The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1894-10-12
Court Proceedings.

"A great surprise was sprung when
MIR. Scarlet asked the jury to be re.
tired to another room and he made a
motion to dismiss the jury on account
OF the jury being what is commonly
called tampered with, Of which the
following is brief:
The case of Ash Bros. VS.. Berwick
Water Company was continued Tues.
day morning on motion of plaintiffs,
counsel because it appeared that one
H w. Kirkendall of Catawissa had
held conversation with William
Hover, a juror sworn in the case.
Although this conversation was not
with criminal intent but, on the part
of KirFendall, without knowledge that
Hover was juror-and although
nothing OF importance was said de-
PENDANTS did not resist the motion,
thinking that they were as likely as
the other side to be prejudiced.
c. A. Small, sitting in the car in
the seat behind Kirkendall and Hover,
overheard some conversation between
them. He jotted down: besides
fighting the Water Company they are
also fighting Jackson & Woodin. They
are not taking the water from its natu-
raj course-something like that. Such
case takes you out on small excur.
sion once in while," which was all
the language of KirkendalJ to Hover
that the witness could quote. He said
that there was also some talk between
Kirkendall and Hover about the dam
at Berwick in comparison with the
dam at or near Catawissa, about the
Berwick water being sometimes too
muddy to use for washing, and about
diverting the water from its natural
channel.
Mahlon Hamlin said that he parti-
! cipated in a general conversation at
the Reading depot in Catawissa with
Kirkendall and Hover, in which moth
ing about the case was said, but some
thing about the source of supply, the
quantity Of water and the supposed
difficulty of the company with some
farmer Oaking water from his cattle)
whose name was not mentioned.
Farnham, Of counsel for defendant,
suggested that if Jurors would be care
full to repel all advances by informing
people disposed to converse the fact
that they are jurors, it would save a
great deal of trouble.
The court enforced this idea and
also pressed upon all present the duty
of refraining from careless talk with
jurors and the Nervousness of ap.
preaching juror with intent to cor
rupt or influence him, but declined 10
take further notice of the matters dis
closed in the hearing than to allow
the plaintiffs motion that juror be
withdrawn and the case continued,
reserving for future decision the ques-
ton OF disposal of costs.
The Court handed down an opinion
and decision in the matter of the ap-
plication to dismiss the school direct
ors of the Borough of Millville, dis
missing the board and appointing S.
B. Kisner, Chas. S. Ely, c. Millard
Ewes and Truman Ewes directors. The
old board was w. 3. Ewes, G. H.
Moore, d. F. Herring, Josiah Heacock,
c. M. Park and H. ]. Robbins. The
trouble with this board was that they
stood tie on the appointment of
some one or more teachers, and for
that reason did not resist the appli.
cation for their dismissal.
In the case of the Singer Mfg. Co.
VS.. Dyke and wife the jury brought in
verdict for the defendants. In this
case the jury had sealed verdict
which they found only shortly before
midnight Monday night,
Josiah Zobal, who was convicted OF
bigamy was brought into court and
given the privilege of making state.
ment he wanted to make at the time
of his trial. He tells a remarkable
story about his first wife, now of Lehigh
county, and who had him arrested in
Ohio and brought here for trial. He
claimed he never had anything to do
with the woman that he was at the
time arrested for fornication and
bastardy, and married the woman
while in Jail that the woman, after
the marriage, admitted that the child
belonged to his father and not him,
and that he never lived with her
that he lived in her neighborhood up.
ward of three years, and that on an
occasion she had told him that she
would never trouble him that if he
got married again it would be all
right to her and that she had couple
of children by another man.
AS to whether he was able to pay
the costs lie thought he might be. 1t
seems from his testimony that there is
a legacy due him from parents, and
this accounts for the woman following