sent for.
He had list of notes in his pocket, and
handed it to Davis. Il think" he said,
''it amounted to $227. .000."
At this point Mr.. Chamberlain was
asked if on July Is COllom had fur
niShed him statement of his lndebt.
edness on notes. The defense objected,
but the judges Overruled them, and Mr..
Chamberlain answered in the affirma-
tive. He produced the paper, and it
was offered in evidence by the proSecu-
ton, but the defense made hard fight
while it might show that CollOm had
made false statement, 1t did not tend
to prove that he had committed forgery.
The prosecution claimed that it was a
question of fact, which should go to the
jury, and the judges so decided. 1t
proved to be as follows:
July d, 1899.
F. A. Chamberlain, Cashier Security Bank:
Dear Sir:-At your request | submit the fol-
lowing as a correct statement of the amount
of my paper out at this date:
Total notes in Security bank, all in
dorsed by J..T. Blaisdell. ........S SIG 700
Notes in other banks. mostly all in
dorsed by j. T. BIaisdell., $4,000
Total al............ .s4s, 700
j. T. Blaisdell is liable as indorser on
all but about 81 900 of the above,
leaving his entire liability on my
paper not to exceed. ----.. .......... $3S, 600
Respectfully YOURS,
j. FRANK COLON.
This closed Mr.. Chamberlain's testi-
mOny. and he was briefly croSs-eXanl-
ined. He said he examined the COLON
notes in the Security bank July "a; that
he next looked at them in DAVIS &
Farnham'S Office, and at the request of
Mr.. Davis submitted them to Mr.. Cur
tiss. He said that he did not hear any
conversation between Anderson and
Colon on Aug. 6.
On redirect examination he said he
would not swear that Anderson and
COllom did not have a conversation in
Davis & Farnham'S Office; neither
would he swear that CollOm did not use
tho u-nrd SsfOrUadD Op that 0ooaci0n