STOLEN DIAMONDS AND THE ALBION TO CHARLOTTE RAILROAD, Part Two.

At the time of the arrest, Mindeman’s case had attracted considerable attention across the state. He apparently knew of the pending charges, and fled to Chicago in March, 1907, where he was arrested and extradited to Michigan after a long extradition battle. Because of this, his trial did not commence until February 20, 1908. News of the trial produced more details about Mindeman’s history and character. The February 21, 1908 Albion Recorder reported: "Mr. Mindeman’s chief asset was talk, and when he was finally charged with stealing $2,000 worth of sparklers from Mrs. G. E. Murdock, he left for parts unknown. Detectives were put on his trail and he was brought back from Chicago much against his will. Bail was furnished by a "good fairy" in Milwaukee and Mindeman was given his freedom to await his trial in the circuit court. The detectives learned of a number of indictments against Mindeman in Milwaukee and Chicago but these were not brought out in the trial Thursday." Although the evidence against Mindeman was circumstantial, George Mindeman was found guilty. Mindeman appealed the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court. There, the court decided that a technical error had been committed by the lower court and reversed the decision, ordering a new trial. In September 1909, a new trial was held and this time, Mindeman was found not guilty of stealing Mrs. Murdock’s diamonds. The jury was out only about an hour before making its decision. The September 23, 1909 Albion Leader editorialized, "It is believed by some people that the prison has been cheated of its desserts through a failure to establish the man’s guilt, rather than because he was innocent of the crime charged." Authorities also charged Mindeman of stealing the missing Lacey watch. The Recorder reported, "Mr. Mindeman says this case is a trumped-up case and that it will be more sensational than the diamond case as he expects to locate in Calhoun County until he accomplishes certain things." Mindeman threatened to sue the County and others for all the trouble they had caused him, since he was declared innocent by the court. But he stayed around in Albion long enough to issue a "public relations" token asserting his court-declared innocence in the matter. The token is aluminum, 29 mm. in diameter, with a small hole drilled at the top. The border on both sides is dotted. The obverse text reads, "GEO MINDEMAN ALBION, MICH. WHAT IS HIS RECORD GOOD OR BAD?" Three stars (not diamonds) appear at the bottom. The reverse emphatically states, "I SAY IT IS GOOD!" The tokencatalog.com website has assigned this token a TC-17780 catalog number. Mr. Mindeman left Albion following the disposition of his legal troubles, and was never heard from again. In conclusion, the Albion to Charlotte railroad was never built. But this small aluminum token, pictured this week in our Historical Notebook, serves as a historical reminder of the saga of the never-recovered missing diamonds of Mrs. Sarah Murdock.