The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-04-21

piled that it was.
A recess was taken at noon until 2
p. m.
When court reconvened, Mr.. Abbott
called attention to an article publish
ed in the Journal, Dec. Oath, three days
before the trial began, in which the
statement was made, "This explodes
another theory that the defense has
trumped up" and asked whether that
did not show prejudice. Mr.. Abbott ask
ed whether Mr.. Liesch intended to pref
udice the defence or its attorneys by
Liesch replied: mo sir, l did not"
Mr.. Liesch was asked who told him that
the portion of the hammer handle that
had been sawed off had been found. He
replied that VIM. Pfaender, the states
attorney had told him. Mr.. Pfaender or
Mr.. Rydell had also told him that but
tons had been found in the ashes at the
creamery. He had not seen the but
| tons, but had taken the word of his
informants for it. He didn't know that
these things would prejudice the defense
before the public. The facts had been
given as they were received. 1t was
not intended to carry the idea that the
buttons came from -Koch's clothes.
Quoting from the issue of Dec.
3lst, Mr.. Abbott undertook to show
that Mr.. Liesch knew that his paper
had influenced the opinions of jurors
called to serve at the first trial. Mr..
Liesch admitted this. The papers of
Dec. 10Th, oath and 3lst and Jan. 28th
were offered in evidence, also the one
of November 10th, all of which contain
ed articles Objectionable to the defense
in the Koch case.
| Mr.. Liesch said that he had mailed
copies of the paper of April sth to the
county officers. He had mailed about a
dozen but could not recollect whether
he had personally mailed one to Judge
Cray, but one had been sent to Judge
Cray. Walter selected all of the names
except the county officers and the Judge.
The Mankato directory used was an old
one of 1897, that was in the office Mr..
Richards, who made the bargain for the
extra papers, lives in Minneapolis. Wit
ness told what led up to his publish
ing the telephone article.
Mr.. Wilson conducted the examina-
ton of Mr.. Liesch on his own behalf.
Mr.. Liesch said that ne had never con-
sidered the jurisdiction of this or any
other court when publishing the ar
/ ticles. Brooks had made contradictory
statements to various New Ulm people,
and this led to the publication of the
article from which the insinuation was
drawn that Brooks would not testify to
| the truth. Witness said he had never
seen the jury list of this county and
had no thought of doing injustice to or
injuring Koch in mailing the extra
copies to this city.
Postmaster c. L. Benedict was call
ed and testified that large number of
copies of the Brown County Journal
came to the office on the morning of
April 9th or 10th. They were in a sack
and there were probably 400 to 500
copies. 1t was the paper of the issue
of April Sth, containing the telephone
and Koch articles. A hundred or more
came directed to people who have NOV
ed away, showing that the names were
taken from an old directory. The bal
ance were distributed to the persons
to whom they were directed.
Hugh W. Walter, editor of the Brown
County Journal, was called and said
that he had resided at New Ulm since
July 9th last. He writes nearly every
thing that goes into the paper. About
500 extra copies of the paper of April
Sth were sent to Mankato people. He
did the addressing of most of them,
and they were then mailed. He sent
three to each of the hotels, to the best
of his recollection. He did not send
as many as five to all of them. He
wrote the article relating to the Koch
case, appearing in the issue of April
9Th, Monday or Tuesday of last week.
After writing it he did not show the
manuscript to Mr.. Pfaender. w. ii.
| Childs was in New Um about Thurs
day, and witness talked with him in
Mr.. Pfaender's office. Secured from Mr..
Pfaender copies of the Indictment, sem
tence of the court and one other docu
ment. The whole thing covered a page
and half of typewriter matter. There
was no evidence contained in it. The
article written by the witness was bas-
ed on facts cleaned from interviews
with different persons in and about New
Ulm, and some of the facts were secur-
ed from the transcript. Witness stat
ed who he interviewed. Mr.. Liesch did
not read the article until after it was