The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-08-09
THE JURY TOO LEN|ENT.
Judge Hunt Finds Fault With the
Penalty They Fixed for Cour-
temareh.
He Had Signed His Mother-in-
Laws Name to a Note
for $50.
Ffnkelstein's Fate Now Hangs on the Cues
ton of the Legal Age for Mar
Ftnkelstein's Fate Now Hang on the Cues
ton of the Legal Age for Mar
riages In Poland.

~ think You have made a mistake in fix
ting tho penalty at one year" This wal
how Judge Hunt recei we'd the verdict Of thu
Jury III his department of the district courl
yesterday when they found that Dave Cour.
tsmarch. a barber, was guilty of forgery in
signing tho name Of his mother-in-law Mrs.
Kate Moran. to a note fot $50 and attempt
ing 10 negotiate it at the First National
bank. Assistant Cashier klsinschmidL OF
the First National. testified that Courte-
march came into the bank and said he
wanted to get some money. He was given
q blank note. and the assistant cashier. be-
ing too busy to fill it out, Courtsmarch took
II to Teller jerome, who fixed it up for him.
When Courtsmsrch handed the note back
TO Assistant Cashier kleinschmiit it WAS
signed by himself and imported to DO also
signed by Mrs. Kate Moran. The nssist.
ant cashier b5S1me suspicious OF Mrs.
Moran's sissstute and asked Courtemarch
about it. Courtemarch said Mrs. Moran
had signed it. Mr.. kisinsohmidt re-
minded Courtemareh that there was q
similar nots in the bank already on which
the signature OF Mrs. Moran was thought
TO be a forgery. Az this Courtemsrch
reached for the note aud MIR. Kleinschmidt
grabbed him by the collar. A clerk rushed
around and caught Goa temsroh, and Mr..
kleinschmidt went out and found u police:
man. While he was out CourtemRrch, who
had gone to Cashier Knights room, tore
the note into pieces and threw the pieces
into q cuspidofe. MIR. Kleinschnidt said
CourteD arch afterwards told him that he
had signed Mrs. Moran's name by Lor au-
thori.y. Mrs. Moran testified that she had
neither signed the note. nor had she given
Courtsmsroh any authority to sign for hsr.
Couttemarch testified In his own behalf
that he had signed the note with his "
name and that Of Mrs. Moran and had
handed ii to Mr.. klsinschmids IL as-ea
II he could get money on a note like that.
II WAS not his intention, he said, to put
that note in bank. but to end out if those
Dign would answer. intending to
out another anu get Mis-. Moran to
Bign it.
The jury brought in a verdict of guilty
and fixed CouttemRreh's punishment at one
year in the psnltentiary. Judge Hunt COM
very strongly on the verdict. II
think you have made q mistake" be said to
the july, "in fixing the penalty at ons year.
This man is a hardened criminal. IT You
had lett tina matter to Size court the penalty
would have basp IN ads greater. If You had
made ii five years l might have lowered ii a
little. but as you HAYS made 1t one year |
cannot raise it. 1t Is seldom that a jury
makes a mistake Of this kind. They usu-
ally hit il right"
The jury who tried the barber case were
G. F. Gage. 70 emen. Sam Kohlbers. sam
He,z, Anthony DauGherty. W. M. Dolliver.
w. B. Hundlsy. +. 8. Norris, C. e. New
berry. G. J. Bracket, r. A. Bell, Henry
Buchholtz and A. Il. Cumming. County
Attorney Nolan prosecuted and L. G.. Garlic
ton defended. Courtematch will be sem
fenced to-day. He has been in the peni-
Tertiary befo-e
Marcus Finkelstein, who is charged by
MIS-. Eva Finko!stoin with maintaining
improper rslations with another woman
whom he claima TO be his wife, while legally
married to the complainant, vac before
Judge Hunt in company with his counsel.
N. W. Mcdonnell. Judge Mcdonnell said
his client did not know what plea TO enter.
was married to Eva Finkslstein in
Poland. when both were about sixteen years
old. He understood that marriages at that
age were not legal in Poland. II such
should provo TO be the case there was no
legal marriage. If the Poland marriage
legal then his client was in an uu-
pleasant position ana would have to plead
guilty. He asked for time to find out about
the Polish law on the subject of marriage.
The time for Finkelstein to plead was OK.
ended to Sept. l. and bail il the mean
lime was reduced to $3.50. =