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By Jack Creoe Enroute With Sylvester, Milwaukee, Feb. 5 – A tragic scene that took place in the Plainview State Bank several months before it closed was reenacted on the train this morning with Sylvester playing the major role and doubling for his dead brother and Arthur Kennedy, both associated with him in the bank. The scene was in the bank at night. Time – several months before it closed. Sylvester, with his brother George, now deceased, and Art Kennedy were sitting in the bank "wondering what we could do." Kennedy has been looking up the law on it and he found out how long I would have to go to jail; how long he would have to serve and how long George would if it were found out." "We all broke down and cried, the three of us, and had a regular crying spell. Art said he didn’t care about himself, but it was his family. I felt the same way about it." As the train speeds across Wisconsin today, back to the country from which he fled 11 months ago and as the miles are reeling off, Sylvester’s composure is slowly crumbling, although early in the day he displayed a fighting spirit. He and County Attorney Foley continue to discuss the bank’s affairs and Sylvester told of incidents hitherto unknown, including the bank "scene." During a fighting mood today the former banker said he wouldn’t decide for a while what he would do about pleading. He said a lawyer cousin of his, Elmer C. Yetter, who formerly practiced law with the late C. C. Willson of Rochester, was coming to Wabasha Saturday to talk things over. Sylvester is particularly interested in the matter of bail and prison affairs. Once he grew sarcastic. "I suppose," he said, "I could use that hundred thousand dollars they said I took South with me for bail." Later he said: "What if I should make good some of this? Don’t they let bankers off a little easier if they do?" Told that he would have to stay in jail for a time at Wabasha he said, "Well, my enemies can come in and stare at me. My friends can see me too if I have any left." He admitted again today that he had confessed to his family what he had done some time before he left Plainview. Tears stood in his eyes as he discussed prison life. "Well," he said "It’s done and I am in the coup and if I go to prison I’ll probably die there it I don’t die before I get there." Sylvester, as he sat twisting his gnarled fingers and blinked away the tears was a pitiful figure.
February 6, 1926- Rochester Daily Bulletin "Don’t Cry," He Implores, "I’m Dumb" Sylvester Will Rest Before Plea Little Chance of Bail, Attorney Thinks By Jack Crewe Wabasha, Minn., Feb. 6 – Ed Sylvester and the "Missus" – the little gray haired woman who has stood by him since he fled from Plainview last February – were reunited in the county jail here this morning. Mrs. Sylvester and her daughter, Nettie Caldwell, of St. Paul, arrived here at 10:45 AM from Minneapolis and went immediately to the jail. They brought Ed down from his lonely cell upstairs and he waited to the reception room. "Well, Well, _____" he said when he saw his wife and daughter. "Well, I’m home. I’m back again." He embraced both women. Mrs. Sylvester broke down and cried silently. Nettie clung to her father sobbing. "There now. There now," he said soothingly. "Don’t cry. Don’t take on so. I’m
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* 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.