The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-03-13
THEY TESTIFY FOR
WEINHOLZER
Evidence in Second Trial of
the .Saloonkeeper Is
All In.

The taking of testimony in the
Weinholzer disorderly house case was
hnlshed at 4:90 o'clock yesterday aft
ernoon The arguments will be made
TINS morning, and the case will go to
the jury early this afternoon. The
state rested at IL o'clock yesterday
forenoon, having called a half-dozen
witnesses to the stand during the
Among the witnesses called by the
state yesterday were Minnie Lofgren
ana Madeline Biagi, two seventeen
yeaf-old girls, who are now inmates OF
the state training school at Red Wing.
The state attempted to show that these
young girls had been started on their
Empire theater. The girls are young
and good-looking, and their testimony
apparently had it's effect upon the
jurors.
They said they had been invited to
visit the Empire by other women, old
er than themselves, and they had al
ways been made welcome there by Mr..
Weinholzer, the proprietor. At first
they We're shocked and surprised at
what they heard and saw in the place,
out later became accustomed to the
surroundings. The girls were recent
~ sent to the state training school
at the request of their parents, who
stated that they had become incorri-
glble, and were brought into court on
a writ of habeas corpus, sued out by
County Attorney Kane. They were re-
turned to the training school last
evening.
Detective Frank Frazier, Of the city
police, was called by the state for the
purpose of showing that Weinholzer
had not obeyed police orders prohib-
iting women from going into saloons
and concert halls. This order, the de-
tectiVe stated, had been made follow
ing the second meeting of the Octo-
Der grand jury last year, and the En-
pre- was one of the places where it
was disregarded.
In an endeavor to prove that the
Empire was not as bad as it had been
painted, the defense placed on the wit
ness stand an even dozen witnesses.
Some were employees of the Empire,
and others We're men who had often
been in the place. An effort was
made to show that the place was a
family resort, and that it was not fire.
quented altogether by women of the
street.
. Frank Klein, an employee of the
Schumacher Wagon company, testified
that he had often taken his wife to
the Empire; that he had drank beer
with her there, and that they had
gone there for the purpose of seeing
the show. He had seen other women
there, but they had always conduct
ed themselves in an orderly manner.
1t was place, he thought, where any
respectable woman could be taken
without being insulted.
Another man who had taken his wife
to the place was George A. Hall, who
last summer was cook on a boat. He
and his wife had been there together
several different evenings last summer,
and he hid often been there without
his wife. In the estimation of Hall,
the Empire was conducted all right
On cross examination Hall said he had
not been there with his wife very re-
Gently, for the reason that she had
left him some weeks ago, and that they
were now living apart.
Z A. ]. Licha, now in the saloon bust
ness, but formerly a police officer as
signed to the beat on which the the
alter is located, said he had never ar
rested but one drunken woman in the
place. The people who went there were
generally able to care for themselves,
and when they became boisterous Mr..
Weinholzer had them elected.
Probably the best witness for the de-
Tense was Charles S. Steel an officer
of the Humane society, who visited the
Empire theater almost every evening
for the purpose of seeing that no
llllI4OIo NCIC pei HlIClSu " IeIIldIu III
the place. Mr. Steel had often seen
women in the place, but during all of
the time he had been going there he
had never seen anything wrong about
the place. Whenever persons became
disorderly or showed signs of intoxica-
ton they were elected from the build
ing. He admitted under cross xami-
nation that he had once seen a wom-
an smoking a cigarette in the place.
The case will be taken IID at 10
o'clock this morning, at which time
County Attorney Kane will make his
closing argument to the jury.