New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1916-10-25
ACCUSED C0MFREY
BURGLARS CAUGHT
MEN CAPTURED IN ST. PAUL.
CHARGED WITH BREAKING
INTO STORE.
TELEGRAM FROM SLEEPY EYE
LEADS TO THE ARREST
.- OF THREE.

Friday, the thirteenth, got in it's
deadly work when a telegram sent from
Sleepy Eye, Mimi, by man to his wife
at Sloux-City, Iowa, brought about
his arrest and that of two others, accused
OF robbing the general store of Erickson
q Kisro at Comfrey, on that night.
The men were arrested in St. Paul Friday
morning, October 20, about twelve hours
less than one week after the robbery had
been committed. All three of the men
were brought from St. Paul Saturday
night and Lodged in the Brown county
Jail. They are booked as follows:
Harry Donaldson, alias James Murphy
aged %, occupation, steel worker:
James Burns, 80, brakeman; Robert
Donaldson, alias ''Kid' Donaldson, alias
George Krous, aged 10, box maker.
Response to Circular.
Following the robbery at Comfrey
Sheriff William J. julius and Deputy
Sheriff H. F. Jahnke sent out circulars
notifying officers of the robbery, de-
scrlblng the stolen property and offering
a reward of $500 for information that
would lead to the arrest and conviction
OF the robbers. In response to one of
these circulars Sheriff julius received a
telegram from J. B. Richards, chief of
detectives at Sioux City, to the effect,
that one cart Henderson, alias Harry
Donaldson, alias James Murphy, whose
home is at Fort Dodge, Iowa, sent tele-
gram from Sleepy Eye, to his wife, here,
dated October 10, telling her to meet
him in St. Paul." The Sioux City
detective declared in his telegram to the
sheriff that he believed the Fort Dodge
man was the one who committed the
robbery. The telegram from Sleepy
Eye was sent during the day preceding
the robbery.
The St. Paul authorities were i'm
mediately communicated with and
Murphy, with the other aliases, alleged
sender of the telegram was located
AAo Woo uiuCl oO1 Vc1ldllCe VI OC. raul
detectives from Monday afternoon until
Friday morning, the officers waiting
until his alleged accomplces could be,
rounded up, when the three men were
placed under arrest, taken to jail and
the sheriff's office here notified. Deputy
Sheriff Jahnke left for St. Paul Friday
afternoon and returned Saturday with
the prisoners.
Prepared For Trouble.
The two older men we're taken into
custody in their rooms at the Spalding
hotel, on Wabasha street, St. Paul.
With them were three women, all of
whom were taken to the police station,
but later released, there being nothing
to connect them with the crime. One
of them was the wife of Murphy, who
had met him in St. Paul, in compliance
with her husbands telegraphic request.
The others are said to have been merely
women of the street.
While the prisoners had no opportunity
to communicate with any one from the
time of their arrest until they were landed
at the St. Paul police station, they were
met on their arrival there by an attorney
who said he had been retained to defend
them.
The robbers of the Comfrey store are
believed by the St. Paul police to be a
part of regularly organized gang, with
headquarters in the capital city, the
head and guiding hand of which is So
shrewd that he has long been able to-
keep out of the laws clutches.
The men are charged with robbing a.
store and also stealing an automobile.
The car, Ford of the 1916 model, driven
by the men, is now in the hands of the St.
Paul police and they are now in COM
munication with the manufacturers to
learn to whom that particular car was
sold and to what place it was shipped.
Label Tells Tale.
OF the stolen property only twenty
four neckties and four pairs of mems
shoes were recovered. One tell-tale
label, marked Erickson & Kisro, Cloth
iers, Comfrey, Mimi" was left on
necktie. All the others had been re-
moved, but the thread marks on the
inside of the remaining twenty-three ties
bore silent evidence of their removal.
With the other plumber found in
Murphy's room at the hotel where the
men were arrested was kit of burglars
tools, consisting chiefly of five skeleton
keys made from ordinary wire nails, and
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