Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1899-07-06
THE SECRET DOSsIER
Document Plays a Peculiar Part
in 9 Sensational Case.
TURNED THE BEAR LOOSE
An All Day Trial B~fnr, Justice Il, S. Rob
inson. East End Young Men Explain
"A Curious Tangle-up. hut They
Are Fined $Iouad Ccs.a.

| The mystery OF the secret dnssicr in
The preytus case was hardly more i'm
lieretrabe ana peculiar than that OF
the secret document in the Robinson
| lsakcr-SlSinncr case which occupicd al
most the entire day in the Police Court
yesterday. His Honor. Squire e. S..
Robinson, sitting for Police Justice
| Brown
Ihe case was. and is. rraught With
remarkable circumstances and uncx-
pla!ned features. There is q cloud
hanging over it that an a'l-tlay session
of the court could not dispcl
| 1T will be remembered that on last
Friday night u. n. Baker ana j. II.
Skinner were arrested charged with as
saulting William Robinson. who was
also held for 4 counter charge Ycster-
day was the date set for the trial.
! The trouble was all about that s.crat
document according to the evidence. a
woman, Rohinson's erstwhilc sweet
heart, figuring prominently
1t is doubtful if the truth of tho bus
mess will ever be known. though il
ought to have come out in the wash
yesterday: there was enough testimony.
Robinson was represented by MIR. Il.
M. Lett. Mcssrs. Saunders and Mitch
ell represented the other side. Robin
son claimed that he was coming from
the young ady's house Friday night
about II O'clock wner he was sci un,n
by two young men and badly beaten.
He could not assign any rcasnna bic
cause why they should have beaten
'h7ml
The other side assigned ample reason.
lhcy claimed and put on abundant
witnesses to support their claim, that
they had been done by Robinson in
a peculiar way.
Robinson. it seems had broken or
his engagement With the young lady.
whose name is Levie Holland. one dav
he appeared to Baker and a young lady
Who was With lain: and asked him 70
sign paper, saying it was I, parlor
puzzle. They signed the paper without
seeing its contents. There was q num-
Der OF other signatures to the paper. in
Guiding that Of Miss Holland herself
and Mr.. Skinner
uoaken and Skinner claimed that they
afterwards heard that the paper they
signed reflected upon the character OF
MISS Holland, and they went to Robin
son to get him ii take their names off or
20 destroy the paper, both of which
itnblnson refused to do On the nicht
the fight occurred they went after Rob
inson for the same purpose, and Robin
son again refused, and then the fight
enSued
Inc evidence was sensational and
much OF it unpublishable The most
interesting part of the PROCEEDINGS.
though, was the fight made by the de-
tense for the secret document. which
ar. Lett advised his client not to sur
render. There was extended argument
on me SUBJECT in the course Of which
-'lf. mitchell characterized Mr. Robinson
as a forGer, 4 scounjlrel and a misren
resenter. Mr.. Lett continued to refuse
10 allow the document to be used in
evidence until Miss Holland hersn,f
should ask for it. Miss Holland wax
placed upon the stand and insisted rpor,
having the document read She was
asked if she was aware of its purporteo
nature and she said that She was ana
wanted it read nevertheless. Then Mr.
Let: let it 90 in
me attorneys for the defense we-e
rather astonished when they discovered
mat the formidable document ovrr
Whlch they had been wranging for a,,
houf and for which there had been s,1ci,
dramatic proceedings amounted to ab-
soiutely nothing more than list Of
names. That was ALL There was not
a scrap Of other writing upon it to in
1ure or otherwise affect any ones char
actcr.
It was like the man who caught the
bear and then wanted to let it loose
MI Mitchell let the bear loose. .sWcu.n
ne SAID, we do not care anythinc
ABOUT the paper. Let US get down to
this assault. What we want is what
Robinson led these boys to believe was
IN the paper
and the case proceeded
Just why Robinson had thar lst NJ
names. or why he led the other fellows
20 peleve the paper contained anything
cise or whether there ever was any,
'hlns else to it, did not appear.
At the end Of the proceedings. E1is
Honor dismissed the charge against
Robinson and fined the other two
young men SO apiece. They noted an
appeal and the case will so to the Cor
Doration Court.
NJ the request Of the young lady Mr.
itcblnson was put under a bond of s1nD
70 keep the peace until O'clock today.
When the question Of putting him undnr
q IKE bond for a longer tine will come
UP.
The Ruckroe Casinos Busiest Day.