The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-18
Fl Creek
Letter Rescue,

The trial Of Alonzo J. Whiteman, ac-
quilted of swindling the Columbia
bank, sol Fifth avenue, out Of $3.50 by
means Of a worthless check, was in
teresting for several reasons, says the
w York Sun.
Whiteman Is thirty-six years old, and
a native of Evansville, N. Y. His father
! left million, Of which 100000 in cash
went to Whiteman besides reversionary
! interests After having graduated from
| Hamilton college in 1881, Whiteman
graduated at the Columbia law school
in this city, was admitted to the bar,
and went to Duluth. He at once be-
came popular, secured q lucrative law
practice, was nominated and elected
| to the state senate as a Democrat in
| 1886, was made the chairman of the
Democratic state central committee,
was delegate to the national Demo-
| cratic conventions Of 1884 and 1888, was
defeated for congress in $780, and was
talked of as Democratic candidate for
governor in 1892.
In that year he lost all his money
except his reversionary interest in his
fathers estate
Whiteman was arrested on March 6
at the Hoboken ferry at the foot Of
Barclay street, by Detective Sergeant
McNaught, of the district attorneys Of
flee and Detective Dougherty, Of the
Pinkerton agency, on a bench warrant
charging him with swindling the CO.
lumbia bank. When the case came to
trial the cashier Of the bank Mr.. Grit
fiths, swore positively that Whiteman
was the man who, under the name of
DR.. ]. H. Williams, deposited in the
Columbia bank on Feb. 20 a check for
$3716.21, drawn on the National CITY
bank, Of Brooklyn, to the order of ].
H. Williams and Endorsed by him.
President Hoag, of the American Saw
fngs bank, which Is in the basement Of
the Columbia bank building, positively
Identified Whiteman as the man intro
duced to him on Feb. 20 as DR.. J. II.
Williams by Cashier Griffiths. Paying
Teller Stoll, Of the Columbia bank, posi-
lively identified Whiteman as the man.
who, under the name of J. H. Williams
drew a check to his own order on the
Columbia bank for $3.50 on Feb. % and
obtained the money.
The cashier of the Lakewood hotel
sWore that Whiteman, under the name
Of j. L. Whiting, spent a week at the
hotel, prior to Feb. %. On that day
he paid his bill and went away. re-
turning on Feb. % in the morning and
leaving In the evening Of that day
The head porter swore that he saw
Whfteman go away from Lakewood
on the 6:10 p. m. train. The Pinker-
ton detective, Dougherty, swore that he
Whitman n Lab
g.
Besides these witnesses the prosecu-
ton produced a blank check. either
on the Columbia bank or the National
City bank, said to have been in pock-
etbook found in Whiteman's grip. Dan
lei [. Ames, an expert in handwriting,
swore the handwriting of the check
drawn by DIR. J. H. Williams" was
Whiteman's.
In cross examining the witness for
the people the defense brought out the
following facts: That Cashier Griff1thS
had a picture, alleged to be that of
Whiteman, at the New York office Of
the Pinkertons before he saw White
man; that both Griffiths and the pay
ing teller, Stoll, had seen "Dr. j. II.
Williams for only a few moments;
that Mr.. Hoag Is q man seventy nine
years DID, whose eyesight Is not as
good as 1t once was.
In cross examining Ames, Lawyer Z.
M Grout showed him four specimens
Of handwriting, one at a time. The
expert swore that the first specimen
was the handwriting Of the man who
drew the bogus check. The second
and third specimens were those of a
person who had attempted to disguise
his handwriting, and the fourth he
would venture no opinion upon. Grout
took the stand and swore that all the
specimens shown to the expert were
parts of letters written to him by eli
ents, and that the one said by the ex-
pert to be the handwriting Of dr. J.
H Williams" was, in fact, the hand
writing Of q client named Henry Mich
oils
Whtteman's lawyers then produced
ten witnesses from Evansville. all of
whom had known Whiteman all his life
and the character of none of whom
could be impeached, who swore posi-
lively that Whiteman was in Danville
on Feb. %. Dansville is 414 miles from
this city by rail. The Rev DR.. A. O.
Sykes. pastor of the Evansville Metho-
dist church. Ewore that he saw White