Daily Republican., 1884-05-17
Tn,cD EDITION ,
A JnnisOr in Trouble.

Judge Cummins occupied his usual
seat in the Municipal Court, this morn
ing, " hen The ase Of Jacob +. Wiser,
ial itor Of No 5 school, Tor committing
an assault and battery on James Law
less, was heard The Court room was
well filled with those interested in the
case, and large number Of witnesses
were called Before the ease proceeded
Mr.. Wiser asked the Court several ques.
tions, ana when asked by the Judge II
he bad ALI attorney, he replied, None
bur myselt," and 81 will plead my own
case.
The defendant plead not guilty, when
James Law less was called TO the stand
and testified that onThursday afternoon
last, while being chastised by the prin.
cipal of school NO. 3, be resisted, when
the services of the janitor were called
to hold the boy while the punishment
was inflicted. When the janitor ar
rived the boy cursed him several times
and used other abusive language (this
the boy admitted in his testimony, for
which the janitor, Mr.. Wiser, threaten
ed him with arrest. When school
closed the boy again used bad language
toward Wiser, whereupon Mr.. Wiser
told him he would fix him when he
caught him.
Accordingly Mr.. Wiser laid in wait
for the boy yesterday morning, and, at.
ter he had been seated in school, walked
deliberately into the school room and
took the boy out. The prisoner passed
out of the school quietly, but upon
reaching the gate began TO resist and
wanted to 60 home Mr.. Wiser inform
ed him he could not go, whereupon al
struggle ensued, and during the melee
the bob, by his struggles, was roughly
handled, and the ianitor, becoming very
angry, held him in q vise-llke grip, anu
after dragging him over the pavement
and streets, struck his head several
times against the stone wall.
By this time the neighborhood was
aroused by the cries of distress uttered |
by the boy and his mother, who had ar
rived upon the scene, and plead in vain |
for the release Of her boy. A number |
of other women in the vicinity eDdeav-
ored to coax the janitor to desist, but
he did not heed their appeals, all the
time asserting his authority to arrest
the boy.
A number of witnesses were ex-
amined, and all testified to the facts as
given above, and when cross questioned |
by the defendant, were firm in their
belief that he had cruelly abused the
child. Mrs. Lawless, mother of the |
boy, in her evidence stated that the ]
boy was badly bruised about the body I
and that if she had not bitten the
ianitor and made him release the boy
he would have been corpse before u
o'clock.
When Mr.. Gardner testified he said
he was attracted to the scene by large |
crowd, and he first imagined that it
was "Dan Rice's circus" He did not
see much of the affair.
At the conclusion of the evidence
Deputy Attorney General Turner made
a short speech, during which be defined
the duties Of special officers and was
very severe on the assumed authority
Ct the ,,anitor, who he stated had no
right to arrest the boy without a war
rant, unless he caught him detacing the
or acting in disorderly
Judge Curnnns thought the janitor
atteu pted 70 make the arrest without
being aware that he was overst6pping
his duty, and further that the boy 'sinJu-
ries were inflicted more through resist
ance than the intention Of the janitCr
to abuse hlm. In view of these facts
the Judge imposed fine ofS5 ana costs
to nearly Sl4.
After the fine had been imposed and
the court adjourned the defendant was
inc ined to become denonstrative and
thought the me too heavy, but being
pacitied by his friends he calmed down
paid his fine and departed. The trial
continued ABOUT two honrs,and at times
he evidence was very amusing