Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-10-04
FOSS AND BJORNSTAD GUILTY,
OLSON innocent, IS VERDICT.
Two Of Defendants in Conspiracy Case Growing
Out Of Murder Of Jacob krause Are Convicted
and Will Be Sentenced This Morning in
II. S. Court

and Jacob Bjornstad will appear Ter
sentence by the court following tier
conviction by a jury. Friday On fhe
charge Of conspiracy. Their eo-lefendaiit,
Herman Olson, was acquitted by the
jury aud discharged from custody by
not in court when the jury returned the
verdict Friday. Thev have been -lder
| bonds, since their Indictment ant
bonds were continued ny the court pend
ing sentence this morning. The maximum
penalty for persons convicted OF the
charge. of conspiracy under the federal
law is not to exceed five years in the
federal prison or fine of S1O,0O or
both, the penalty lying wholly with the
court
The jury deliberated over the verdict
| in the Foss case for approximately Is
hours, it having been given the case by
| the court shortly after 8 on Thursday
evening. There had been q general be-
| lief that there would be division OF
| liability of the defendants by the jury
when on Thursday evening it returned
| into open court and asked to be III
| structed if it would have to find the
defendant Olson guilty of. murder If it
| convicted him of conspiracy. 1t was
advised that such would be the case and
| it again returned to its room to continue
the work on the verdict.
Verdict Is Received.
| That question had made it appear
clear to those who had followed the
case that one Of two things would have
to result. Either Olson was to be con
victed alone or the other two We're to be
convicted and he turned free. After the
| jury had wrestaled with the case until
| III 80 Thursday night it advised the
i hat wa
reaching a verdict that night and on
request, the members were taken to the
/ Park hotel and allowed to enjoy
nights rest, being taken to the jury
room Friday morning after breakfast
They again failed to get together prior
| to the lunch hour and were taken out
to lunch and it was something like an
hour after lunch that they told the
bailiff they were ready to return their
verdict to the court
| When the jury filed into court, Olson
was the only defendant present, Foss
and Bjomstad not getting to the build
| ing until the verdict had been read, and
getting their first intimation of it from
their attorney in the hallway.
| The FOss case grew out OF a long
strife and pickering between the de-
PENDANTS and. others in the vicinity of
Hydro in the. north part of this state,
the question of homestead rights on the
public domain being the chief issue. It
was alleged to be the disposition Of the
/ Eosses. the defendant now convicted
and Eddie Foss who died after the re-
turn of the Indictment in this case, to
inclte trouble with the purpose Of in
tinTidating those trying to prove title to
land and driving them away. The climax
of the trouble came when Jacob krause,
postmaster at Hydro, was shot while in
| his home one night. 1t was the conten-
| ton OF the government that the murder
| OF krause was the result of a conspiracy
by the Fosses. Bjornstad and Olson and
| it was the claim that the gunshot which
1 caused the death Of krause was fired
by one OF the quartet as the result of a
conspiracy formed among them.
Youths Story Unshaken.
/ When krause was murdered in his
home in the night time, it happened that
j some of his family were in the room at
the moment, and young son, Arnold
krause, testified that he had seen the
faces Of men he recognized as the de-
PENDANTS in the Indictment and he was
never shaken from that story.
DIR. F'oss has been more or less before
the public eye because of his trouble
over homestead claims and for other rea
sons for some years. When the Lusitania
was sunk by a German submarine he was
on board the vessel and one of the sur
vivors, according to his statement after
he returned to Montana.
| The trial Of the Fosses, Bjornstad and
Olson in the district courts at Chinook,
Blaine county, and Malta, Phillips
county, on charges of murder resulted in
acquittal after long drawn out hearings.
the one in Malta having lasted about five
weeks and the one in Chinook approx
mately a month with a great array of
special counsel being employed on both
sides and the costs of the contests run
ming into nhny thousands Of dollars One
Of the friends Of DIR. Foss said on Thurs
day night that Foss had made the claim
to him that the trials, prior to the one
had here. had cost him in excess of 500
600. Tie had to pay the cost Of his own
witnesses here.
/ Trial Costs U. S. $4,000.
The cost Of the trial which ended Fri
day in the conviction Of Foss and Bjorn-
stad will run above $4,000 for the gov
ernment alone and probably not far from
/ $1,000. The witnesses had all been paid
yesterday by United States Marshal
Joseph L. Ashbridge and the witness
fees for those called BY the government
| totaled S4,s79.36. To that must be added
the costs Of serving the witnesses. bill
of Sb92 for the stenographers, the pay
OF the jury and certain other items, which
probably will push the total above $1,000
The defendant had many witnesses here
/ which he paid, and if this were added
to the governments bill there would NO
doubt be a total above $4,000.
The case of the government was large
i ly. built by A. ]. Leonard, special agent
of the interior department who was sent
to investigate the charges and complaints
filed against the Fosses and the other
defendants, and his story Of the matter
is thrilling one. The work Of Special
Agent Leonard was supported by Jack
Croft, deputy United States marshal
who served most of the papers in the
case and arrested the Fosses.
Threats We're Made.
Many threats against both Leonard
and Croft were made during the prepare.
ton of the case, but neither was daunted
In returning the verdict Lee Forest
who was the foreman, after the verdict
was read, said that the jury felt that the
charge of conspiracy had been establ
ished, but the jury did not feel that the
charge Of murder had been proved by
the evidence.
The United States government was
represented in the case by District At.