Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-11-08
RECOUNT DETAILS
OF BANKS SMASH
ATENeLAND AND Herring TELL
vi IN COURT OF MILWAUKEE
y AVENUE CRASH
Each Defendant Sentenced From One
to Fourteen ,Years-sentence Pass.
ed Increases Term stensland Was
Already Serving at Joliet

the public has been waiting ever since
the bank closed its doors on Monday,
Aug. 6--was told in detail by Paul O.
Stensland and Henry w. Herring, presi-
dent and cashier of the bank in Judge
Pnckney's court yesterday afternoon.
The telling occupied only one hour
and half but in that comparatively
brief time was crowded a sermon on
the consequences of wrongdoing that
will be remembered all thir lives by
the throng of spectators gathered to
witness the dramatic finish to the
career of Cashier Herring, man about
town, gambler, and bank thief, and TO
see the iron grip of the law for the
second time fall with added weight
upon Paul o. Stensland, already do
ing penance in the penitentiary for
one phrase of his misdirected skill as
a. banker. ~
Sentence Passed on. Booth.
When the collaborated story was
ended sentense was passed upon the
men, who sat side by side before the
bar.
/ In answer to the pleas Of guilty"
on two indictments. one charging both
men with forgery the other charging
Herring with embezzlement, Judge
Pinckney sentenced both Stensland
and Herring to serve from one to four
teen eyars in the penitentiary on the
forgery charge, and Herring alone from
one to ten years on the embezzlement
Indictment.
The sentences were concurrent and
therefore equal to a single sentence
OF from one to fourteen years.
Adds to Stensand's Term.
In the case of Stensland who pre-
vtously had been sentenced by Judge
Kersten to serve from one to ten
years on another embezzlement charge
and who six weeks ago had been lock-
ed up in Joliet prison, the sentence of
Judge Pinckney unexpectedly added
four years to the first sentence II
was stipulated that Stensland's four
teen years sentence should be dated
back to begin Sept. 26, the date when
the former bank president was taken
from Judge Kersten's court to the
penitentiary.
The forgery Indictment under con-
sideration yesterday charged Stems
land and Herring with forging the
name of M. A. La Buy, director of
the bank, to note for $500 on May
2S,. 1905.
The embezzlement Indictment
charged Herring with stealing 81 900
from the bank on Aug. last, the date
of the since famous deal in Union
Pacific stock
Both Prisoners Weep in Court.
But it was not the sentencing Of the
men that held the attention Of those
In the court room. 1t was the story.
They helped each other in telling it,
and both the miserable old man, who
already has passed through several
weeks of prison service. and the self
possessed cashier, generally credited
with being the brains" Of the dire
crookedness, shed tears in the course
oftthe narration.
Stensland's tears were those Of hui
initiation and shame. Those of Herring
were for the four children and wife
whom he has caused to feel disgraced.
Relatives and friends Of the prisoners
stood in the throng, some of them
weeping in sympathy.
States Attorney John ]. Healy. sec
onded by assistant States Attorney
Harry Olson. who helped bring back
Stensland from Morocco, were the
prompters. In the series of questions
put by Mr. Healy, two omissions
We're remarked by persons familiar
with the case. He did not askAthe wit
nesses about the Steel Ball company,
which is said to have swallowed up
$1S0,O00, and he did not ask Herring
about the gamblers to whom he is said
to have given much of his Ill gotten
wealth.
When permission was asked of the
court to retain the prisoners in Chica.
go for a week or ten days for inquisi-
torial purposes. it became understood
that their testimony will be used to
draw other actors in the shady finan-
c1al drama into the net of the law.
That is supposed to be the reason the
two points were omitted from the list
of questions
StensIand on Stand First.
Stensland, dressed in neat. dark
business suit and trembling with ner-
vousness and bitter humiliation, took
the witness stand at O'clock. He
talked in a straightforward way, al
though with perceptible trace Of diff
ficulty.
In answer to brief questions from
Mr.. Healy, Stensland gave his name
rs Paul o. Stensland, stating that he
has been a resident of Chicago since
March. 1871. He said that on May 9
of next year he will be 60 years of age.
His business was retail dry goods for
thirteen years. he said. Since that
time he had been engaged in the real
estate and banking business. He said
he left Chicago in flight on July Is.
Then, assisted by questions, Stems
land plunged into the bitter story of
his downfall, apparently concealing
only such things as later may prove
valuable to the state in the presecu-
ton of others, and making a defense
of the original honesty Of his purposes
seldom heard in cousu Of law.
Card of Thanks.
We wish to express our sincere
thanks and appreciation to our many
c-,< do ;,rl,l - OIL