Bridgeton pioneer., 1890-05-22
BRIDGET0N, N. j., THURSDAY, MAY o. 1890.
go out and there were no chickens
brought to her house.

go OUT ana there were no chickens
brought to her house.
A sister, Mary, told of the boys be-
ing home on the night of the alleged
chicken thieving, and Jere. Betz said
that Thos. Berry was not in that To-
cality on the above stated night.
This ended the testimony and short
addresses were made to the jury, fol-
lowed by the charge by Judge Hoag-
land.
AS the jury in the SInith-Berry
case 1iled out Prosecutor L ogue an
nounced that he would move the
State against Anthony and Lehman
Pierce, charged with breaking and en-
tering.
Anthony Pierce did not put in an
appearance, and Lehman Pierce was
the only defendant He sat by the de-
PENDANTS table, accompanied by his
counsel, Charles E. Sheppard.
Manuel Pierce was the first gentle
man called by the prosecution. In
his testimony, he said that he was a
hunter and lived at Bayside in small
cabin. During the winter, he had
killed muskrats and other small ami
mails, skinning them and saving their
hides. He accumulated a pile of them
for which he had been offered about
fifteen dollars. On the fifth of Jan
uary, his cabin was broken open and
the furs stolen.
Lorain Pierce, appeared as an impor-
tant witness. On the night of the alleg-
edthieving, Lorain occupied a bunk in
the cabin of Anthony Pierce, and du-
ring the night, Anthony went out
Lorain had occasion to go out, and
while he was standing outside, saw
Anthony coming from Manuel's cabin
with a sack which he thinks contained
the stolen furs. Much of the testi-
mony of little Lorain seemed to great
ly amuse number of colored ladies in
the room, and their enthusiasm
reached such q pitch thatJudge Hoag-
land had to vigorously rap his gavel
for order.
Ed. Bonham, the stage driver was
called, but did not put in appearance.
Mr.. Logue assured the court that he
was very material witness, and he
could not go on without him. 1t was
supposed that he was in town and Con-
stable Bryant, by order of the court
was sent after him. This necessitated
quite long and tedious wait which
the court, and the jury evidently did
not relish. 1t was about half-past
four when Constable Bryant went at
ter the witness and is was just twenty
five minutes after five when Mr.. Bon
ham appeared.
The witness was immediately sworn
and it was his testimony that showed
the connection of Lehman with the
case. Mr.. Bonham said that few
mornings after the alleged theft he
came to Bridgeton on the Central r.
4. train, and Anthony Pierce was on
the same train. Pierce got off the
train and went over to the West Jer-
sey train, and there met the prisoner,
Lehman. The latter had not come to
Bridgeton on the train. Lehman had
a guano sack at the West Jersey depot
partly filed with something. He felt
of the bag, but did not know what was
in it. Mr. Bonham did not like to be
called into court evidently, and did not
answer the questions OF the Prosecutor
as if he was delighted with his position
on the witness stand.
The State rested the case, and Mr..
Sheppard arose and said May it
please the Court we don't propose to
offer any evidence, and we will ask the
Court to charge the jury that there is
no evidence to convict my client"
Mr.. Sheppard then made short argu.
ment to the jury, upon the evidence
produced by the State.
Mr.. Logue made a forcible summing
up in this case. MIR. Sheppard several
times interrupted him, but he still held
the attention of the jury closely.
In the charge, Judge Hoagland re-
viewed the evidence carefully, and
said that there was doubt in his
mind concerning the guilt of the
prisoner according to the evidence,
and he felt it his duty to say to the
jury that it was dangerous to convict
upon such testimony.
Judge Hoagland announced that all
jurors not upon the panel celebrating
upon the chicken thieving case, and
the case before the Court, were dis
charged for the term. Prosecutor
Logue did not like to allow the Began
and johnson fornication cases to go
over, but as there were many farmers
upon the jury panel who were very
anxious to be at their summer work,
the Court deemed it only fair to allow
them to be excused after attending
Court two weeks. There were two