The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1875-07-01
The Liquor Cases from Stan.
WO0d.

To THE EDITOR OF THE ADvERTIsEK:
| Permit me through the columns Of
your paper, to give to the people Of ths
county . fair and unprejudiccd history
| of the above entitled cases that came TO
| me by . change of venue from X. Pritch-
ard, . Justice Of the Peace Of Center
township am sorry to be compelled
to use the columns Of your paper for
such q matter, but in % much ~
Messrs. Maley and Mccoy have seen fit
to make such an unkind and ungentle-
manly thrust at me I feel 1t to be
my duty to give to the people the evi.
dence upon which based my decisions,
and let them, after hearing the evidence,
Judge whether my decisions were right
or wrong. / am aware that the good OF
society require that al violations OF law
should be promptly attended to; but men
should not through spite and malice go
into court until they have case, for
Just such cases as the ones that am
shortly to give, are what compel the
county to pay such big bills Of costs
every term Of our District Court aud
show the folly Of finding men guilty in
minor courts of violations of the law
without sufficient evidence.
Two informations were fled accusing
one .. d. Hibord of selling beer 10 min
ors. The first Information charged IL.
with selling beer to one F. Fleming. To
support that charge TWO witnesses were
introduced by the State-Fleming, who
swore positively that he had never, at
any time, bought or drank any beer ar
other liquors at HihbArds; the other one,
Dewey, who swore that ne had on one
occasion seen Fleming drink beer there.
Six witnesses were introduced by the de-
PENDANT to show that Dewe, : reputation
where he resided
1t seemed to me that the state signRlly
failed to make out a case on that charge
and 50 decided.
The other charge alleged selling beer
TO one Gardner, on the 18th day of Feb,
1875, without the consent of guardian,
parent or family physician. To support
this charge Gardner was first introduced
he denied having bought any beer on
the 18th day of Feb, 1878, but stated
that on that day, or about then, he went
to the saloon in company with one Mil.
Ter, his brother in law, who was his
guardian, or under whose control hp was.
That HibLard refused to sell him beer,
both at that time and previous thereto
that Miller bought the beer and gave
him q glass. That Miller then told Hib-
bard to let him (Gardner) have beer
whenever he wanted it. Gardner further
swore that he was then engaged in sell
ing beer for Miller, his guardian and
brother in-law. who kept another saloon
and he (Gardner) was drinking At his
own bar whenever he wanted IT, This
was the evidence upon which the cases
were decided. 1t further appeared from
uncontradicted evidence that Maley and
Mccoy hired Dewey to como here to
swear out the information, giving him
for his valuable service, in that behalf,
one dollar and twenty Ave cents.
From the character of the evidence as
above shown. and the attending clrcu,n.
stances,it appeared TO me that the infor-
nation was founded rather In malice and
revenge than in any desire to enforce
the law and preserve the peace and dig
nifty of the State. Had the evidence been
sufficient should certainly have found
the defendant guilty, but in my judgment
II was not. The province Of . court l
understand to be to decide cases accord.
ing to law and evidence, and not to lend
itself to snbserve the ends of private
hatred and personal malice. If attor.
neys and citizens would be more careful
about commencing cases, We would not
-. L. - - O ~
treasury Of Cedar county to pay costs In
State eases. Truly Yours,
f. NJ BRINK