The Jersey City news., 1898-09-28
ACQUITTED OF ARSON.
Jury Finds Baden and His
Bartender Bruhweiler
Not Guilty.

August Bruhweiler and John Baden who
were tried in the General Sessions Court
! Yesterday on an indictment for arson,
were acquitted They were accused OF
having set fire to Adriatic Hail, NO. lyt
Congress street. on June q. with intent
| to defraud the Merchants Insurance
Company of Newark out of $500 Baden
got the place on the foreclosure Of 2
chattel mortgage held by the Schaeffer
| Brewing Company. The place was gutted
by fire under circumstances SO suspicious
that they seemed to warrant the arrest
and prosecution of Baden, the proprietor,
and Bruhweiler, his bartender.
William Colegrove, special agent for the
insurance company, testified that he had
conversation with Baden on the morn
ing after the fire. and also on the follow
ing morning. Baden asked him what ne
proposed to do about the settlement or
the loss The witness told him to look
at the terms of the policy and he would
find out. On cross examination the wit
ness said that clause in the policy made
it void if the insured goods We're covered
by chattel mortgage.
Detective Daniel Lee testified that ne
investigated the fire and found sufficient
evidence to warrant him in arresting
Bruhweiler He made the arrest about
ten o'clock in the morning, and searched
the prisoner in the afternoon. he fonnu
three large boxes of matches IN Brun-
weiler'S coat pocket.
Lawyer Joseph M. Noonan moved Iof
the acquittal of the defendants on wv, lWo
grounds one that there was no evidence
to convict them of the alleged crime, anu ltl
the other that they could not be legaily
convicted, The Indictment charged tnat ina
re+at f-ar.f ffaf "a. lar
ton of defrauding the insurance com,
pany. As the insurance policy was vold
from the beginning on account OF me
stock and fixtures being covered py q
chattel mortgage the company could not
be defrauded. Mr.. Noonan quoted some
decisions bearing on the case snd ss as y. II
adjourned the Court. After recess ne de-
MED MIR. Noonan's motion.
Baden took the stand and gave de-
tailed statement of the value of the stock
and fixtures in the saloon He said that
they were worth 81, 597. He was not aware
that there was a previous insurance or
the placef The witness eft me saloon, Al az
fire in charge Of Brtlweler and did not
return until the next morning. He spent
the night in the Amsterdam Hotel IN Ho-
boken. When he returned he found the
cellar door open. There had been berg
larry on a previous occasion and the burg
lars got in through the cellar On cross
exanlina ton BADEN denied ever having
from $40 to $50 He had $500 worth of liquor
in the saloon and $500 cigars of different
value. Some were worth $50 thousand.
BruhWeiler was next sworn, and denIed
positively that he had anything 10 do with
setting the fire. He admitted having
gone over to the bakery, but said that
he went there 10 get some rolls lie found
the baker asleep and kicked him to wake
him up. After that he invited the baker
over To the saloon to have some beer. The
lamp, the witness said. was not on the
bar when he went over to the bakery. It
was there when he returned with the
bar as Rusch had said; in fact, there was
no oil in the house. He did not know
how the lamp was broken. After leaving
the place he went to Bornemann's saloon.
and from there to Hoboken to a friends
house in River street The first he knew
of the fire was when he heard some men
talking about 1t in the car while on his
way home. He denied that he set fire to
the place or that he knew anything
about it.
On cross examination the witness again
denied that he knew anything about the
fire. He admitted that Baker Rusch had
he had said anything about oil.
John Rowe, proprietor of the Amster-
dam Hotel, testified that Baden spent the
night there as he had said. John Nppo,
a bartender in Cox's saloon, 120 River
street, Hoboken, testified that Bruhweiler
was in his place between three and four
O'Clock on the morning of the fire. The
case was summed and Judge Blair
charged the jury. After celebrating for
about ten minutes the jury returned with
a verdict of not guilty.