The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-03-17
HANDED THEM
A HOT BUNCH
JUDGE WILCOX GOT BACK HARD
ON CIRCUIT JUDGES
THIS MORNING.
FOUND ELLIS GUILTY AND HIT
HUMPHREYS
Rubbed it In" on Proper Procedure"
and Said Ellis Was Foolish to Listen
To Humphreys Advice

To Humphreys Advice.
Judge Wilcox got back" at Judges
Gear and Humphreys this morning and
i'm doing so handed them quite a hot
little bouquet and incidentally gave
them some pointers on proper prOCe-
dure.' The roast was handed out in I
the trial of w. S. Ellis. baiiff Of Judge
Gears court Ellis was charged wi ,l
having committed assault and battery
on A. E. Cooley last Tuesday while try
ing to force Cooley to go into Gear
court to serve as a juror Ellis was de-
Tended by Frank Thompson while De-
putty Sheriff Chillngworth appeared for
| the prosecution.
Cooley took the stand and testified re-
gardlng the assault. He said that on
last Tuesday he was coming out of the
judiciary building and when by the
lanai, Ellis called to him and he stepped
| up to where Ellis stood to see what the
! latter wanted. Ellis said that Cooley
| was wanted in Judge Gears court
! Cooley stated positively that Ellis show
| ed no authority, no papers of any sort
and did not state for what purpose
| Cooley was desired. Cooley replied
! that without some authority, he would
! not accompany him and walked away.
| Ellis thereupOn ran after him and re-
peated the statement that he was want
y
! that Ellis then walked over and talked
to an individual who had come out of the
! judiciary building and who Cooley re-
| cOgnized as the subject Of newspaper
| Illustration for some months back (the
man was Judge Humphreys after
which Ellis rushed back and caught
hold of COOley's coat and began to
| struggle with him. In the struggle
| COOley'S coat was torn. During all OF
| this time Cooley said that Ellis merely
stated that CoOley's presence was desir-
ed in court but made no remark about
he being wanted for jury duty. Finally
Cooley saw A. st. John Gilbert passing
and motioned to him. Gilbert came up
and asked the cause of the trouble and
then Ellis said that Cooley was want
ed as a juryman. Cooley then returned
with Ellis to the court room.
Gilbert testified to having seen the
men struggling and going up and asking
the cause of the trouble. Cooley had
said that Ellis was trying to take him
into court without any authority and
Ellis said that Cooley was wanted as
a juror. Gilbert replied that that made
a different matter of it and asked Ellis
why he had not told Cooley 50, where
upon Ellis had shrugged his shoulders
and replied that he supposed thar
Cooley knew he Ellis was the court
bailiff and what was wanted.
Ellis took the stand and denied having
failed to aCluaiut Cooley with the ma
ture of what required the latters pre-
sence in court. The defendant said that
! Judge Gear had directed him to go out
into the building and secure some more
: talesmen to serve as jurors. He saw
! Cooley walking over by the Opera
House and not by the lanai of the juuI-
Ciary building. He beCkOned to Cooley
and the latter walked toward him. FL
lis did not wish to call out the nature
of his business with Cooley but said
when they We're some distance apart
that Cooley was wanted in Judge Gears
cOIot and after they came up close
. enough explained that Cooley was
( wanted to serve as a juror. Cooley
thereupOn refused to go unless Ellis haC
i some summons or other authority. Ellis
! spoke to Judge Humphreys about the
Z matter and the latter told him to take
Cooley by force.
S In arguing for the defence. Thompson
. made the point that it was purely
' question of law whether the bailitf haC
} the right to force talesmen to appear
70 as jurors. Deputy High Sheriff Chit
70 | lingworth maintained that Ellis did no
> have any such right without proper
v summons having been made and in thu
> present case, Judge Gear had told Elm
u to get the jurors in the building anC
q not given him any authority to compe
u any ones attendance.
Il do not believe" said the court "tha
any one not even court bailiff has tn
e. right TO go into the streets and commi
e a breach of the peace. And the COur
h believes Mr.. Ellis, that you make a mis-
g take in the present instance. Yol
70 should have told the prosecuting wit
20 ness who you were and for what he wa
S wanted i'm the court but the evidenc
. shows that you went there and grabbe
him and tried to force him into cOurl
70 You made mistake in listening [
IL what Judge Humphreys had to say
It Judge Humphreys has no right to te
any person not even a bailiI to go on
into the streets and commit a breach q
the peace. The court considers tina
70 you are guilty of assault and battery.
,- "NOw the circuit court judges nav
/ been great sticklers for proper proce
p dure. Time and again they have throw
out cases from this court on the ground
that no complaint has been filed. The
should certainly observe the proper pre-
- cedure in the summoning of jurors
What you should have done when NJ
Cooley refused the first time you spok
to him was to have reported the matte
to Judge Gear and then he could hav
issued a regular summons for him bu
you did not do this, you made the mis-
take of listening to what Judge Hum
phreys advised you to do
II do not think however Judge Hun
phreys would have made such an errC
had. h. been aware Of how Circuu
stances really stood, ! do not thin
that you stated exactly to him hO
matters stood. However, 1 do not thin
that this case merits severe punishment
The court considers you guilty of as
sault and battery"
AT this point Attorney Thompson too
an attitude OF preparation TO note a
appeal but metophoricaly event WA
back and sat down as Judge Wiico
continued
D.. o..