The Dickinson press., 1917-01-13
MYSTERYCASE
IS GRADUALLY
NEARING END
LEGAL BATTLE TO ESTABLISH
IDENTITY OF CLAIMANT TO
FORTUNE.
One Hundred Witnesses and Over Two
Hundred Court Exhibits in Fam
GUS Court Case, Ends Saturday.

The mystery surrounding the iden-
tity of -. C. r." who through his
attorneys, Casey & Burgeson, is en-
deavorlng to prove that he is Jay
Allen Caldwell, is seemingly as much
of a mystery as it ever was. Up
until last week over IS neighbors and
old friends of the Caldwell family
positively identified the plaintiff as
Jay. This week the witnesses for the
defense are just as positive that it is
not HMM fact cannot be. A great
deal of expert testimony has been in
troduced by officers, physicians and
dentists of Illinois, Minnesota and
North Dakota, and these all agree
that there is absolutely no chance of
u. c. R." being identical with Jay
Allen Caldwell.
Michael McDonough, for eight years
sheriff of Waseca county, Minnesota,
positively swore that he picked the
plaintiff up in an clubhouse on the de-
pot platform at Waseca on June 20,
1907, several months before Jay Allen
Caldwell disappeared from his Stark
county home. Mr.. McDonough testi-
fed that the man who he and the city
marshal picked up that day, and who
is the plaintiff in this case, was para
lyzed to such an extent that he was
unable to walk.
The Waseca county authorities
were economists, seemingly, and in
order to rid themselves of the unfor-
tunate man bought ticket for him
to Mankato and placed him aboard a
train. The paralytic became sort of
human shuttle cock, being returned
again to Waseca the same evening by
the Mankato police. Then, at last,
the county authorities decided to take
hand and care for the man. This
they did for about ten months, but
as his condition did not seem to inn
prove appreciably, decision was made
to send him to the State Hospital for
the Insane An examination made by
physicians of the state hospital dis
closed that cyst had formed on the
paralytic's brain, and an operation
was ordered with the hopes that this
would relieve the pressure and posi-
bly, bring back the mans power of
speech and full mentality. The oper-
alton proved of no particular benefit,
however.
Sheriff McDonough recited all that
he knew in connection with the case
Of the mysterious man. He stated
that he called a Scandinavian, Ger
man an Frenchman in hopes that the
paralyzed man could understand some
foreign language, but all without
avail. He stated that he had to be
carried upon every occasion that he
was moved from one place to another
while at Waseca.~
When asked the whereabouts of
Meserlnecht, man who kept the
paralytic stranger as county charge,
the witness stated that he was unable
to say. When asked why, he answer
ed that the man. was dead.
Dispositions of Theodore Peterson,
Waseca county auditor, George A.
Wilson, former county judge, and F.
w. Sem, present county Judge, were
read, and these corroborated the
statements made by Sheriff McDon-
ough.
DR.. w. H. Chamberlain, who was
county physician of Waseca at the
time, testified that he attended the
paralyzed man regularly during a
greater part of the time that he was
a county charge at Waseca. He made
thorough examination of the man
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