Litchfield enquirer., 1877-07-19
New Preston.

THE LAW SUITS. young men have been arrested in the village for firing cannon and breaking the peace on the morning of July 4th. They are Edmund Calvin, Samuel Kinney, Walter Kinney, Henry Katon, John O'COnnor and John Moore. New Preston was wide awake on Saturday, July IA, at which time the trials came off Arrangements had been made by the state (who brought the' suit,) for counsel. They had engaged Chas. B. An drews and Henry B. Graves of Litchfield, but they did not put in their appearance at the time appointed. which was 10 o'clock a. m., and. after waiting until eleven, the court was opened by Justice Guy c. Ford who tried the cases. Lawyer McMahon, of New Milford, volunteered his services on behalf of the State and although total ly without preparation, managed the cases admirably throughout, doing himself great credit. The prisoners were defend ed by Messrs. B. A. Hough and W. A. Leonard, of Danbury. will give the testimony in full of the first witness call- ed in behalf of the State in the first con- plaint (against Calvin and the Kinneys).
 MT. Curtiss, of New York, testified as fol- lows:
 ''I reside in New York; am boarding at the Sherman House. Oh the morning of July 4th, at about 1-2 past twelve, myself Co 11
 by the report of a cannon near by. At the same time light was seen to flash by the window. 1 arose, went to the window and saw persons moving around with lights. The cannon was now fired again.
 my wife was very much frightened, par ticularly so when she heard the yelling and terrible blasphemy. The firing was kept up until daylight. heard the iin- gle of the glass in the house, aud a clock was picked up from the floor which had fallen of from the mantle shelf The fir ing of the cannon was small portion of the disturbance. Among the different ex- pressions that the motley crowd made, will select the following: One of the pris- inors at the bar, proposed to give three cheers, for '.Shermans Bed Bug Hotel"
 which they did. The cheers were not on ly heard ae the Sherman House but the
 shill noise was heard for one half of mile in every direction. I was unable to close my eyes again duling the entire night In
 the morning went out where the men | were. I said to the ring leader of the
 band, who was Calvin, that it was dis
 grace and shame to the town of Washing l ton. "1f there Is any gru6gebetween you and Sherman. you should take some oth- or time to settle it. MT. Calvin said ''Iam the man that got this up and Z am not oshaned of tt! I then said, .'No one ob. jects to firing cannon on the Fourth of July. except when it is placed so near mans house so as to break window glass, and shake the house from top to bottom have travelled from Canada to Florida,
 and 1t Is something that I never heard of before nor did I ever see it done in any civilized community. Calvin then said, "We shall fire thecannon where we D--n please. - then said. 'swhat kind of pro- ceeding is this to tear down mans fence 1 ia this way" One of the three prisoners at the bar then said. 'D-n Sherman,
 what does he own: he don't own any prop erty." I and my fellow boarders then
 told Sherman that if he could not protect
 his property, nor us we should have to
 leave his house. We came to New Pres
 ton to spend our money and to enjoy our selvs in quiet and pleasant manner, and
 to have pack of villains come and drive
 us away. it is something that cannot be
 endured.
 l have endeavored to give brief and
 accurate statement of Mr. Curtis's testi- mony as given at Union Hall on Saturday