The Sylvester Family of Plainview, Minnesota*

Courthouse packed; Edwin Sylvester pleads guilty to one charge

February 11, 1926 - February 12, 1926

PAGE 208

At 11:30 PM an hour and a half before Sylvester was scheduled to appear before Judge Callaghan, the little courthouse was jammed with spectators and every available seat was taken. The front steps and corridors were packed with those unable to obtain a set in the courtroom and they waited for the appearance of the former Plainview bank president, whose disappearance and recent capture in a small town in Mississippi has raised intense excitement.
At no time in the recent history of the city, has a court scene attracted so much attention as did the appearance there today of Edwin Sylvester. Many in the audience were from Plainview, scene of the early success of "E. L.". The majority, however, were residents here who came to get a glimpse of the man who has claimed more newspaper space during the past few days than has any other southeastern Minnesota individual.

February 12, 1926-

Sylvester is Witness Today in Civil Case
Final Chapter in Own Drama Written in Sensational Scene Yesterday
Callaghan Defense Pardon, Parole Boards
May be Taken to Prison Today
(The complete text of Judge Callaghan’s remarks in the Sylvester case will be found on page five. (NOTE: This is not included in this document.))
Rochester, Minn. Feb. 12 – Edwin L. Sylvester was to make his second appearance in two days in the Olmsted county district court room today, but it could not approach in drama and sensationalism the scene of which he was the central figure Thursday afternoon when the final chapter was written in the story which started 11 months ago with his flight just before the sudden closing of the Plainview State Bank.
Thursday he was the defendant sentenced to a term of one to two years in the state prison at Stillwater for one offense of a number with which he is charged for shortages amounting to some $200,000 in the funds of the bank of which he was president. Today he was only a witness in a civil action brought against the bank in connection with a mortgage on the farm of Albert Amos, which was sold to the bank for $3,773.75.
Amid a crowd which packed every nook and corner of the courthouse, fighting for even a glance at the elderly bespectacled ordinary looking figure who seemed almost too insignificant to have created such excitement, Judge C. E. Callaghan pronounced the word which meant that Sylvester must become an inmate of the state prison. The sentence was spoken in a deathlike silence broken only by the sobs of the defendant, which racked him until it seemed that his weakened frame was tried beyond human endurance.
Was Pitiful Scene
It was a pitiful and extraordinary scene which those who were present will not soon forget. Although Sylvester’s eyes filled with tears shortly after his attorney, George W. Peterson of St. Paul stared his plea for leniency, and he wept almost constantly during the entire proceedings, he had apparently regained his composure when he stood up to be sentenced and his complete breaking down came as a surprise. After the judge ended the famous case with the simple word, "I think that will be all," Sylvester was removed in company of his wife and daughter to an anteroom where he received medical attention and was soon restored so that he could be taken to the county jail for the night.
After rest and recuperation in the county jail, he partially recovered his spirits and in speaking of the ordeal which he had undergone declared that he was "glad it was all over with." His collapse had been so complete that he had to be carried bodily from the courtroom and laid on a couch, where he was unconscious for a few moments until restoratives were applied.

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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."