New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-01-31
The Redwood County Attorney Convicted
Of Perjury.
Twelve Of his Peers Put upon him the
Stamp Of Crime.
A Grave Silence Falls upon the Court Room
when the Verdict is Rendered.
The Prisoner Noticeably Affected with
Nervous Emotion.
Judge Webber Sentenced him to Years
in the State PenitentiarY.
Some of the Details of the Long and In
teresting Contest,

I'VE, the jury in the above en- titled
action, find the defendant, Michael M.
Madigan, guilty Of the crime of perjury
as charged in the Indictment. Such
was the verdict of the twelve men chos.
en- to try the first of the celebrated cases
brought by the State against County At
torney Madigan of Redwood County,
When the jurymen entered the court
room, after being out fully eighteen
hours, their faces wore a look Of gravity
that was clearly indicative of the awful
verdict. Each Individual member
seemed to realize that the task that
had been assigned to him was by no
means trivial one, and the weight of
their duty reflected itself from every
countenance. The effect upon all who
were present was similar. A hushed and
painful silence pervaded the old room
and made the word ''guilty" seem ter
rible in it's meaning. Madigan himself
showed signs of nervousness, but he
struggled hard 10 keep down all out
ward manifestations. When the verdi ct
was read and the Judge was about to
pass the consequent sentence, he arose
and requested that this part Of the affair
be deferred until Monday to await the
return of Attorney H. ]. Peck from
Shakopec. While the Judge could not
see that it would make any difference he
was willing to make the desired conces-
sion, the prisoner to give a bond Of 3d.
900 for his appearance IN court Monday
afternoon at 3 o'clock.
Among the Redwood people, many Of
whom were present, there was no evi-
dencc of a jubilant feeling over the YER
dict, but nearly all expressed sentiment
as to its business. All agreed that Mad
igan was to blame for allowing matters
to come SO far.
The commissic had repeatedly
warned him to resign, and his refusal
to do SO led to an appeal to the govern
or on the grounds of drunkenness
and malfeasance in office. Not
desiring to have the governor interfere,
Madigan requested the grand jury to in
dict him on the above named charges
trusting all the while in his ability to
clear himself through a jury trial. But
the grand jury, once interested in his ac-
tions, tumbled onto many mysterious
tracks and went far beyond Madigan's s
expectations. The four indictments
charging perjury, forgery and bribery,
were the results of the grand jury's in
vestigations.
The forgery and bribery cases have
been continued until the next term of
court, the defense making the request
and the state acceding thereto. The
forgery case relates to the Introducing to
the court a forged instruments as evidence
The bribery Indictment alleges that he
accented considerable sum Of money
from one Peterson as payment for pre-
venting an Indictment from being re-
turned against said Peterson, who was
known to be committing incest with his
daughter.
The details Of the perjury case as
evinced in the trial are as follows:
In April Of last year Madigan went
down to Belview and there had a talk
with Halgeson & Mogen, mercantile deal
ers, who were on the verge ofinsolvency.
Madigan told them that there was dan
ger of their being closed up and advised
one of them to come to Redwood Falls
to receive his advice. Halgeson went
down on the 4th and Madigan asked
him if he had friend whom he could
trust. The name of Peter Romnes was
suggested and then Madigan advised the
making-out of note of $500 IN favor of
the said Peter Romnes in order that he
might commence suit thereon. Halge-
son went home and consulted his part
ner. The note was signed and Romnes
was told Of what was going on. Hesta-
ted that he feared trouble would result
but supposed that the attorney knew
what he was doing and added that if