The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-11-17
ZeigIer Identifies Jacobson as
Man Who Passed Check.
Elliot Recognized as Man Who
Opened Bank Account.
Evidence Against Men Present
ed to the Grand Jury.
From Saturdays Daily.

returned from La Crosse, Wis, on the
ll:50 p. m. train last night, bringing
with them the two alleged forgers,
Samuel II. jacobson and George Munro
Elliot. The train was late and it was
about one o'clock when they got in. The
prisoners were lodged in the county
Jail.
While both men deny the charge
against them, strong evidence was de-
veloped against them this forenoon, and
was at once presented to the grand jury,
which is now in session. The men will
not be arraigned in municipal court, as
that will be unnecessary.
W. H. Zeigler, who was in \. J.
Zeigler's saloon when forged check
for $26.40 was passed upon him, iden
titled Johnson positively as being the
man who passed the check. He was
alone in the saloon at the time, and
therefore paid particular attention to
jacobson from his appearance and also
by his voice.
w. j. Flaschenhar, teller at the Ma
tional Bank of Commerce, identified
Elliot positively as the man who OPEN
ed an account at his bank on the day
of the forgery, and later in the day
taI
that he was the man who did this and
recognized and spoke to Mr.. Flachsen-
har about the matter.
Oscar Koppen, night clerk at the
Stahl House, recognized both men as
parties who stopped at the hotel the
day of the forgery, and whom he call
ed in order that they might take the
$40 a. m. train the next morning over
the Great Western road. They recog
nized him, and admitted that they had
stopped at the hotel at the time named,
two nights and one day.
Mr.. Koppen states that when he went
to call the men they had light burn
ing in their room, which he though
strange at the time. After he went
down stairs, he left the office for a mo-
ment, and while he was out someone
attempted to rob the money drawer in
the office. A mistake in the combina-
ton caused the bell to ring, and Mrs.
Stahl appeared and saw the lower part
of mans body, but the man disappear
ed, and no description was gotten of
him, but the belief about the hotel has
been that it was one of the men
whom the clerk called.
John A. Persons, upon whose COM
plant the two men were arrested, is I'M
able to positively identify either of the
men. He thinks that Jacobson is the
one who passed the check for $2075 up
on him, as the clothing and general
description correspond, but he was busy
waiting on others at the time, and is
not certain in his Identification A man
who was in the saloon and saw the
check passed has left the city.
Oscar Olson, in whose saloon an eff
fort was made to pass check, states
that jacobson resembles the man
closely, but he could not say positively
that he is the man. Eric Erblan, bar
tender at Swan Nordgren's saloon,
where an attempt was made to pass the
check for $2075, failed to identify
either of the men. The same is true of
w. r. Kelly, where an attempt was
made to pass the check. Fred Aldrich,
who saw the attempt made at Kelly
Brothers; says that he is sure that
jacobson is the man who presented the
check. John Hager, who tends bar for
Frank Lorentz, could not identify either
of the men, although he remembers that
someone tried to get check for $2G.40
cashed by him.
When arrested at La Crosse, the men
had about 5000 in money and consider
able new clothing. Among their eff
fects was a full outfit for stamping
checks. 1t included dater, type for
setting up firm names, ink pads, ETC.
jacobson claims that this outfit is not
theirs, but that it was in bureau
drawer in the room at the hotel where
they were arrested, and that the La
Crosse police put it in their dress suit
case.
jacobson claims to be a waiter in a
restaurant and says that he last work
ed in British Columbia two months ago.
He says that he worked there steady for
five months, and when he quit he had
saved $500, and has been living off of
this since. He says that he was look
ing for work when he came to Manka-
to, but the town was too small for him,
and walters are only paid $40 week.