Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1902-05-29
MAY SESSION
OF COURT

and Associates DIR. S. Y. Thompson
and Frank Blee on the bench.
The constables presented their re-
| turns, which showed no neglect or
violations of law except in the town
ships of Limestone and Derry, where
defects in the public road were report
ed. In the former township in addi-
tion several index boards were report
ed as down. The Court instructed the
| constable, of Limestone township to
confer with the District Attorney, the
latter to lay bill before the Grand
! Jury, if in his opinion all the circum-
I stances warrant such a course.
Fred Jacobs was sworn i'll as fore
man of the Grand Jury. Carl Litz,
Andrew Schmidt and A. D. st. Clair,
grand jurors, were excused.
Mcclellan Diehl was appointed tip
! staff to wait upon the Grand Jury and
/ Jacob Welliver and Peter Mottern,
tipstaffs to wait upon the Court.
Judge Little in charging the Grand
Jury informed them that there is only
a small amount of business before
! Court and dwelt i'll a congratulatory
way upon the reasonable degree of
quiet and good order that prevails
| throughout the county. The most of
the cases on the list for trial are con-
| tinued or settled. The Judge explained
| that experience in the past has made
it clear that owing TO the pressure Of
routine business incidental to the open
! ing of court it is practically impossl-
BILE to proceed to any extent with trial
| by jury on the first day. For that
reason in order to obviate a needless
! outlay of money he had caused the
| traverse Jurors not to be called until
Tuesday. This is a departure which
will no doubt meet the hearty approval
of tax payers.
In the case of Charles Amadon,
charged with breaking into the bar
room of Hotel Oliver, the grand jury
| ignored the bill The accused was in
jail awaiting action.of the grand jury.
| The old river road, closed TO travel
| since the heavy food of last spring,
! figured in the first days proceedings
petition being presented from the
citizens of Mahoning township asking
| that the road be vacated. The petit
| tion was ordered filed and a rule grant
! ed to show cause why viewers shall
not be appointed as prayed for, rule
| TO be served on County Commissioners
also on the Borough of Danville and
on William A. Shepperson and Lloyd
Lamberson June 30th was set apart
as the date for argument.
An application was filed for chart
er bv the Montour Rolling Mill de
| partment Beneficial association.
\ subpoena in divorce was awarded
in the case of Elias Heilman vs..
Margaret Heilman.
In the case of Commonwealth V.
William Knapp mol pros. was al
| lowed.
The Sunbury Trust Company was
appointed guardian of Madge Sand
ers, to give bond i'll the sum of $500.
Court convened Tuesday morning
at O'Clock. The first pr oceedings of
| the day were on the verge of being
sensational. The list of traverse jur
ors was called, when twelve failed to
| respond. 1t was "a most unprecedented
obedience, if not contempt, il could
not be overlooked. In commenting
upon il the court remarked that moth
| ing remained but to impose "A penalty
of ten dollars upon each of the absent
ees. Before long, however, the de
linquent jurors began TO drop in,
when it developed that under the
change inaugurated this year, which
holds the traverse jurors off until
Tuesday morning, the notices so read
as TO summon them TO appear at 10
O'Clock. BY the latter hour all We're
present.
The forenoon was occupied by the
case of Commonwealth vs. Joseph
Gross, the charge being assault and
battery upon his l5year daughter
Ida. The prosecutrix was Mrs Alice
Jones, an aunt of the young girl.
The jury returned verdict of not
guilty, placing the costs upon the de-
| fendant.
Gross was arraigned i'll the after
noon on the charge of non support.
Mrs. Jones again took the stand. The
wife of the defendant has been insane
for nearly nine years and is confined
at the Hospital at this place. Mrs.
Jones swore that Gross does but very
| little for his children-that he drinks
and otherwise misapplies his money.
He has children at home and these
Mrs. Jones and the neighbors look after
furnishing them with both food and
clothing much of the time
| The daughter Ida and brother old
er than herself corroborated the testi-
mony of Mrs. Jones,
The court directed the stenographcr
| to write out the testimony of both
cases in which Gross was defendant,
as he wished to consider it carefully
before he disposed of the matter
Meanwhile he ordered that the de
fendant be rcmanded to the custody of
the sheriff Gross has been in Jail
since March 18th.
An interesting case was taken up
Immediately after noon, i'll which the
defendants We're five young girls. The
prosecutor was John Nevius. The
defendants were the daughters of John
McDermott, who resides near the p.
& r. railway just north of the bor-
ough. They were charged with as
sault and battery on Mr.. Nevius' IL
year-old daughter Carrie.
The bevy of fair defendants formed