|
PAGE 207
Plea Delayed Mrs. Sylvester Crushed in Crowd – Camera Tipped Over Bewildered at seeing a crowd of several hundred persons when his train drew into the Great Western Railroad Station shortly before 2 PM today, E. L. Sylvester clung to the arm of John R. Foley, Wabasha County Attorney, and was rushed to a waiting automobile to be taken before Judge Charles E. Callaghan to plead guilty to one count of an indictment returned by a grand jury in connection with the wreck of the Plainview State Bank. In the mob which filled every inch of available space in the station, the deputy sheriff in charge of Sylvester was separated from his prisoner. He did not reach the automobile where the banker was seated until after the county attorney had piloted Sylvester through the crowd. As if fearful of being lost in the crowd, the former Plainview banker gripped the arm of Mr. Foley and followed the county attorney. He was not handcuffed. Mrs. Sylvester, who with her husband, the county attorney, and the deputy sheriff, comprised the party, was also separated from her husband. "They almost killed me," she said, when she finally succeeded in battling her way through the throng to the machine where the balance of the party was already seated. The words spoken by Mrs. Sylvester were the only ones spoken by any member of the party. The county attorney’s tall form was the first to appear on the steps of the car. He answered the beck of a friend with a nod. Close lipped, he did not speak, but plunged his way through the crowd, Sylvester following. The half dozen police officers at the station were powerless to make a lane for the curious spectators. A camera tripod was upset when the railroad car passed down the platform farther than the photographer calculated. The sheriff here was not present and it appeared that no arrangements had been made to convey the prisoner to the courthouse. The machine used was a private automobile. "That’s him, the little fellow" someone said when the small, bespectacled Sylvester appeared on the steps of the car after the county attorney. The crowd made a rush. In the melee that followed, Mrs. Sylvester, the last to alight, was jostled and pushed and nearly trampled upon while the deputy sheriff made ineffectual attempts to follow his prisoner, arriving at the automobile after he and the county attorney were seated. A moment later, when Mr. Foley noted the absence of Mrs. Sylvester and a search was about to be started, the little gray haired woman fought her way through the crowd and slipped into the car. Few in the large crowd got a glimpse of Sylvester although they all made efforts to do so. Boxcars standing on a sidetrack near the station served as bleachers for those who eschewed the jostling throng on the platform. Two minutes after Sylvester was ushered from the car, he was being rushed to the courthouse. Several minutes before 1:35 PM when the train was due to arrive, the crowd began to gather. The car actually did not arrive until 1:50 PM. Many were of the opinion that arrangements had been made to stop the car at some of the city crossings and some held that it would stop at the Eleventh Avenue NW crossing, there to be met by the sheriff and Sylvester hurried to the courthouse.
Previous: Page 206. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* SOURCE: Manzow, Ron (compiler), "The Sylvester Family of Plainview, Minnesota - a collection of information taken from the Plainview News, other newspapers, letters, and diaries beginning in 1884": Plainview Area History Center, 40 4th St. S.W., Plainview, MN 55964. Compiled in 2001.
NOTE: from Ron Manzow, December 2001: "Feel free to reproduce the pages for anyone who wants a copy. It was
compiled to be shared... All I ask is that they consider sending a check to the [Plainview Area] History Center to help us out. That
should be enough."
Howder; © 1995-2011 All Rights Reserved. Last Updated February 14, 2011.