The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-13
IN PRISON CELL
FIGHTS FOR FORTUNE
Adjudaed insane, Convicted
Murderer SpecuIates and
Wins i'm Wall Street.

NEW YORK, March IL. = Ciyilly
dead, an inmate of the insane ward in
Dannemora prison, convicted of muir.
der and sentenced for life, Alphonse J.
Stephani through his trustee. the
Trust Company of America, is fighting
for portion of the great fortune he
inherited and amassed in jail. In d
vault of the State Safe Deposit COM
pany, of this city, are stocks and
bonds valued at $4,000 or more be-
longing to the man who, under the
law, may never enjoy their use.
The company has refused-to give UP
the securities until it is proved to
whom they belong, maintaining that
Stephan, being legally dead, cannot
own them or anything else Justice
Bischoff, in the supreme court yester-
day, decided that such proof must be
established, and more complications
arise in the financial affairs of one of
the most unfortunate men in the world.
Stephan, in his cell at Dannemora,
would give up every dollar for an
hours freedom. The courts have de-
cided that he is insane-the most
merciful decision that could have been
rendered in the case of a man who had
committed deliberate and shocking
murder. Yet Stephan has been sane
enough to plan Wall street coups that
tripled his fortune.
His order to his brokers in this city
is good for the purchase or sale of
thousands of shares of stocks, with
out the intervention of a committee in
lunacy, yet the law says that he is not
able to take care of himself, and he
is doomed to living death behind the
bars. He takes his frugal meals with
hundreds of other unfortunates in the
prison, and the law does not acknowl-
edge that he is even alive.
Day by day Stephan, in his living tomb,
has studied the market reports as few free
men have been able to study them. With
nothing in the world to think of besides
this, he has gone farther than most men
in figuring out the result that must attend
certain conditions. 1t is the irony of fate
that this man, nothing to hope for, could
have succeeded where other men, with all
at stake. have failed.
Stephanis fortune runs well beyond the
| 100000 mark. 1t is said to be double
that sum. He is utterly at the mercy of
others, for under the law, he may be
posed upon or robbed, but he may utter no
complaint, for he is civilly dead, except
when there is a claim against him. Then
he is alive in the eyes of the law.
Stephan is but thirty mine years of age
With his father he was in the wine i'm
| porting business in this city. with branches
| in Philadelphia and Seville, Spain. He
was an only child.
His father died In 1888 and left him
an absolute legacy of $4,000 and the rest
of the property upon the death of his
| mother. According to Stephanis story
| former Judge Clinton G. Reynolds. a law
yer Of this city, who took charge of the
estate, treated him unfairly. In May
| 1890, Stephan shot and killed Reynolds,
and after long trial was sentenced to
| life Imprisonment. He first was sent to
Sing Sing and later to Dannemora.
Prominent alienists had been divided as
| to his mental condition. but finally it was
| decided that he was insane and a para
noiac. The father had left $4,000 in
| stocks, bonds and cash in a safe deposit
| vault. and when Mrs. Stephan died in
/ 1902 she left also $25, 000