The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-02-13
CIRCUIT COURT
The State va. Frank L. Learned for Grand
Larceny Occupies the Court To-Day
Learned in His Own Defense.

Circuit court opened this morning
with the return OF the special 9 q
ire OF twenty-four iurymen from
which number the following were drawn
and agreed upon as the jury 70 try the
case or the State OF South Dakota
against Frank Il. Learned: @. Il
smith, Lewis Smith, Henry Heyer, W.
@. Morrill,, Gus. Brorby, Peter Warno,
Hugh Williams, John thinner, James
Weeks, John Swenson, II. Ii. Cole,
Christ Peterson.
The prosecution then put on the stand
as witnesses Geo. Irish, Mrs. Irish, VIM.
Beverley, Charles Boon OF Sioux City,
Sheriff Fox, Constable Mead, j. b.
Koehler and others.
The testimony revealed the former
we'll worn tale that Learned, who IS
brother in-law Of Mr.. Irish and was liy.
ing with him last November, saw Mr.
Irish counting his sales money, Sunday,
November is as he made out his weekly
report for w. w. Cargill u Co, to whom
the money belonged. Irish laid the
money 10 his secretary, turning down
the lid but not locking it. Ia the even
ing, Learned went down town, while MIR.
and Mrs. Irish went to bed but did not
fall asleep before came Learned in about
8 O'Clock. Tue latter pretended he was i'll
took a little medicine, turned down the
lights and shortly after said he would
have to 90 out, which he did and did not
return. A short time after when Mr..
Irish got up to see what had become OF
Learned, thinking he might have
been taken seriously i'll the
latter could not be found and Mr..
Irish discovered that his pocketbook
containg Sl99, a $25 note and exchange
paper OF Cargill & Go. for $500, had dis
appeared. 1t was discovered afterwards
that one Wm. Beverley had secured a
livery rig at Koehler's barn about this
time and he and Learned then drove to
Egan, sending the rig back and them
selves taking the cary freight to Sioux
Falls. Here they crossed over to the
sioux City and Northern railroad and
went ia Sioux City and were next day
unprecedented by the Sioux City author
tiles whence they were brought back
two days after the theft by the officers
of this county. Learned paid all bills
and expenses OF the two on the trip,
bought each a new suit of clothes at
Sioux City, and had just enough money
on him-S92 and odds-to make up the
amount $3.50, alleged TO have been taken
from Irihh. No clue to the whereabouts
OF the note and bill OF exchange lost at
the same time has yet been discovered.
This in short is the case OF the prosecn
ton.
Learned himself went on the stand
in his own defense and was subject
most of the afternoon TO a rigorous and
entangling inquisiticn which ~entrapped
him in Inconsistencies many times. His
line OF defense is that owing to trouble
over a certain coat stolen from a local
livery stable he was suspected and that
Mr.. Irish bearing Of this told him the
sheriff was likely to arrest him and gave
him S25 to skip out with. When asked
to account for the balance of the money
he had with him he says he had 1857 of
his own when he came back to Madison
a week or two before. He says he got
this at Pipestone and Sioux City in con-
n~ection with racesi but could give no
very good account of how he came by it.
Five other witnesses are to be examined
on the part OF the defense and the trial
will probably 60 I've until another day
before o verdict is reached.