The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1911-11-29
Admits Twice Having Been Sent to
Prison and Asserts He Was Victim
of Dirty Trick"
WORKED FOR BETHEL SOCIETY
Preliminary Hearing Still On, An
other Night Session Being Ar
ranged by Judge Simons.

Testimony from a man who un-
folded remarkable story OF his own
career and who has not before been
publicly been connected with the ar
son cases here, has been offered by
the state in the preliminary exami-
nation of Edward Gearlds now on
here before Municipal Judge Simons
in an effort to bind Gearlds over to
await the action of the next grand
jury as result of an attempt to
burn the building at Blackduck last
March which at the time was owned
by the Gearlds brothers of this city.
This witness, sprung by the state,
first gave his name as G. F. Fisher,
but admitted on cross examination
that his real name is A. II. Brandt,
that his mother lives in Minneapolis
and that he also has gone under the
name of Duvall. 49, $500:
Says He Saw Money Paid. +
Brandt swore that he had been
present last spring when a notorious.
criminal known as s%"Boston ~Blackie''
O'Neill received $50 from Gearlds in.
the Gearlds saloon here in payment
for the "Blackduck job" He said
O'Neill had told him that he set fire
to the Blackduck structure. Brandt
said he had told this story to At
torney General Simpson last Septem-
Der because "Boston Blackie' had
played him "dirty trick'' while
Brandt was at Winona and O'Neill
was across the river at Marshland,
in Wisconsin.
Not Permitted to Answer.
On objection by Attorney E. E. Nc
Donald, who with Attorney Thayer
Bailey, both of this city, the court
instructed the witness not to answer
the question, but not until Brandt
had mumbled:
"It didn't have anything to do with
this case.'
In cross examination, Brandt ad-
mitted that he has twice served pris-
on terms-one of 10 months in the
Wisconsin penitentiary at Waupun
and the other in the Saltwater pris-
on, the crime in each instance hav-
ing been forgery. The witness said
that after his release from Saltwater
he went to Duluth where he worked
as bookkeeper and later as assistant
manager of the Bethel Society, an or
ganization for fallen men. He ad-
mitted that he was a. continuous
drinker and that he had used hypo-
dermic injections of cocaine but that
he quit the drug last summer when
'it began to get the better of me-
Now Employed by State.
The witness said that since the
time he gave the attorney general
his information regarding the Black
duck affair he has been in the en-
ploy of the state, working under the
direction of Attorney General Simp-
son and Fire Marshal Keller.
Hearing on Tonight.
Efforts to complete the preliminary
hearing by holding a night session
of court at the City Hall last night
failed, the cross examination of
Brandt extending until late when at
the request of Attorney Spear hear
ing was continued until this morning
at which time Mr.. Spear sought to
recall Brandt to the witness stand
but the witness had taken night
train under the belief that his testi-
mony had been completed: The state
however, agreed to present him in
court this evening and with that un-
derstanding the hearing was contin-
ued until tonight at 1880. There
was some discussion as to the pos
sibility of continuance of the hear
ing until December but Attorney
Mcdonald explained that he would
be busy with other legal business at
that time and that it was not likely
that Assistant Attorney General
James would be back and that if con-
tinued at all that the case probably
should have to go over until after
the trial of DR.. Dumas which is set
for December s in Brainerd. The
point finally was put temporarily