The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-06-30

as to where Mr.. Hauck kept his
money, what time he went home at
night, and whether he deposited his
money before going home. Miss
Kranz told him plainly that he could
not pump her for any such informa-
ton.
along the river front and in the
along the rinver front and in the
tramp jungles and through the rail-
road yards and saloons, but did not
find anyone answering the fellows
description.
From Mondays Daily.
Judge A. R. Pau today sentenced
Walter r. Mason to five years i'm
prisOnment at hard labor in the
saltwater penitentiary on his own
confession of forgery in the second
degree, and was given an indeter-
inmate sentence on the second count
Of grand larceny in the second
degree. The latter sentence is un.
der new law which leaves the
matter of term of imprisonment
entirely to the discretion OF the
board of parole.
Mason was brought into court
well dressed and clean shaved and
when sentence was pronounced
showed no feeling in the matter.
County Attorney j. w. Schmitt ap-
peared for the state and Attorney
r. F. Hunt for the defendant. The
latters attorney explained to that
court that his client had no inten-
ton in doing anyone wrong when
he purchased goods of the company
that charged him with forgery, and
that he fully expected to pay for
them later. AS Mason had pleaded
guilty he felt that the court should
be lenient and pleaded for an in
determinate sentence. County At
torney Schmitt stated that the de-
PENDANTS own correspondence show.
ed fraud and that anyone who knows
their A. B. C.'s knew that the
account was to be paid. The county
attorney moved the court for SEN
tence.
Born in Brooklyn.
The defendant Mason was sworn
and to a question said he was born
in Brooklyn, New York He lived
in Cincinnati and later worked in
New York. Was in the United
States army, stationed in the Philip
pine Islands, then in the agency bust
ness and came to Mankato July II
last, and had been houseman at the
Saulpaugh and night clerk at the
Heinrich hotel. To the question as
to where his parents lived, Mason
said he did not want to tell as he
did not want them to know of his
troubles He said he had never be-
fore been convicted of any crime and
was a single man.
Intended to Pay Bill.
When asked by Judge Prau II ne
had anything to say why sentence
should not be pronounced, Mason
said he had signed the names to
the letter of credit intending to
sell the goods and then pay over
the money to the company. Ad-
dressing Mason, Judge Pau said
he disliked to sentence man so
young in years and of such intelli-
gence, but crime cannot be over
cording to law the penalty for an
offense such as his was the prison
not to exceed ten years. He believed
in light punishment ordinarily, but
his was more than an ordinary
case. Good behaviour would reduce
his sentence which he would
make five years at hard labor
The Second Count.
Mason was again ordered before
the court, on the charge of grand
larcency in the second degree for
which he received an indet erminate
sentence.
Questioned by County Attorney
Schmitt, Mason said he was born
April 26, 1886, he has four sisters
and six brothers. Mason refused
t. give the address of his parents
hut freely gave the given names of
hi; sisters and bro. lers and Their
addresses. He again related the
various places in which he had
lived.
Again asked if he had anything
to say before sentence was pro-
nounced he declared his innocence.
Judge Pau then gave him an indie
terminate sentence and he was es-
corted back to the county jail
Mason is the first offender to be
sentenced under the new law rela-
tive to indeterminate terms in pri-
son.
Mason is sore at everybody. He
refuses to be comforted. However,
he is said to have willed all his
valuables to Miss Anna Cole, who
seems not to have forsaken him.
The will is said to have contained
list of stocks and bonds.
Peterson Sentence Tomorrow.
Harry Peterson, who the other