Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-06-30
HARDESTY ARRESTED.
A Row In the District Attorneys
AfftCa.

in legal circles yesterday by the news OF
the arrest of Deputy District Attorney
Jess Hardesty, upon warrant issued by
Justice P. E. King, charging him with
having disturbed the peace Of G. L..
Stearns, the President of the Stearns
Manufacturing Company. and resident
of Garvanza, on the 25th instant. As
the offense was alleged to have been
committed in the District Attorney Is
office, Mr.. Stearns apple d to the Justice
for the issuance of a complaint against
the offender, and the court, taking into
consideration that fact, heard Mr..
Stearns' story and complied with his
request on Friday evening.
Upon being brought into court yester-
day morning Mr.. Hardesty was ar
raigned by the Justice, and his plea Of
not guilty duly entered, thereupon Dis
trict Attorney Frank P. Kelly, who APP
parently represented his deputy, adj
dressed the court as follows:
"May it please the Court, in the mat
ter of the complaint against John Doe
Hardesty, charging him with disturbing
the peace, in which Geo. L. Stearns is
the complaining witness, as am a sworn
officer of the county, I'll make my state
ment in regard to the matter to the
court. The offense, if committed at all
was committed in my presence and in
my office. On the 26th, inst, the COM
plainant, G. l.. Stearns, came to my Of
flee to make a complaint to the effect
that a case in which he appeared as the
prosecuting witness had not been prop
erly attended to. Mr.. Hardesty, the
defendant in this case, explained to me
his conduct in connection with the case,
and whilst doing SO Stearns interrupted
him and called him a liar Mr.. Hard
esty, by reason of that language used by
Stearns, became a little excited and
shook his fist at him, and
told him that he would not be
insulted in that way. thereupon told
him to go and sit down, and he did so.
Mr.. Stearns, however, still continued to
talk loudly in my Office, and used Ian
tleman, and finally denounced Mr..
Hardesty again as liar before leaving
the office. Afterwards he returned and
demanded that complaint be issued
charging Hardesty with disturbing the
Ho0CO, WhlSd Vi COuipO iCiQECos 4hC
question for the Court to decide is, whose
peace did Hardesty disturb? Mine, or
Stearns', or that of the lady type writer
in my employ? Certainly not Stearns
was the aggressor, and not Hardesty and
say to this honorable Court, as District
Attorney of this county, that no disturb
ance of the peace was committed at all.
Therefore there was no offense. And
s,rtbor fhot hooouco fhio mon foilo6
to use the criminal law as a collecting
out and vexed; and l come here
now, as District Attorney of this county,
to ask the Court for a dismissal of the
complaint upon the grounds that there is
no evidence to sustain the allegations
therein; and, further, that this COM
plant was not authorized by me as the
Public Prosecutor of this State and
county,"
Upon the conclusion of this speech,
Mr.. Peyton, who appeared on behalf of
Mr.. Stearns for the prosecution, stated
to the Court that the statement made to
him by the complaining witness in the
case were in direct contradiction OF that
Just made by the District Attorney, and
he therefore objected to Dismissal.
Mr.. Kelly reiterated part of his former
address, and again asked that the case
be dismissed; out the Court denied the
motion in the following words:
"In regard to the matter Of the People
VS.. John Doe Hardesty, Mr.. Frank P.
Kelly makes a statement as District At
torney, of course not under oath and any
statement he might make not being
under oath could not be taken
into consideration by this court except
as the statement of any other attorney.
The motion for dismissal ia therefore
denied, and this case is hereby set for
trial on Friday next, July 9th, at 8 80 a.
m.; the defendant, however, in the
meantime, will be released upon his
own recognIzance."
Mr.. Hardesty, who had hitherto been
an interested spectator only, rose to his
feet and moved the Court to grant him a
change of venue on the ground that the
Court, Justice P. E. King, was a ma
terisl witness in the case.
The Court replied that, in the first
place, the motion was out of order and
could not be made until the case came
up for trial but, as it had been made, he
would deny it, because he would not be
sitting at the time; but that Justice
Savage, for whom he was temporarily
sitting, would occupy the bench.
A HERALD reporter called upon Mr..
Kelly during the afternoon, and, in
reply to his request for fur her details
concerning the matter, received the fol-
lowing particulars in addition to those
already contained in his statement to the
Court.
"The whole affair arose out of crimi-
nal action instituted by Stearns against
j. B. Wood and F. Rhone, two men at
one time in his employ, charging them
with having, on the 18th of March last,
obtained property under false pretenses.
At the time, l was confident
that the whole affair was a scheme
to use this Office as a collecting
agency, and, as l had been duped sew.
eral times in giving complaints, l
was determined to put stop to it, and
refused to issue one for Stearns. On May
4th, however, he persuaded Major J. A.
Dunnel, of this office, to do so, and the
suit was commenced. Upon the case be-
ing brought into court, Mr.. Hardesty ap-
peared to prosecute the two defendants,
but, on learning that Judge Adams
had been engaged to do go
by Stearns, he left the court
room. AS it happened, just as the case
came up, Judge Adams received tele-
gram from his home informing him of
the sudden illness of his child,
and he was obliged to resign from
the case, which was accordingly con-
tinued by Justice Lockwood until 7
O'Clock that same evening. By my in