Birmingham age-herald., 1895-05-01
IN THE COURTS.

John w. Snider yesterday brought suit in the city court for 5000 damages against Drennen & Go. The suit grows out of the fire in the Mary Lee mine on the 20th of last June. Plaintiff claims that he was at work in the mine at the time the fire broke out, and by reason of such fire sustained such bodily injuries as to render him permanently less able to work and earn money.
 Circuit Court.
 The case of the Hawkins Lumber com pany vs. Catherine and Patrick McAn- ally, was tried and taken under advise ment by Judge Banks.
 Charles Scales filed a bill for divorce from his wife, Bessie Scales. Both are colored.
 The dockets for the month of May have been published and are ready for the attorneys.
 Criminal Court
 The case of the state vs. R. W. A. Wilda, under indictment for embezzle ment, came up for trial in the criminal court last Monday. Its history is pecu- liar. Judge Greene could not try the case because he is related to MT. Roberts, one of the parties alleged to be injured by the crime charged in the indictment, and the parties selected F. s. Ferguson, Esq, to try the case as special judge.
 At the first trial, after all the testimony was in and the argument nearly finished, a juryman was taken suddenly sick and had to be discharged, and mistrial en- tered.
 At the next trial, after the case had progressed considerably, the wife of one of the jurors was reported very ill, and he was discharged. thus compelling an- other mistrial.
 The next time the brother of one of the lawyers engaged in the case was very i'll and the trial was postponed. On several other occasions the case was postponed for various causes.
 On Monday the case was put to jury, and all the evidence for the state intro- duced Tuesday morning when the court met one of the jurors asked to be dis- charged, that he might go home to his wife, who was dangerously ill., Ihe spe- cial judge refused to discharge the Juror, and settled the case by giving the Jury the following charge:
 "Gentlemen of the jury. For the third time I am called upon to discharge juror on account of sickness ana enter a mistrial in this case. The evidence Tor the state is all before you and with my view of the law it would be unjust to all concerned to permit another postpone ment. At former trials the law of the case has been fully and ably discussed before me and I have given it most pa tient study.
 "The defendant is indicted for embez- ZleHenL Ol IiOH6yo COiOCbSN pJ AAAi4t tN'' agent of a corporation known as Rob- erts & Sons, and before he can be con- victed it must be established, beyond reasonable doubt, that he was such agent It is not pretended that he was. appointed as agent of said corporation in the usual mode, but the theory of the state is that his agency grew out of the contract of April 12, 1S93 now in evi-l dence before you, by which the defendant was bound to collect certain subscrlp-s tions to the directory and contracts for advertisements therein, ana pay the same over to Roberts x Sons as collected. This contract was changed by the par ties on the goth of July, 1893, at which time defendant gave his two notes 10 Roberts & Sons, payable thirty and sixty days after their dates, respectively, Tor the amount due by him to them for printing the directory. Under this new contract I charge you, as a matter or law, that defendant was not legally bound to pay over to Roberts & Sons any moneys collected by him until the first of those notes was due The title to the collateral pledged could not vest in Rob erts & Sons until the first of these notes was due and defendant had failed to pay it.
 Before the maturity of the first note Roberts & Sons sent a circular postal card to all of the subscribers to the di- rectory, forbidding them to pay any money to defendant and asking them to pay their subscriptions, etc, to their duly authorized agent, thus repudiating the idea that they, Roberts & Sons. regarded defendant as their agent.
 Taking all these facts together, undis- puted as they are, and construing them, as I must, most favorably to the defend- ant I charge you, as matter ot law, that the evidence fails to show that de- fendant was the agent of Roberts & Sons, as charged in the indictment It fails to show the existence of any fiduciary re- lation between the parties, but tends strongly to establish the fact that they were dealing with each other at arm length
 If you believe this evidence your yer dict must be for the defendant-not guilty.
 This being decisive of the case, it is useless to notice other questions of law involved Under the peculiar cir cumstances I deem it to be my duty to the state and defendant to assume, as do. the full responsibility of this result of your labors and patient attention
 The jury at once rendered a verdict in conformity with the ch%rge of the special judge, and Major Wilda was discharged:
 John Burns and Ed Cranfield, charged with burglary, were convicted They broke into the Tennessee Coal. Iron and Railroad company's commissary at Bes- semer some time ago.
 Wiley Hopkins was tried and acquitted on the charge of larceny of sheep.
 Probate Judges Office.
 Real estate transfers were filed with the probate judge yesterday as follows:
 John Lambie and wife to William liar die, ten acres in section 10. township lo range west. and one acre in section 10, township IT, range west; $175.
 Marriage Licenses
 rTba proha te iudqe granted marriage li-