New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-09-12
ECKSTEIN is ACQUITTED.
The Conspiracy Against Him is Turned
Down by U. s. Jury.
Twelve Men Agree That he Never Wrote
the "Scurriious" Letters.
Many of our Most Respected Townsmen
Testify in his Behalf.
A Gratifying Ending to Desperate At
tack.

The case against JOS A. Eckstein came
off before Judge Nelson of the U. S.
Court in Minneapolis last week. Hon.
JohH Lind appeared for the defendant,
while District Attorney Strlnger appear
ed for the conspiracy that had guarded
itself behind the cloak of the government.
Chas. Silverson was the first witness
called. He testified that he had been ac-
quainted with Eckstein's handwriting
for eight years and that for six years
Eckstein had transacted his legal bust
ness for him. Five postal cards which
he had received were offered in evidence
and shown to the witness. He stated
that they were all IN Eckstein's hand,
disguised of course, but that two of
them were not SO much disguised as the
others. When he received them he did
not suspect Eckstein, but came to the
conclusion that he wrote them after re-
ceiving another letter sometime after,
which he knew at once to be Eckstein's.
Strange to say, however, this last letter
was not produced in evidence. Asked
why he didn't suspect Eckstein at once,
he said that he could not believe that
lawyer would do such a dirty trick.Some
testimony was also extracted from the
witness showing that Eckstein had ap-
peared as an attorney against him in
Masonic trial, but he said this did not
start the controversy between them
which finally made them enemies. The
history of the difficulty between the
school board and board of examiners was
then related, and basing his judgment on
the handwriting and from what he had
heard in the last two years he concluded
that Eckstein wrote them. He was
forced to admit that Eckstein had been
honorable and reliable in all his business
dealings, and he ceased to retain confd-
ence for him because, as he said, he had
an inkling that he was getting too thick
with some of his competitors. He hadn't
done anything dishon"rable but he
thought ''he was in some scheme" with
the other millers.
O.. C. Strickler was the next Witness.
He was familiar with Eckstein's writing
and was confident that the postals were
all written by Eckstein. Mr.. Lind asked
him for his reasons. "Oh because of the
general appearance was the reply.
Cornered as to any distinguishing partic-
;ularity, he repeated that he was led to
believe that they were Eckstein's by the
-':general form the general charact-
eristlc than the particularities of the let
ters-the general Similarity Here the
Judge asked him for a flat answer as to
his reasons for thinking that Eckstein
wrote them. His answer was: "Because
of the similarity, the form, the fashion,
the move" Other facts brought out by
Mr. Lind from the witness were that he
didn't know much about school matters
and didn't believe he was unfriendly to
Eckstein or an enemy. ''Something
worse, perhaps,' put in Mr.. Lind.
s. D. Peterson was called and all he
could say was that he was little fam
iliar with the defendants handwriting
a little-some. He thought that
the writing on two of the cards looked a
s1ttle like part of Eckstein's handwrit-
ing. but he was not Expert enough to
say that he believed he wrote the other
three. Questioned more closely as to
the first two he altered his statement by
saving that ''there were something's about
them that would lead him to believe
that Eckstein possibly might have writ
ten them" Lind asked what these ''some-
things were. Peterson pointed out GER
tain letters and then Lind asked him
doesn't that letter 'r' resemble yours?"
eyes" s.And doesn't that lettor 's' re-
s.mble vours?" eyes. think it does?''
HWell, doesn't it resemble yours more
than Eckstein'sn.' eyes, rather think
it does" Asked if he thought Eckstein's
conduct in the community was such as
to lead him to believe that he had writ
ten the cards, the witness answered that
he hardly thought it was.
T. B. Krook followed. He testified that
in his opinion Eckstein wrote them all.
The general resemblance ofthe handwrit-
ing throughout led him to believe this
He had worked for Silverson for four