The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-23
WHITE APPEARS
As WITNESS N
HIS OWN BEHALF
Saws His Mind Was Wreck
When He Made Prison
Deposition
ATTEMPTED MURDER OF FK|MMEl
TESTIFIED TO BY DULUTH MAN
Drugged BY an Uncle and Kept in
Confinement and One of His Jail.
ers Cut on His Thumb With
Knife-Left For Dead.

st. Louis. Feb. 23.-Andrew J.
White. the Kimmel claimant who for
five years has declared himself to be
George A. Kimmel. a former Arkan-
sas City. Kas.. bank cashier, made
that assertion before the jury for the
first time in the Kimmel insurance
suit today.
While sitting in the witness chair
no faved Mrs. Estelle Kimmel. who.
he claims. is his mother and who re-
pudiated him before the Jury a few
days ago. Mrs. Kimmel gased keenly
at White but he did not return her
look.
White informed Federal Judge Ami.
don Of North Dakota he was nervous
and the court told him to do the best
he could. and not be afraid" Follow
ing 4 brief direct examination. he
was cross-examined and appeared de-
fiant rather than nervous.
he testified he was unable to re-
member any part of the deposition he
gave in prison. asserting his memory
was then practically a wreck"
The story of an attempt to drug.
imprison and finally to murder George
A. kimmel because of his refusal to
buy stolen express bonds in Arkansas
City, kas.. in 1898 was told to the
court this afternoon by William P.
Lardner of Duluth. Minn., a witness
for the defense.
Lardner said the story which he re-.
peated was told to him by the Kim
mel claimant when he visited Auburn,
n. Y. prison in 1909.
He referred to the claimant. as
George A. kimmel The story was the
first attempt which has been made by
the defense to supply motive for the
abuse to which the claimant saws .,e
was subjected.
He told me that a man introduced
by letter from his uncle" testified
tho witness, asked him to buy stolen
express bonds. When he refused he
was ordered to Kansas City where he
was called from a hotel and taken to a
roon;i1s house by -he man Nh, ,a.i,li
for him.
He became i'll through a drink his
uncle had given him and the next he
remembered was that was in ST Louis
he esca ped from his captors, but was
overtaken on the streets by three men
who had kept him in a room.
one OF the men cut his thumb off
with knife. another knocked him
down with a club and left him for
dead on the street. Somebody found
him and sent him to hospital where
he was patient fo. two months.
When he got we'll his mind was affect
ed.
He said that he went from st.
Louis to various cities thence to Niles
Mich. where he saw his mother and
afterwards Travelled in many coun-
tries"
Lardner in his testimony identified
the claimant as kinmel whom he
knew in hoyhood and related how the
claimant recognized him at the pris-
on.
John \. Shetland, identification ex-
pert of the Auburn prison. in the late
afternoon showed by means of photo
graphs. the resemblance which he said
existed between Kimmel and the
claimant The only difference, the
witness testified, was in the ears,
those OF the claimant heing a minutest
fraction longer than Kinmcl's. He en-
pressed the opinion that the two pic
tures were of the same subject
Shetland testified that he did not
lind tattoo marks on the claimant
which kimmel had when he disap-
peared. The claimant was taller than
kimmel was known to be. Records
showed that the claimant gained
the New York prison.
The early part of the day was taxi
en- up with depositions of residents Of
Miles Mich. who deposed that the
claimant was kimmel.