The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-05-27
THE FEDERAL COURT
Much Lighter Docket Than a
Year Ago.
70 CASES NOW, 24o THEN
Twenty-Five Sci. Fa. Cases
Disposed Of Yesterday
Ex.postmaster to be Tried for De-
fraudlng the Government""~Cases
Disnosed of Yesterday SUIT
Entered in Beaufort Insurance Cases.

Frauding The overnnnent~"~ Eases
DISPOSED of YesterdaYs~-Non-Suit
Entered in Beaufort Insurance Cases.
Federal court is always an event IN
Raleigh. For when the court opens
the counties pour out of their dark
corners the men who watch the
worm that dieth not BY the flicker
ing light of the moon, and turn out
Young oceans of pine top" corn IL
auor. These people have way OF
setting as far from the maddlnS
crowd as possible, and in the dark
corners of the counties they peaceaDly
conduct their business, until the IN
ouisitiye revenue agent comes along
and breaks up the whole shooting
match. The moonshiner has q limited
Monroe Doctrine of his own, ana does
not believe in foreign interference
with home affairs The government
he regards as his arch enemy, and
he takes peculiar delight in calling
the revenue raiders ''red-legged grass
boppers,' When he is brought to
Raleigh and hauled up in United
States Court fer the crime OF making
a little extract of corn for home con-
sumption, he is generally in pretty
bad humor, and, as the athletes say,
in poor form"
At the winter term of the Federal
Court the town was crowded as IL
State Fair was in full blast They
not only crowded the government
building, but many of them sat on the
curbin9, waiting their turn III the
mill of justice.
But this time the docket Is Light
compared to the usual layout.
There are only seventy cases for
moonsnining, where a year ago $40
cases were on the docket. In the
criminal docket there are 80 cases; on
the warrant docket, %; on the libel
docket. 5: As sci, ia. cases; IA cases in
equity and Is United States civil cases.
Yesterday the business of the court
began in earnest. A brief preliminary
session had been held the day before,
at which no cases We're tried.
TWENTY-FIVE sci. ia. cases were dis
posed of Yesterday. These are against
defendants and bondsmen in cases
where the defendant under bond fail
ed to appear at the former term of
Z.
to show cause for their non-appear-
ance at this term of the court, and
failed to show cause.
The following cases on the criminal
docket were disposed OF:
Bob Brooks, colored, from Chat
ham; found guilty of working at an
illicit distillery; Judgment reserved.
NeiIl Stewart. colored, Wake: re-
failing without license; found guilty
Judgment reserved.
Jesse Coley, from Wake; charged
with illicit distilling; not guilty.
Annie Mangum, from Smoky Hollow,
Durham; charged with retailing;
found guilty; judgment reserved.
Connie Lowry, of Wake; charged
with illicit distilling; not guilty.
At this term Amos j. Hall, former
postmaster at Cedar Creek, Cumber-
land county, will be tried for defraud-
fling the government.
At the time of the trials of the in
surance frauds at Beaufort, the insur-
ance companies cancelled a number of
policies and refused to pay several
death claims on the ground that they
were fraudulent. The defendants en-
tered suit against the insurance COM
panies for the amount of the insurance.
These cases were continued from the
last term of the court. The convic-
tion of the defendants in the cases a.
gainst them in the Superior court for
fraud. forgery and conspiracy knock
ed the bottom out of these cases a.
gainst the insurance companies, and
Yesterday in each case a non-suit was
entered.