The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-02-16
A TEAM STOLEN.
1t is Sold to Chas. RasdaIl, of
St. Clair.
The Owner, Ole S. Olson, of Amboy
Turns up, and John Anderson is
Locked Up.
From Wednesdays Daily.

From Wednesdays Daily.
There was plenty of excitement
around the city hall early Wednes-
day. 1t began at about one o'clock,
when Chas. Rasdall, of st. Clair, came
in and told of purchase which he had
made. He said that last evening a
stranger had driven into st. Clair with
a fine team of heavy horses. hitched to
sleigh. and had offered the outfit for
sale. Rasdall had driven the team
around little and then concluded to
buy the rig, offering $175 The stranger
had accepted the offer and was paid $40
down, the balance to be paid in this
city today. Rasdall became suspicious
of the man, owing to the low price, and
asked him where he lived. He claimed
to have worked for Mr.. White, at Am
boy. Mr.. Rasdall called up Mr.. White,
but the latter did not know the man.
He told several stories. but drove to
Mankato today with Mr.. Rasdall.
When he got here, he had his mustache
shaved off, and bought railroad ticket
out of town. When Mr.. Rasdall was
telling his story to Officer Morrow and
Janitor May, he said that the fellow
was at the depot waiting for train.
Mr.. Rasdall was advised to bring the
man to the city hall, which he did,
having no trouble. The railroad ticket
could not be found. The man gave
his name as John Peter Peterson, and
claimed that the deal was all right. In
the meantime, Sheriff Gerlich and
County Attorney Hughes had been in
formed and the sheriff was advised by
Mr.. Hughes to detain the man over
night, in order to afford time to learn
whether team had been stolen.
Officer Morrow did not know that the
man was to be detained, and offered nc
objection when he walked out of the
front door of the city hall fifteen
minutes after he had been brought
in by Mr.. Rasdall. The latter states
that he requested the officer to detain
the man. but the officer evidently mis-
understood him.
Sheriff Gerlich arrived at the city
hall a few moments later, and about
the same time Ole S. Olson, farmer
residing near Amboy, drove up and
reported that a team had been STOLEN
from his place yesterday morning, to.
gether with sleigh and harnesses.
He said that the team alone was worth
$3.50. He said that the team had been
taken by his hired man, whose name
was John Anderson. He said that
Anderson had worked for him for two
weeks, and had worked on his machine
last fall. Anderson had lived around
the neighborhood for ten or fifteen
years.
The team and man answered the de-
scription of Peterson and the team sold
to Mr.. Rasdall. and the officers quietly
organized search. Sheriff Gerlick
went one way and Officer Morrow
another, with teams to search the
outskirts of the city. Anderson was
described as a tall man of about %
years, with a red sweater and long
dog skin overcoat.
The officers had not been gone five
minutes, when Mr.. Rasdall came into
the hall and said that he had located
Anderson in saloon a block and half
north. Anderson had taken that direc-
ton when leaving the city hall. There
was no officer at the station at the
time, but Janitor May volunteered his
services and accompanied Mr.. Rasdall
to the saloon, where they met Ander
son coming out. Mr.. May took him to
the city hall and locked him up after
searching him. A partly emptied bot
tie of whisky and So 30 in money was
found on Anderson, who appeared to be
partly intoxicated and who maintained
that his name was Peterson and that he
had not stolen any team.
MI. hasoall nad not paid Anderson
the balance of the purchase price. An
derson had claimed to him during the
forenoon that he had owned the team
for three or four years, and offered to
go with Rasdall to the former owner.
at Amboy, and said that he would
start at two o'clock, and when Rasdall
went at the depot ready to take an
earlier train he concluded to notify
the authorities
Anderson, when locked up, refused
to answer questions further than to say
that he did not steal the team from
Mr.. Olson, but owned the horses him.
self. He would not say how he came
by the team, simply asking his ques-
tons what difference it made to them.
The evidence against Anderson ap-
pears to be very strong.