The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-12
FIVE IN TWO PLOTS.
Blanket Indictments for Conspir-
acy Brought Against Officials.
THE AMESEs AND COLLECTORS
Fred Ames, Gardner and Norbeck
Are Arraigned and Will
Plead Friday. Y

Ames was arragned before Judge Pond
this morning, under two indictments, each
of which accuses@'him of entering iato
conspiracy. ) -.a ~, r.. ,;s.,A
In one of these indictments Mayor A. A.
Ames, Christopher C. Norbeck and Irwin
A. Gardner are indicted with. the chief. In
the other. he is accused of having con-
spired with Joseph Cohen. Norbeck and
Gardner were both in court, and with the
chief listened to- the, reading of what is
said to be the longest indictment ever
found in Hennepin county. The offense
charged is a misdemeanor; and the three
men were given until Friday morning to
plead. Both Brother Fred" and Gardner
are already under heavy bonds and they
were not required to furnish additional
security. Norbeck is in JAIL and was re-
turned there as soon the reading had
been finished. The mayor, of course, Is
still at West Baden, and Cohen has dis
appeared.
The first indictment read, that against
the former chief and Cohen, alleges that
the two men consp1red to extort various
sums of money from proprietors Of houses
of i'll fame throughout the city, threaten
ing them with arrest unless they paid
monthly tribute. More particularly, it al
leges that on Feb. last, Addie Mills. who
conducts a resort on Third street S, was
compelled to pay SIS, under threat of ar
rest If che failed to do 80. The chief is
already under two indictments as re-
suit of this transaction, the conspiracy
charge making the third. Witnesses ex-
amined in the case were Otto Wirtehnson,
an inspector Of police; Addfe Mills and Ida
Elliott. -..
Gardner Brought In.
The second indictment alleges that
Frederick w. Ames, then chief of police;
his brother, Mayor A. A. Ames; Chris
topher c. Norbeck, a city detective, and
Irwin A. Gardner special police officer,
did, on Oct. of 1901, enter into a con-
spiracy to extort money from abandoned
women, and that the amounts collected
| under their operations aggregated about
| $500 a month. This money, the indictment
| maintains, was collected from Addfe Mills,
| Ida Elliott and thirty-five other women,
whose names are not mentioned, the
amounts paid by each ranging from SIS to
| $50 monthly.
The payment of 5000 monthly by the big
mitt gang Is also alleged, the Indictment
being drawn so as to permit the introduce
tton of much evidence that was ruled out
as immaterial, incompetent or irrelevant
| in other cases. The witnesse whose
names are appended are Otto Wirtensohn
Henry Krumweide, Ida Elliott, Addie
Mills, John Long, Frank Zalusky, frankie
Buel, Annie Adams, Carrie Emerson
| Grace Schacht and Mamie Rhodes. The
|
| fame, and the men either are or were at
| the time connected in some capacity with
| the police force:
This last indictment is probably the
| most serious that has yet been returned
| against the mayor, for the reason that il
is blanket in form, and will permit the
introduction of much evidence that woul6
be excluded were the charge more speci.
! fc It will also enable the state to place
Christopher G. Norbeck upon the stand
4 Norbeck has already testified for the
! state in the case against the chief, ant
he is ready to do so again. His test1
mony will be of the utmost Importance.
Following his flight from Minneapolis
a month ago, Norbeck shaved his mus
tache. He is now permitting it to grow
again. AS he stood in the courtroom this
morning his attitude was suggestive. HI
leaned forward against the clerks desk
as the Indictment was being read, ,on'
hand thrown back of him, with palm vi
and the fingers extended. 1t may hav'
been the force of habit, and perhaps HI
would not have been greatly surprised tt
that huge paw. At any rate, his thought
we're far away, and he apparently -pait
no attention whatever to the words. reat
by Clerk Ryberg. .>.
Ames' Legal Residence.
There seems to be considerable doub
whether Mayor A. A. Ames, already un
der several indictments, will be the lega
mayor Of the city after next week, wheth
er the council decides to accept his res
ignation or not. Mrs. Ames is selling hel
household goods and Is preparing to re-
move to West Baden, where she will
make her permanent home. 1t is said tina
she will leave Minneapolis permanent!
next week. The general laws OF Mime
sofa for 1898, proovide that mans resi-
dence shall be held to be the place wher'
his family resides, unless he shall be sep
arated from them, legally or otherwise.
Under the state constitution, ,ovif Mayo
Ames is not a resident Of Minneapolis h.
could neither vote nor hold office. Wha
is more, the city charter contains thi
J proviso:
s'Any officer removing from the cit
or the ward for which he was elected o
appointed-sha1l be deemed to have va
Gated or abandoned his Office Elsewher
the charter provides that in case Of
vacancy in the office Of mayor a specia
election shall be held. >-s, -.
However, the council can get around al
this by refusing to take official cognizanc
of Mayor Ames' removal, course tina
; Twill probably be pursued. If the matte
is brought before the council officially, 4
can be referred to a committee for In
vestigation, and the committees repol
ldelayed until the necessity for specis
| election shall have passed.