The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-07-11
FRED AMTS is NOW
kN0WNAS NO. 1893
AT STATE PRISON
Former Superintendent of Min
neapo:is Police Taken to Still
water Penitentiary- Supreme
Court Denies NewsTria!.

EFeu w. AIneS, former SupSIllitSuuCAt
of the Minneapolis police department,
has begun his prison life. He was reg
iste-ed yesterday at the Saltwater in
stitution as No. 1893, and by that sim
pie and impersonal designation ms
movements will be followed until he
shall have completed the term OF i'm
prisonment imposed upon him by the
district court<of Hennepin county
Even before the adverse decision or
the supreme court had become offlclai
by its filing with the clerk, Col. Ames
had begun his journey to Saltwater.
The decision reached the office of the
clerk at 8:15 yesterday morning, put
more than an hour before that time
Sheriff Dreger and his prisoner had
left Minneapolis for this city. rms
early start was arranged with view TO
avoiding the crowd which it was known
would gather at the court house In the
hope of catching glimpse OF the un-
fortunate man; and in that the plan
proved successful. 9for there were but
few people about at the hour when the
sheriff and his prisoner departed. Upon
reaching st. Paul they had breakfast
at WabaSha street restaurant, and at
$40 they left for Saltwater on the
Omaha road, arriving at the prison
just before o'clock.
Prisoner Is Measured.
Immediately upon his arrival at the
prison the colonel of the late Thlr-
teenth Minnesota volunteers and for
mer superintendent Of the Minneapolis
police force, was stripped and meas
ured, according to the Bertillon sys-
tenn, which requires record OF the
most minute details of physical char
acteristics; was arrayed in the prison
uniform and given a number-and be-
to M
term.
Ames was assigned to work in the
storeroom until some regular employ
ment can be selected for him.
Even beyond the great interest which
attaches to the AmeS case itself the
opinion of the supreme court is regard
ed as an interesting and valuable
portion of the records of that tribunal,
for it decides some pofnts-particularl
as to rules of evidence-which have
heretofore not been entirely plain.
The opinion is written by Justice
Brown. The decision, 1T is said, set
ties with finality g-disputed Dues
tons as to the scope to be permitted
in the introduction of circunstantial
evidence and the weight to be attach
to it as proof. s =
Above all else the defense depended
upon the ruling of the courtin the case
of Coffee" John Fichette, in which 1T
was held that Testimony as to crimes
other than that charged, which had
been introduced, was not proper evil
dence. Theacourt upheld the state in
the contention that the evidence in the
Ames case Which touched upon crimes
other than the one charged in the in
dictment, was essential in proving the
offense charged, in that it served to
identify the parties toathe general con-
spiracy that then existed in Minneapo-
lis. The court says: si
Evidence Showed Conspiracy.
This evidence was sufficient to war;
rant the jury in finding that the Off
GERS named, including Ames and Cohen,
conspired and -confederated together to
commit unlawful acts complained of
and that the defendant authorized and
directed Cohen to receive the money
for him. Circumstantial evidence is as
legal and competent in criminal as in
civil actions, and the inference to be
drawn from the facts all point with
unerring certainty to the conclusion
that Cohen was the representative of
defendant in the receipt of this money,
and was CO. conspirator in the whole
Infamous transactions"
Touching upon the contention of the
defense that the testimony Of other
women Cildfl LIE Mills WUIlldn tSIlucu
to prove separate crimes and not the
one charged, the court says:
IF the evidence tends to. prove the
commission of the Ecrime charged, it ia
not incompetent, because it also tends
to prove the commission, by the ac-
cused, of another crime
Further the court says:
1.-The evidence of the commission Of
other crimes directly tends to show
guilt of defendant of the crime charged
when it discloses a motive, a criminal
intent, guilty knowledge, the absence
of mistake, Identifies the defendant, or
is a part of a common scheme or plan
embracing two or more crimes so re-
lated to each other that the proof of
one tends to establish the other
At the close Of his opinion, Justice
Brown says:
1--WE can only say that it presents a
case of the clearest and most palpable
sort of corruption, a willful and fla
grant violation of official duty The
evidence was so clear and persuasive,
and so fully justified the verdict, that
1t would be nothing less than usurpa-
ton of power in us to disturb it,