St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-02-04
JIMMY Is FREE.
Bidderman's Father Takes Pity
and Saves His Young Son.

ana saves his Dung Son.
The preliminary examination of
Jimmy Bidderman was held yester lay
afternoon in the municipal court room
before Judge Mahoney and it resulted
in the dismissal of the bright-haired
young politician. The trial was a unique
one, and a more disgusted- looking man
than Judge Mahoney when the affair
was over would have been hard to find.
In the first place there was some flaw in
the complaint, and the trial had to be
postponed long enough to allow AS
sistant County Attorney Peterson and
E. NJ. johnson to prepare another one.
When the wheels of justice were finally
put in motion Jimmy'S father, Max Bid
derman, was put on the stand as the
first witness. Max is little fellow with
weak eyes and an uncertain voice and
decided Hebraic accent. These en-
bellishmentS, together with the old
mans nervous apprehension, rendered
it very trying matter to cross-examine
him.
He was asked to Identify his son. and
when the rose-colored Uranium of his
hopeful arose above the shoulders of his
counsel, Free Lane, Max said: dat is
de poy."
Max was allowed to retire for few
moments. while E. H. Moulton, secre-
tarv and treasurer of the Farmers and
Mechanics bank, testified as to his
knowledge of the transaction which al
lowed Jimmy to secure 5000 on a mort
gage on his fathers property. The
mortgage was not brought into evidence,
for the trial was on the forgery Of the
note given to the bank. Mr.. Moulton
stated the note was signed by Jimmy,
who made it at the time he mortgaged
his fathers property at the bank, on
Aug. % Of last year. He swore that
Jimmy was also the man who signed
the name of Max Biddcrman to the
mortgage and to the cheek which he
presented at The bank and secured the
money on. Mr.. Lane made frequent
objections to the introdu elton of testi-
mOny concerning the note, but in most
cases he was overrued.
Max was then put upon the stand
again and became so confused that he
swore to one thing and then another, de-
nying afterwards that he had said so,
and mixing everybody uD in his at
tempts to please the prosecutor and
Free Lane and at the same time make
things appear right for Jimmy. He
first swore that he did not give Jimmy
authority to sign the notes ncr make the
mortgage. Then he sWore that he had
given him authority TO sign all papers,
and, in fact, conduct all his business
for him. He said Jimmy had
been given authority to sign
any and all papers and notes,
whenever he saw fit. He did not tell
him to make the mortgage, but he had
no objections. seeing that it was done.
Max finally got down to level ground,
and stuck to the statement that he had
given Jimmy authority to sign his pa
pers. During his testimony Mrs. Bid
derman, who sat next to her son Jimmy,
became excited and insisted upon get
ting up in her chair and pointing her
finger at Max. Her dutiful son remind
ed her of the fact that she was in the
court room by jabbing her in the side
with his elbow and telling her to sit
down.
There was nothing left for the prose-
cutOr Or Judge Mah0ney to do. Jimmy
could not be convicted without the testi-
monv of his father, and that little gen.
tleman refused to testify that jimmy
was not authorized to sign all his pa
pers, in spite of the fact that he was the
first to enter protest against the validity
of the mortgage and note when the bank
officials called upon him for payment of
the interest. Judge MahOney, there
fore, dismissed the case, and in so doing
remarked:
There is no doubt in my mind that
this man Bidderman is guilty. Any
man standing on street corner would
saw the same thing, but we cannot dc
ANYTHING without the testimony of Max
Bidderman. The case is, therefore, dis
missed, and if the CRANE jury sees fit il
can investigate Tie case"
When jimmy learned he was q free