The Saint Paul globe., 1897-06-09
ANOTHER SENSATIONAL INCIDENT
IN CONNECTION WITH CONGRESS-
MAN STEVENS TROUBLES
HIS CASE CALLED YESTERDAY.
QUESTION RAISED AS TO THE RIfGU-
LARITY OF THE DRAWING
OF JURORS.
WAS THERE ANYTHING BACK OF 1T
Clerk of the Courts Thought Some
thing Was Being Attempted
over His Shoulders.

Ed Rogers, clerk OF the district court,
lost his temper yesterday afternoon. He
! took no pains to conceal his wrath,
and County Attorney Anderson, whose
! action disturbed Mr.. Rogers, knew how
Mr. Rogers felt, for he received the
! information first hand.
1t was another of the sensational in
| cidents that have occurred in connec-
ton with the troubles of Congressman
F. c. Stevens. The case Of the state
! against Mr.. Stevens had been called
! before Judge Lewis, and the work of
| selecting a jury had progressed for an
! hour or so. 1t was a sort Of a funereal
! affair from the start The congress-
man was surrounded on al sides by his
political friends. They were tempOrar-
lily against him, because justice de-
manded it. But he had other friends
who, while they had not been his po-
litical friends, are now engaged in the
work of trying to clear up what the
grand jury regarded as a case of a
! bank official apropriating to his own
| use the funds Of the bank.
There was County Attorney Ander-
son, whose heart went out to the con-
gressman, and there, too, was that emil
! good Republicans, Fred Zollman. They
had helped to elect Mr.. Stevens, and
Mr.. Stevens had helped elect them,
and there you are. Now justice plac-
ed them on opposite sides of the table.
But beside Mr.. Stevens was Pierce But
Ter, past master in mysteries of GRIM
inal Jurisprudence, and with him the
far-seeing and cautious j. NJ. Haw-
thorne.
Stevens 3ympathizers sat on al sides
watching developments. when the
name of prospective juror was drawn
from the box. The name was George
Upper. One or two questions only
were asked by Mr.. Butler before the
! fact developed that Mr.. Upper was
drawn and served on a jury less than
| seven months ago. Mr.. Butler may
have been watching for some such a
thing to happen or just naturally saw
that such a thing was something that
ordinarily should not be expected to
happen. He at once called Deputy
i Clerk Fitzgerald to the stand, and
from him learned that when the list
of names in a box is supposed to be
pretty nearly exhausted it has been
the practice of the court clerk to place
some more names in the box. So that
While Mr.. Upper might have been
| selected by the proper authorities to
serve as juror way back in 1894, if
his name had not made it's appearance
| when the time came to replenish the
! supply in the box, it might again have
| been added to the list.
Then Mr.. Butler read a little law
! showing that when panel Of jurors is
| drawn and placed in a box the law
meant an "empty" box and not a
stuffed" one. He challenged the whole
panel.
The announcement was a body blow.
County Attorney Anderson sat like a
man in a trance, and Mr. Zollman n
! locked wise. 1t seemed as if Mr.. An
| derson was going to allow the chaI-
| lenge to SO without a. omurmur. But
meantime Mr.! Rogers had appeared
| One Of his deputies WHISPERED in the
clerks ear and Mr.; Rogers moved his
| chair a little. closer to Mr. Anderson
There was some whispered but half
angry words uttered. Mr.. Rogers said
| something about exposure.
! Mr.. Anderson finally had to rally
and, addressing the court, said he
would show that such had been the
! practice Of the court
But Mr.. Butler finally decided not to
press the challenge and the embarass-
ment passed away. Five minutes later
| Mr.. Rogers descended in the elevator
with Mr.. Anderson and in the most i'm
| proved if not elegant language at
| his disposal, told the county attorney
that if he wanted to let Stevens off he
| could nolle the case, but he, Rogers,
! would not let him do it by bringing
his office into disgrace. He simply
wouldn't stand for it for any man. That
| elevator trip was one of the hottest that
! has taken place in the court house for
| many months.
There We're several little things in
| connection with the beginning of the
! trial Of Congressman Stevens that were
| at least interesting. AS soon as Judge
! Lewis had decided the Scheffer indict-
ment void and had sent the grand jury
back to work, without Juror Lind
| qU;st, the case of Mr.. Stevens was
called. Mr.. Butler, always calm and
| digniied, arose and asked that the
| trial be allowed to go over till today
| in order that a consultation might be
! held with the prosecution on the
| grounds that certain indictments have
! been held void by the state, and that
I the state should refuse to proceed
against any man on a void indictment
| He thought the county attorney would
! take that view of the case
| The court waited a second, and as
| the county attorney for some reason
didn't say yes or no, the court with
just touch of inpatience; pushed his
| paper pad aside and said '"The case
must proceed at this time. The jury
| calendar for this term is so crowded
that the court ought not to waste any
| time unnecessarily"
So the work of drawing a jury be-
! gan. It progressed without special
! incident and with fewer challenges than
| are usually found necessary, until the
following eight jurors had been ac-
cepted:
Adolph Guerin, butcher.
Bismarck Yon Wedestaedt, printer.
Mchael{ ]. Williams railroad man
Frank Jansen, railroad man.
| James E. Robertson, saiseman American
| Ringer company .-s. -5J
I Orville e. Wood. clerk Northern Pacific FIX
! press. company.
j. x. Bowers, farmer, Rosetown.
| Robert Iberg, blacksmith.
Then the name of George Tipper came
! out. AS heretafore stated Deputy Clerk
! of the Courts Fitzgerald was called to
| the stand, and briefly explained the
method of selecting and drawing out
| the names of jurors. When he had
! got that far, Mr. Butler arose and
| Informed the court that the name of
| had no right to be there If 1t had been
! drawn out seven months ago. He would
| challenge the panel.
Mr.. Anderson suggested that the
| challenge be put in writing While Mr.
Butler was busy writing 1t out was
when Mr.. Rogers got Mr.. Anderson's s
ear. Mr.. Butler leisurely wrote three
pages and then read them over to Mr.
Stevens and Mr.. Hawthorne They
whispered and thrice Mr.. Stevens look
ed around over the faces of those in
little more and then Mr.. Butler arose
and said he had drawn I'M hjs ohoI