The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-17
GOT FATHER ACQUITTED.
BLUMENTHAL YOUNGSTERS KN0oK
U AN ARsON INDICTMENT.

TIVE Mere Girls or the Carbohydrates Tribe
Tell the Sury About Their Parade with
Lanterns which wound Up with = Con-
naErattop jury Out Opiy Ten Minutes
The four children of Bernard B. Blumenthal.
who has been on trial for two days in the Gen.
eral Sessions on q charge of arson In the second
degree, got him q verdict Of not guilty yester-
day. On the first day Of the trial two Of the
children had told the jury that It was they and
not their father who set fire to hia toy and candy
shop at 42b East Eighty.second street.
The children had testified that they had made
lanterns and played soldiers, and In doing 90
had lighted candles which they had set in
their homemade lanterns. II was the finding
of these lanterns after tho Ere thai lod to Biz
menthars arrest. One of the children. Bessie,
q girl 0 years old, sat on tho floor In the court
room and interested the Jurors by making one
Of tho lanterns and lighting It. Just as she had
done. she said, on the day Of the ERE in the
candy shop.
Yesterday Blumenthal's Oldest daughter,
Lena, q girl Of thirteen. was put on the witness
stand. She was q bright-looking little girl,
with long black hair tied In three knots, She
know the meaning Of an oath, and after being
sworn testified that on the day Of the Gre she
had been left at home to attend to the candy
shop. while her father and mother were at the
~ HNDob phhJ al ~ pOthk u iioLAhhgs
She.said that abe had warned the children about
playing with lanterns, and had said to them
that IL they did not put the lanterns away she
would tell a policeman; The children were
then sTh tsS~ ne %srG aMfSl " s Ssa, gut sa ID Tie hsn ssoE ssnd
l told them If they didn't stop Id call a police
ibid they stopf' asked Assistant District
'oh, no, they didn't stop when 1 told them,
how children are someti%ses. Louis marched
all around. Bessie knocked over n lot of boxes
behind Sis. Ms tas SSSnt Ssa. I toS. thsyy d Msre t 5%' shs si saa
a lantern with a candle in 4. and she wouldn't
put 1t out when l told her."
She was frightened. for she had heard her
sister say she had been a bad girl on the day
."Do you know the nature of an oathi"
."Yeth. thir." answered tho witness.
ID you remember the second daysof the He
'f sTs asF shi hS$ answered SsasS Maud M; H'' #We had some
,o.-'What did you dol A.-oh. we just
of S sou4.e! w W. y Ssrd asyp and a Pssr s c e lot A Of tSns
Q.IAnd did you have lanternsi A.-Why.
No.NHow were they madei Awe made
them ourselves. We got wooden boxes from
under the counter and candles from the room
with themi A.-Yeth, thir.
an 2;hMAdpd K where So dig now yoa put them when you
-Q.-who told YOU to testify this wayI A
tell this storyi A.-No. thir, i Enowod it all by
..aNHow did you know it, Al was one of
v. 9;| pa, yG%y . P playa ANYTHING GSthiEs: S Sls9 hid A .s,69,
swung his sword and cut my dress, but / didn't
tell anybody, 1t was u new dress. and 1t tore
Whats THAR INTERRUPTED Juror No. =. IT
did4t hear what you were saying,
and ID the the s ssreT EdnId ss was IN nice eo, until Lena nn came me
wouldn't let US have any more fun.
When the little girl had concluded her testi.
climbed underneath a bench, where she kept
popping her head up every now and then. much
Fire Marshal Mitchell was called in rebuttal.
He told where the candles in the boxes were
found when .r the fire It was Discovered cred in the little
TOY oSnd ihS IF. M lite c Sls ssid. d Mde not e eoe spsss w wiiS
th hf,dPps places s.G Iefe ~ sho to S BY h aknnI"Sinntahaa !, four gu.
witness stand where she or he had left the par
ticular homemade lantern.
This closed the case and the jury retired, re-
turning with q verdict Of not guilty ten minutes
later.
greet him, and he picked them up in his arms
one by one and kissed them good and hard. The
yonnSest of the children, the boy Louis, shouted:
"Eh, papa, don't you have to sit there no
morei,,.
mo-" said Blumenthal. Il won't have to sit
there no longer
Let me congratulate you on Your acquittal,"
said Assistant District Attorney Milliken, shak-
ing hands with the man he had been prosecut-
ing. Blumcnthalis wife greeted him affeo-
tionately, and thcn the Blumcnthal family
dren went through the Court House corridor
chattering the big court officer in charge of the
door Of the court room remarked:
Those four little curly heads going along
there have just saved their father from 'a,pos-
sible chance Of going to prison for twenty
years."