The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-10-17
COOK CASE IS DELAYED
HENNEssY COOK PRoCEED1yess
HAVE ASSUMED A NEW
PHASE
NEW CHARGE IsssUBsTITUTED
Hennessy Will Prosecute Under A
Warrant as a.Private Citizen
Yesterdays Hearing Con-
fined to Legal Argument.

The crowd Of Interested spectators
| Whlch taxed the capacity of the munich
PAL court room yesterday afternoon was
| Sadly disappointed. They had assembled
TO near the trial of Fire Chief Hart n
COOK, on charge of assault and bat
terry, preferred by Patrolman Hennessy
Dut prosy legal argument was ali that
| TRANSFERRED
True, Chief Cook was there in a blaze
of gilded buttons, and Mr.. Hennessy with
look of injured Innocence, hut the look
| and the buttons constituted the whole
| show.
AS things were finally decided, the
charge on the police docket, or tab" as
1t Is usually referred to- was withdrawn,
| ana a new charge substituted, based on
2 warrant regularly sworn. out by officer
| f1ennessy in his capacity as private cit
lien, against Private Citizen Cook. The
trial Will be by jury, and the jury will
De empaneled, ii possible, next Wednes-
day afternoon.
Chief Cook, in full official regalia, en-
tered the court room at o'clock exact
~, and took seat near the prosecutor
Hennessy. Judge Hine took his seat a
moment later, and after a minor case had
been disposed of the clerk called the
name of Hart N. Cook"
Assistant Prosecutor Finehout was the
the judge of the motion to dismiss the
charge on the tab, on the ground that it
was Illegal to summarily arrest the chief
OF the fire department while at a fire.
To this Mr.. Stan Donnelly replied that
there was no ordinance that prevented
the arrest of the chief after the fire was
out.
s. P. Crosby, counsel for Mr.. Cook, fol-
lowed, stating that while the motion of
COTD0ra tt0n q 11nd nI11 tod
~ pertinent, he did not wish to press the
point. He would just as soon see the
Whole matter thoroughly ventilated.
Judge Hine then spoke as follows:
AS far as I understand it, in anything
that comes before ME in this case, l can
only take cognizance of the fact that the
defendant is the chief engineer of the fire
department, and that the prosecutor is
policeman of the city of ST. Paul AS
to how far these officials may have been
justified in anything they did I do not
care to go into. That ma tier is for the
official bodies to- which they are respon-
sible to go into
There is no question but what at the
time of the fire the chief engineer of the
department, or his assistant, was in su-
preme charge, superior to the chief of
police or his assistants. His authority at
any fire Is, beyond question, supreme and
no policeman has any right to interfere
during the time his power of control con-
tinues.
AS to when the fire is out, and the
authority of the chief. or. his assistant
terminates, SO far as the police are con-
csrned, is @ matter. to. be determined by
me chief at his discretion.
With regard to the dismissal OF the
charge now pending against. the chief, it
comes from the corporation sDliciUcria
office, on the ground that a summary
arrest, under the circums tances, was il
legal.
But it lies withethe defendant to waive
this illegality rather than with the pros
ecuting attorney. The defendant Is the
only one who can waive. the illegality Of
his arrest, and don't know that there
is anything that can do at present but
to deny the motion and arrange for a
suitable time for trial.n55s -
Mr.. Griggs spoke briefly, arguing that
the motion was worthy Of the bench
serious consideration, and Mr.. NDonnelly
spoke In the opposite strain. ~.
The court then gave. the prosecution
fifteen minutes to frame a new charge,
If the first was Objectionable, but stipu-
lated that he would not dismiss it until
another charge was brought to his no
tice.
Subsequent to Chief Cooks arrest a
warrant was sworn out by David Hen
messy in regular form, and the prosecu-
ton appeared to be in doubt as to wheth-
er to proceed under this or prepare a
new charge.
This delay irritated the Judge, who ex-
claimed sharply:
IT am not here to be trifled with. Are
you going to prosecute. or not?"
The prosecution, after some eonsulta-
ton, elected to proceed under the warrant
already sworn and the chief was chare-
ed accordingly. He pleaded not guilty,
and his attorney demanded jury trial,
which request was granted.
After some wrangling, the date for the
appearance to select a. jury was set for
Monday next at 10 o'clock