The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-03-31
They Were Offering Shoes at
Almost Any Price.
Believed to Know of the Theft
Of An 0verc0at.
Parties Are Held Pending Fur
iher Investigation.
From Mondays Daily.

From MONDAY 5 Ddlly.
Two strangers, George Melrose and
Ed. Williams, were locked up yesterday
morning on suspicion of being implicat-
ed in the robbery of a box car. The
seal on an Omaha freight car was found
to have been broken, and it was feared
that some of the merchandise which it
contained might have been stolen. The
men had been dodgers at the city hall
Saturday night, and soon after being
released yesterday morning they and
another giving the name of Fred Jack
son were found peddling shoes. Jack
son called at the home of Officer Robb
and tried to sell pair of ladies' shoes
to Mrs. Robb, offering them for 81 and
then for 81, and finally for fifty cents.
The two others were waiting behind
barn near by. Mrs. Robb refused to
take the shoes, and at once called up
her husband at the police station and
informed him of the occurrence.
The men were soon found by the
officer and placed behind the bars.
They denied that they had stolen the
shoes. jackson said that he had been
given the shoes in the railroad yards by
Melrose with instructions to sell them
for So or if he could not get that, for
81, or fifty cents. He asked Melrose
where he got the shoes, but was told
to never mind where he got them. He
then attempted to sell them. He says
that he only tried to sell them at the
one house.
Melrose and Williams deny any
knowledge of the shoes and say that
they did not give any TO jackson. Will
Jams told jackson that he had just.
gotten out of the Sioux City Jail, where
he and two others were held on the
charge of holding up man. Williams
afterwards told Free Press report
er that he was with the man who was
held up and that he was held as a wit
ness for the state, being confined in the
jail about month. The police Off
GERS have information that Williams
was one of the men who did the lob
and that he got off on technicality,
while the other two got twelve and five
years respectively. Williams went un-
der the name of Harris at Sioux City.
Melrose is believed to have served
term in the state reformtaory at st.
Cloud, although he denied this. 1t is
also thought that Williams has served
time somewhere, but he denies this.
jackson is waiter, and claims only to
have met the men Saturday. He is a
German. n eEra
Saturday evening an overcoat was
stolen from buggy hitched near DR..
Follman's drug store. 1t is suspected
that Melrose and Williams know some
thing about this. Melrose was overheard
to say to Williams: eff 1 am pinched
for the snoe deal, you know where the
coat is"
1t developed this forenoon that the
seal was not broken from the freight
car in this city, but at another town,
and that nothing was stolen from the
car.
Melrose and Williams were arraigned
this forenoon on the charge of va
grancy and were sentenced to serve
twenty days on the streets. In the
meantime the officials will continue to
work on the case.
The stolen overcoat belonged to a son
of Frank Pohl of Mankato township.
This afternoon the two men were es-
corted to the city limits and told to
make themselves scarce. The police failed
to connect them with the overcoat theft
1t is learned that they tried to sell