The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1901-10-17
District Attorney Buckmaster Springs
A Surprise in an Adjournment
of the Bribery Cases.
CASTER STILL REFUSES TO TALK.
Alderman John sch1enker is Also Put on
the Stand. Bur His Memory Is
Early Exhausted.

The people Of Kenosha must wait
niue days before the final result of the
hearing Of Aldermen Peter Pirsch and
Albert Smith, charged with bribery, is
completed, for at the opening of the
session of court Thursday afternoon,
the attorney for the State asked an ad-
! iournment until Oct. 10Th, and the ad-
] journment was granted. The motion
of the District Attorney came as a
grea tsurprise to the defendants and
to the court, and while it was made
on the grounds that material witness
es were missing, it is supposed to have
some even greater import. The mo-
tion was granted by the court only af-
ter John Caster, the star witness for
the State, had refused to answer the
questions in regard to the case and
after he had been withdrawn and dis
missed as witness for the State. AS
Caster left the witness chair, he was
met by the attorney for the defense,
and Patrick L. Haynes, who was in
terested in the passage of the ord1-
nance, and he left the court in their
company. The defendants seem elat-
ed with the motion to adjourn the
| hearing, as they seem to see in this
motion a let up from the District At
torney in regard to the case. The
District Attorney was seen after the
court had adjourned but he absolutely
refused to make any statement in re-
gard to his plan for future action. In
| speaking of the matter he said that
| the examination would go on as soon
as material witnesses could be secured
and brought to Kenosha.
| Just before the close of the session
Wednesday afternoon, Commissioner
Baker decided that Caster must an
swer the questions put to him by the
District Attorney, assuring him that
he would be safe from any prosecu-
ton, save one for perjury. Attorney
Firthman immediately announced
that he had been retained as attorney
for Caster also, and ordered the
ex-a1derman on the witness stand to
refuse to answer any of the questions
put to him by the States attorney.
When the announcement was made
that Firthman represented Caster, the
District Attorney attempted to show
traces of a conspiracy. Firthman was
accused of violating the ethics of the
legal profession by attempting to in
struct the witness called by his oppon-
ent, and the Judge finally ruled that
Firthman could not advise Caster as
to his answers to the questions put.
| The hearing was continued for anOth-
er hour but it was evident that Caster
has decided to repudiate the confess
sion which he is alleged to have made
to the District Attorney.
| When Court Commissioner Baker
called the court to order this morning,
the hagg1ing of the attorneys which
so characterized the first session of
the court yesterday, was renewed and
| fierce arguments were had in regard to
| the records and what should be admit
| ted to them. At times the chickering's
between the States attorney and the
attorney for the defendants decended
to fierce personal abuse, and the court
was power1ess to keep the men within
the provinces of the law. Threats and
| insinuations were freely passed, and it
was stated by one of the attorneys that
| a personal encounter alone could set
| tie the difference between them. The
accusations fired back and forth in
the heat of discussion often touched
on the honesty of the attorneys and
witnesses, and the attorneys believing
like mad bulls, cried out for venge-
ance.
| L. IL. @f La4
was slow. John Schlenker, one of the
a1dermen'who had been called as
witness, had exhausted his memory,
and Gaster,sas yesterday, failed to re-
memb Der. the pertinent points. Schlen-
ker was the first man called to the
stand, and from a mass of testimony
the alderman made some damaging
admissions against Alderman Smith
| In this web of testimony Pirsch was
not involved.
After fre.sof questions Sch1enker
admitted that he had told the District
Attorney that Smith had stated to him
| that he received the sum of $500 in
connectionlwith the franchise and its
passage. He also stated that Smith
hadin joking manner, asserted that
he had made $1,000 as an alderman in
his first term, and that if elected he
expected to make $4,000. This was
admitted to the records of the case.
This was as far as the testimony of
Sch1enker went. When asked later
for positive answer in regard to the
conversation with Smith, Schlenker
declared that he could not remember.
Efforts to refresh his memory were
void, as the alderman admitted that he
was drinking man and that he could
not say whether or not he was drunk
at the time he made the statements to
the attorney, as he did not know how
much it took to make him intoxicated.
At this point came sensational in
terruption. The District Attorney
claimed that he caught the witness
winking at Alderman Smith, who sat
o.ao Of tho dafardant,S No