The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-22
Is FREE As THE HIR
y. r. BICKEL HEARS JURY SAY
NOT GUILTY FOR THE THIRD
TINE.
i LONG TIME IN AGREEING,
BUT FINALLY THE TWELVE MEN
REACHED THE VERDICT AS
ANNOUNCED.
10 MORE BILLS HANG OVER HIM.
LONG TIME IN AGREEING,
10 MORE BILLS HANG OVER HIM.
slIinncSOta Savings Bank Cashier
Has Faced md Reaten Nine
Indictments.

| William F. Bickel is at last as free as
The air. The third jury that has had
Chance at Mr.. Bickel came in yesterday
forenoon with a verdict of mot guilty"
The verdict created 10 surprise; it was
the time the jury consumed in agreeing
That caused the comment.
Immediately after the announcement
tof the acquittal one of the spectators,
ian old court habitue, remarked in an
audible undertone to the gentlemen
SEATED in his vicinity:
4 guess Billy must have got hold of
that rabbits foot that Ginger used to
carry"
The jury did not agree until 80 a.
m. over eighteen hours after retiring
from the court room. After the arraign-
'ments of the indicted persons, Judge
Willis sent for the Bickel jury and the
clerk asked the foreman, A. p. Hend-
rickson, whether they had agreed. Mr.
iHendricksOn answered that they had
not. The court desired to know what
1.-THE difficulty was. The foreman replied
that the jurors were uncertain over the
question of Mr.. Bickers intent at the
time he handed the Nusser notes over
to the bank
Judge Willis said that the question
of intent was one peculiarly within the
province of the jury TO consider.
In order to arrive at the conclusion
that the intent was criminal the jury
should find that every other hypothe-
sis was inconsistent with the facts. To
the mind of the court there was very
little difficulty in the case, and he was
surprised that the jury should have
found any. The court would keep the
jury until O'Clock the next day, as it
was important that they should come to
an agreement.
The jury then retired and in a short
! time reported that they had arrived at
I an agreement.
Shortly before II 80 the court entered
I the room and summoned the jury.
verdict of not guilty was returned
/ and Mr.. Bickel was, after the verdict
/ was recorded, discharged from custody.
J AS the jurors passed out, MIR. Bickel
! Grasped each of the twelve right hands
] right heartily. His placid features were
/ Wreathed in smiles, more numerous
! tfan the nine indictments that he had
/ brsved and conquered. He was once
/ more free man. His tribulations were
] over.
The jurors refused to divuIge to the
representatives of the press by what
process they had arrived at an agree
ment They had agreed to keep that
a secret, but. as usual some one leaked
On the first ballot it is reported that
the vote was S to 4 for acquittal. At
4 IL +. M it was 10 to 2, and so it re-
=. mained for twelve hours. But during
/ the half hour that elapsed after being
called into court in the forenoon, the
two jurors who voted for conviction
swung into line with the others
Four times Mr.. B;ckel faced a jury
of his peers, and upon three of these
occasions his case went to the jury,
and resulted in an acquittal each time.
Upon his first trial. under the indct-
ment charging him with the larceny
of some 5000 from Hulda Peterson. the
court. Judge Lewis presiding dismissed
the case after the state had rested,
) uTon motion Of the defense.
His second trial was upon the indict-
ment charging perjury in the garnish-
ment proceedings. Z. J. Lucius was
the complaining witness. The trial oc-
CURED last July and resulted in a
verdict of not guilty. In November
Mr.. Bickel went to trial a third time
on the Indictment charging him with
the grand larceny of over So 600 in cash
from the bank and 50 2S5 in notes The
result was an acquittal. The fourth
and last trial cleaned up the record,
! and Mr.. Bickel feels relieved.