The Mankato free press., 1905-02-10
Bond Continues Until That
Time, So lis Decided.
Witnesses Will Be Directed to
Appear in Court.
Judge Cray's Tribunal Opens
February Term Today.

From Tuesdays Daily.
The February term of the district
court convened at promptly ten o'clock
this forenoon. The main interest of the
opening session was the fact of the pres
ence of DR.. George r. Koch, the New
Ulm dentist charged with the murder
of Dr. Gebhardt. DIR. Koch sat beside
two of his attorneys, w. ID. Abbott of
Winona and George w. Somerville of
Sleepy Eye, just inside of the railing,
and next to these attorneys sat Hon. H.
| w. Childs of ST.. Paul, the leading at
torney for the state. Other attorneys
for Koch present were Pfau & Pfau and
A. f. Clark of this city. Albert Pfaend
er of New Ulm was also present on the
side of the state.
The first order of business was the
calling of the criminal calendar, and the
only case on that was that of the state
of Minnesota VS.. George r. Koch. When
this was read off by the court, Mr..
Childs arose and said that the counsel
representing the respective parties would
suggest that the trial be fixed for
definite date, say April 10Th. The coun-
sci were agreed upon that date, he said.
The court said that if that date was
satisfactory to the counsel he would set
the case for trial upon that day at nine
o'clock in the forenoon. When he ad-
journed the term he would adjourn it
until April 10Th at a. m. a.
Mr.. Childs asked that the court direct
the witnesses to appear at that time.
The court said that the defendant
was under bail to appear in court on
the first day of the term and from day
to day thereafter. The court then noti-
fed him to appear April 10th, at 8 a.
m. and directed all of the witnesses on
both sides to appear then, and said that
they were excused from further attend
ance upon the court until then.
The date for the trial was fixed at so
late date in order to accommodate Mr..
Somerville, who desired that the trial
be postponed until after the legislature
adjOurns, SO that he can attend the ses-
sions of the latter The date is salts
factory to both sides.
DR.. Koch stated afterwards to the
Free Press that he was satisfied with
the time set for the trial He said that
he would visit his uncle in this city for
day or two longer, and then would re-
turn to New Ulm and practice dentistry
until the time for his trial.
AS regards the bond, nothing was said
about it in open court, but the attorneys
on the two sides agreed that the bond
was a continuing one. The bond was
given in New Ulm, and is for $4,000
Koch was introduced to several other
parties by his attorneys, and conversed
pleasantly for some little time. His
bearing was good, and his address pleas
ing.
The civil calendar was then called,
and the grand jury given it's instructions
and set at work.
G. G. Phillips is the bailiff for the
grand jury, and Louis Larson and Morris
L. Jones are the bailiffs for the petit
jury.
Grand jury System Commended.
All of the members of the grand jury
were present except John w. Hoffman of
Shelby, who could not be found Phil
| ip Miller Miller of the second ward was
excused on account of his age. The
court appointed John w. Roberts of
South Bend foreman.
During his charge to the jury. the
court said that there had of late been
much agitation for the. adjustment of
the grand jury, but he was not one
of those who thought this a wise move
He considered the grand jury good
intermediary between little too Wig
lorous prosecution on the one hand, and
an inclination to pass over offenses on
| the other
Seventeen Jury Cases.
At the preliminary call of the civil
calendar, seventeen cases were mark
ed for trial by jury. This, with the Grim
inal business, means that the petit jury
will be held about three weeks. There
are court cases to hold the session two
weeks longer.
| In the case of John L. Halvorson,
applt., VS.. the supervisors of the town