The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-09
YESTERDAY IN TIE COURTS
WILLTIATCUNIITINGs FOUND c UILTY
 OF ARSON ON ONE COUNT,

l Court-Gay Brothers Pay 10 Per Cent | Cases In Other Courts. | In the superior court yesterday morn-
 Ing Judge Elmer sentenced Bartholo-
 mew Pastore, who pleaded guilty to an
 attempt to kill Giuseppe Domino on
 Decoration day to four years in state prison.
 | The case against Thomas Kelleher,
 charged with obtaining $500 by false
 pretences from Mrs. George c. Munson
 or North Haven was continued. | The trial of William Cummings, the
 Milford arson case, was then continued. | Mrs. Elizabeth Cummings testified as l to the circumstances connected with
 the setting on fire to her house on April | II.
 She said she was awakened by d light snlnlng in her eyes. She looked out of the window and saw a bright light in the Catholic church opposite. She opened the window and discovered that what she saw in the church was but the
 reflection of fire in her own house. She yelled, Fire! fire! Willie, what
 have you done?"
 MT. Williams: "Why did you ask that?"
 T thought it was Willie I thought
 ne was drunk and had upset the lamp Christopher Nolan was called. T
 was with MT. Wilhelmy when he caught Cummings We did not know who it
 was; he was running. Mir. Wilhelmy
 called Halt twice, then, Halt. or I'll fire Cummings was out of breath and
 his lips trembled when we spoke to him. His shoes fitted the tracks. His hands were dirty and smelled of to- bacco smoke"
 Policeman Frederick Haywood testl- lied that on the night he discovered footprints leading from Cullinan's house to the old Catholic church, and to Connop's barn, which was also set afire. Cummings hands were bleeding as from barbed wire scratches. Thomas Fhelan testified that on the morning of the 18th, about 6 o'clock, when he went
 to his barn to feed his cattle, he found
 the bedding afire and the sill smoul-
 dering. Leading from the barn was
 the print of a mans left shoe. Cum mings' left shoes fitted the mark.
 Charles Derby, clerk at the Milford
 hotel, testified that Cummings came
 into the hotel at 11;40 on the night of the fires and asked for some matches with which to light his lamp after get
 ting home. He left at 1I:45 with a dozen or so matches Cummings home was ten minutes walk from the hotel With Mir, Derby's testimony the state rested.
 The defence called Michael Healy who lives in the Cullinan house. He said the fire started at li:45, the same time Derby said he was at the hotel.
 The accused then took the stand He said that he had been drinking consid- erably during the night, and had start ed for home, but had reached Howe's corner, some ways distant, at II: 20, and decided to get another drink before re- tiring. He went to the hotel and got beer and two matches. The beer over ca ne him, and while walking down the railroad track he felt sleepy and went to sleep on the bank. When he, awoke, T had jag on," he said,
 When he awoke he started for home. and when In front of Phelans house he was told to halt. He denied on cross-examination that he at any time was running. He got the scratches by crawling through a barbed wire fence. Policeman James N Maher testified that Cummings had been in his GUS tody for an hour when he saw a fash Of light in Phelan's barn, not unlike q flash from lantern. Patrick CuIlinan, recalled, said that it was a quarter to twelve when the fire started
 This closed the defence. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty on the third count, that Is in setting fire to the barn of John Connors in Milford on April 14 last The first count, which charged the prisoner with setting fire to the house of Patrick Cuflinan was dismissed before the case went to the jury The jury found Cummings not guilty of the second count, setting fire to the barn of Patrick whaIen. Cum mings will be sentenced this morning.
 While the jury was out yesterday af- ternoon on the arson case, the cases against James c. ConneH, at present a transcient in the Litchfeld jail, and Elmer A. Norman, who is in New Ha- ven jail, were called. The accused were charged with having committed burg lary in the house of William A. Jones. Norman pleaded not guilty and the case was continued until this morning, when it was thought that he will change his plea to guilty.
 City Court-,CriminaI side--Judge Bishop.