Guilty in Two Minutes: The Bunko Man With a Revolver in His Past

The case of 'Robert George,' the notorious confidence man who buncoed Charles T. Wooding, vice president of the Aberdeen National Bank, out of $5,000 on the pretense that two copper bars were gold, was given to the jury at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, and Knowlton was found guilty on the first ballot. On the same day Wooding was sued for the $5,000 he borrowed to buy the bars, with allegations of an attempt to defraud his creditors.

Wooding's cross-examination was continued for a little while yesterday morning without affecting the force of his direct evidence. The rest of the morning was consumed by argument of counsel on both sides on a motion by the prisoner's lawyer to dismiss the case on the ground that no crime had been made out. Judge Humes promptly disposed of that objection. It was finally left to him for a decision, and he ordered the defense to go on with its side of the case.

Knowlton had no witnesses, and an hour's consultation ensued as to the advisability of putting him on the stand. The fear that his long criminal record would be brought out on cross-examination by the prosecuting attorney finally decided his attorneys to leave their case to the jury without any evidence. The arguments on both sides occupied until shortly after 4 o'clock, and the judge's charge brought the time up to 4:30, at which time the jury went out, and within two minutes returned with a verdict of guilty as charged.

The defense, in its argument to the jury, endeavored to show that Wooding was equally guilty with the prisoner in that he failed to exercise the precautions that any ordinary business man would exercise, and the lawyer generally 'rubbed it into' Wooding for his general lack of common sense. Judge Humes' charge was based on the cold letter of the law.

The prisoner's wife, who had been in the courtroom every day, gave way to tears when the verdict was announced. She appears to be devoted to Knowlton, and broke down completely in the jailer's office when he passed out of her sight into his cell.

Suit was commenced against Wooding yesterday in the superior court by Frank L. Blodgett for a writ of attachment and garnishment to secure payment of $5,000 and accrued interest on a note dated Aberdeen, Wash., April 19, 1903, on which Wooding borrowed the money out of which he was swindled. Blodgett alleges that the bank indorsed the note over to him; that Wooding had disposed of a large part of his property with intent to defraud his creditors; and that he was about to dispose of the remainder. Blodgett asks for the writs to acquire a lien on Wooding's property before it can be placed beyond the reach of creditors.

Knowlton has a record that would fill columns, the story of which has not been half told. He was a bunko man in Dakota when it was a territory; he had a reputation as a 'gun man,' and when hard pressed or angered was always ready to shoot. He is like a panther, full of reserve strength, and at the most opportune moment makes his play. He has the blood of a minister on his hands, but in some mysterious manner the case was lost sight of after he had been convicted and had appealed and secured a new trial.

While hunting up his record, Prosecuting Attorney Miller found trace of him at Pierre, Hughes County, Dakota Territory, in 1877. According to a Dakota paper, Knowlton killed David Kauck, an Indian minister, April 10, 1877, and upon trial was convicted of manslaughter. The case was well known at that time, and the prisoner was defended by that famous criminal lawyer, the present United States minister to Austria, Bartlett Tripp. An appeal was taken and the case was remanded for a new trial. So far as can be found, the case never came up, and Knowlton is still under sentence for killing a man. Knowlton's enmity toward Kauck arose from the fact that the latter had been a witness against him in a bunko case.

Among other experiences that Knowlton had in Dakota was one termed the most notorious contempt of court case on record. The prosecutor in his argument to the jury scored Knowlton mercilessly. This angered the prisoner greatly, and upon receiving a revolver from a woman, presumably his wife, he shot at the prosecutor, then jumped on a table and fired at the judge. The remaining shots were directed at the clerk of the court and a deputy sheriff. In the confusion that followed, the sheriff crept up behind Knowlton and, putting a gun to his head, forced him to surrender. It is said that this remarkable contempt case was never pushed owing to some technical point not known here.

Knowlton's California record under the name of Robert Rice has already been given, but it has not been told how he and one Nicholas Tarr swindled a man out of $500 in Oregon in 1880, and were sent to the penitentiary at Salem for one and a half years.

The blackest point against Knowlton appears when it is known that he ruined a man named M. F. Slaus at Oakland, Cal., a short time before he victimized Mr. Wooding, and left him practically penniless with a wife and seven children to care for. Mr. Slaus is now living in Weiser, Idaho, and in a letter to Prosecuting Attorney Miller confirms the story. By a peculiar coincidence, April 10 is a fatal day to Knowlton. He killed his man in Dakota and swindled banker Wooding on the same date.