The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-06-22
FOREMAN OF THE GRAND JURY
DENIES THAT HE WAS BORN
IN IRELAND.
SPENT NINE YEARS THERE
ATTORNEY M'DONALD ATTACKS
THE INDICTMENT BROUGHT
AGAINST LARSON.
QUESTION OF CITIZENSHIP AGAIN
A Little Book of Biographies From
PanOra, To-, Is the Basis for the
Action Taken.

And now they say the Ramsey
ty grand jury contains another alien.
This time the alleged alien is nc less
a person than. the foreman himself, w.
H. Burns. Such was the presentment
made before his honor, Judge Lewis, in
the criminal court yesterday by AttOr-
neyS Mcdonald and Barnard, who ap-
peared in behalf of Peter Larson, who
was indicted a few days ago for the
crime of assault in the second degree.
The action of the attorneys was not
a surprise, as it had become noised
around that a motion to abate and
quash the indictment against Larson
on the general ground that the grand
jury is. not a qualified and legal grand
jury would be made. In the moving
papers the specific grounds are stated
as follows:
!hat the pretended grand jury which found
said Indictment and the names thereof were
not Drawn from the grand jury box as
provided by law, but were drawn from the
box IN which there were a great number of
names illegally therein, at the time of the
placing of the list of grand jurors from
which said grand jury was drawn.
That after said pretended grand jury was
sworn and 1mpaneled and in service, the
Jul SSUt ACuSt dIu eXcIuueQ from
SAID grand jury a person who had been here
tofore sworn in to serve as a grand Juror,
for the reason that he was incompetent as
a grand juror, and that without recharging
the grand jury after the exclusion of such
an illegal juryman said pretended grand jury
was directed to proceed and did thereafter find
the indictment against this defendant.
That one w. H. Burns, the foreman of
said grand jury and the person who signed
the indictment against this defendant, was not
at the time of being sworn as a grand jury
man on fhn Cd 9ou- - NHo- 1O0T
time since, a citizen of the state of Mime
sofa, but was an alien and a subject of Great
Britain.
That at the time of the swearing of said
pretended grand jury, on the Sd day of May,
1897, and the charging thereof by the court.
this defendant was not under arrest or
bound over to the grand jury of Ramsey
county for the charge upon which he was
indicted or for any other offense, and that
this defendant never had an opportunity to
challenge said jury so indicting him as afore-
said.
The court took the motion under advise
ment.
There is quite an interesting story
connected with this move against the
foreman OF the grand jury. When the
attorneys who sought the scalp of John
Lindquist found their efforts a sue
ceeded they began casting their eyes.
over the remaining members Of the
grand jury for somebody in the same
fix as Mr.. Lindquist. They found that
several of the members had not voted
at the election last fall, but going a
little further back learned that these
same men had voted at the spring cleo
ton. The fact that they did not vote
at the fall election was, therefore, not
u to their ineligibility to vote, but
to some other reason. They, however,
learned there was some question about
Mr.. Burns. 1t has been supposed that
MI. Burns was born in New York, but
a little hook nrinfQ6 in Ponnro To
where he formerly lived, seemed to
raise a question about it. The volume
in question was published in 1884 by
the Continental Historical company.
of Springfield, Ill, and bears the fol-
lowing title: History of Guthrie and
Adair Counties, Iowa, Together with
Sketches Of Their Towns, Villages, etc,
Portraits Of Prominent Persons. and
Biographies of Old Settlers and Repre-
sentative Citizens" The short biogra-
ply of Mr.. Burns, which, it is believed
by the attorneys, was compiled from
data either furnished or revised by
himself, is in part as follows:
Among the successful business houses of
Panora is the furniture and housefurnish-
ing emporium Of William II. Burns. This
business was established by the Panora Fur
niture company in 1868. In July, 1871, it
passed into the hands of the present owner.
who has made it one of the principal houses
of the town.
NllldiH 2. DuIHS, uedief IN furniture ana
lumber, the subject of this sketch, is one of
the prominent men of Panora. He is a
native of Ireland, and was born Feb. IA,
1910. In 1852 the family moved to America,
settling in New York city, where William
was reared and educated at the Cooper in
stitute. He then learned the trade of cabinet
making, which he followed until 1861. In
April of that year he enlisted in Company H
Ninth New York Zouave regiment, being one
of its color guard. At the battle of Chan
cellorsville, Va, in 1863, he was wounded by
to the hospital at Washington, and was dis
charged. In July, 1863, he re-enlisted as Sec