The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-06-17
This was my first and last time"

protection for confidence men?'
only through my brother and Mr.. Ed
wards. e TO-
You never heard Of It from any officer
connected with the administration?
!. mo, SIR 80
He said that he had seen Edwards give
Norbeck an envelop containing money at
242 Fourth avenue S.
Crossman is a. carpenter and has been
working at his trade with the exception
Of three weeks last November, and De-
cember. .4zs
s.Gheerfulg CharIey's" talk.
Charles E. Howard, Cheerful Charley"
as he is called, Yves next asked to. take
the stand. tat@4, ~ q 9I ~
He had known Norbeck about four
years. He saw $50 paid to Norbeck at
327 Second avenue 8. -. .% B
Towards testimony was particularly
interesting whenshe spoke of the close re-
lations existing between the confidence
gang and their willing tool, Christopher
g. Norbeck. AccoEdingEto Howard, Nor
beek's chief duty when a man kicked
and hollered" was to take care Of him and
put him out OF the, way
Norhack was otsalways to2be. relied on,
however. y AFTER the first two or three
weeks ne wasn't attending TO business as
his employers thought. that he should. !
| "What3did he dog Or what didn't he do %
asked Prosecutor Smith. . = ~
T. We'll, he wasn't around when we
wanted him. We. couldn't find him any
place." , - $50 f." -,
What did you want; him for %
ITO handle kicks. We, hadAto tell him
| that he would have to be around attend
| ing to business q little better-that we
could not pay him $50 a week and not
have him around when we needed him."
| Norbeck promised to obey orders, and
| for wa fn q
duties as "chief beuncer for the big mitt
gang 80 = :
r How, Norbeck Helped. ~: =
Fully as interesting was Towards story
| of how Norbeck assisted the confidence
men in throwing the scare into the
suckers" that is frightening them away
| so that they would not dare complain to
the police. He told of one particular
case In which victim had lost $110.
There had been considerable talk be-
| tween Edwards and Norbeck about him
not tending to business continued How
ard, s'and he says to me and Norbeck, he
says, next time Charlie has sucker he
says, i will have him look you UP, and 1
don't want to show you how to throw the
scare he says, you have been hanging
around here long enough to And about
the same day, it was In the afternoon, ]
| believe, I had a fellow and hs lost $120.
and the man 4hollered in the joint. Ed
wards. said, 'Norbeck Is outside there go
out and hand him over to him. stepped
outslde and there was a. couple OF other
officers out there at the time, but I don't
remember now just who they were; and /
| walked up to Norbeck and asked him If
he could tell me where I could find a
policeman; and he says, I am a police
man. and he showed me llais STAR
you had the sucker with you %
queried Mr.. Smith.
Yes, sir. And we told him that we
had been robbed in there; we always
made it appear to the sucker that we had
been skinned ourselves. He talked with
Norbeck, and he stepped back in the
Joint. OF course, we all began to holler
about being robbed, and he, Edwards.
spoke up and be says, Have you fellows
got license to gamble 2 says, NO, I
haven't got any license to gamble And
he says. Don't you know it is against
the law?' Well, says, is it?' With
that went out Of the door, and as was
going out, heard him say to Norbeck,
he says, Officer, do your duty and he
pointed to him, and Norbeck took him.,
you went around the block %
No. I ducked out and went In the al
ley and watched him
This story Of throwing the scare into
the suckers was one of the features of
the AFTERNOON ana every one listened with
open mouths. When the recital was
completed, the audience would have ap-
plauded had not Judge Harrison been on
the bench.
Howard had seen money paid to Nor
beck by Billy Edwards at the latter,s
home
Following Howard came Lincoln G.
Crossman of the big n1itt firm Of Ed
wards & Crossman. He said that the re-
lations with Norbeck were very close and
he was supposed to be within reach all
the time. n,
How did you reach him p"
"Norbeck's telephone calls were 337, po-
lice headquarters. and 2712, Carrie EN-
ersoH's place. = Ks t2
How often did you see Norbeck at the
lmitt JOINTS"
ooh, nearly every day. .
| Holmberg and the witness were at 80
Sixth street s when Detectives Norbeck
and Harvey called to see regarding the
s275 check lost by Peter Burg. He didn't
recall that NoTbeck said anything as to
the whereabouts OF the victim, Peter
Burg.
The cross examination by Mr.. Erwin
did not result In much. Crossman was
asked II he had not taken breakfast at
the Grill restaurant on the same morn
ing that he appeared before the grand
jury and II he had not talked with Billy
! Weisma n. Crossman did mot recall the
i circumstances
Nh 81 ,i f55 III 80