The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-01-16

day, in his argument for IL new tria
in the Attorney George w. Beale case.
The principal ground on which the
appeal is based is that the court below
Judge Archibald, was unfair in hi.
charge to the jury and in endeavorint
TO demonstrate the unfairness of tn,
charge Mr. Holgate made some very
caustic comments.
Not the least among them was thai
| the judge was capricious and that he
displayed animosity. The court erred
Mr.. Holgate alleged, in unduly and for.
| chilly commenting on evidence unfavor.
| able to the defendant, and in not pre-.
! senting the evidence of the defendant
| with the same force and clearness anG
| detail given the evidence of the COM
monwealth.
The defendant, Attorney Beale, ir
December. 1882 was convicted of en-
bezzlng $1,525.19 from the estate of Es-
ther Meade, deceased, of which he be-
came executor under the will of his
client, II. i. Ellis, brother of Mrs
Meade. Ellis had s4,7oSo5 standing to
his credit in the First ational bank
Mr.. Beale checked out the whole
| amount. Mrs. Meade died eighteen
when her sons came to collect her
| share of the>money they We're offered
| certificates of stock in a defunct coal
company, with the explanation that
| their mothers money, at her direction,
had been invested in these securities.
The children refused to believe this
story and after three years of fruitless
effort at collecting the money, they had
the attorney arrested for embezzlement.
HINGE OF THE CASE.
The case hinged on the truth or fall
sity of the claim that Mrs. Meade had
directed the attorney to invest the
money for her. Three witnesses, George
Marshall, George Ludlow and Mrs. Lu-
cinda Cook, testified to being present
when Mrs. Meade is alleged to have
given the directions and that they re-
membered that what Mr.. Beale alleged
about the conversation with Mrs.
Meade was substantially true.
On the other hand, was strong tes-
timony that at the time Mrs. Meade
IS alleged to have visited Mr. Beale's
office, she was sick in bed at her sons
home in Madisonvil1e. and had been for
several weeks. The attending physi-
clan, DR.. Fille. declared that Mrs.
Meade was so i'll from the time of her
brothers death until she, herself, died,
that she was not able to have been
moved to Scranton, to say nothing Of
her having made the journey unat-
tended.
In further refutation of the claim that
the money was invested for Mrs. Meade
a inc alat 1.-Two
told that Attorney Beale at various
times after their refusal of the coal
company stock. agreed to pay the
money to them if given time.
The sentence of the court was that he
restore the money and spend six
months in Jail. A rule for a new trial
was secured, but the new trial was re-
fused. Then an appeal was taken to
the superior court.
The commonwealth, represented by
George Nj. Watson, in arguing yeSter-
day against the granting of a new trial
contented itself with a refutation of
the allegations of unfairness in the
judges charge, and a brief review of
the facts of the case.
BASSETT PAID COSTS.
Another case in which much interest
attached to the arguments was the
famous Bassett pond case. involving
the right of piscary by prescription.
Bassett pond is located near Fleet
Vile. II. c. Gibbs and George G..
Gibbs own most of the land around it
and claim ownership to the lake. De
Wilton Sweet, a neighbor, was fish
ing there one day in June, 1885, when
the two Gibbs ordered him away and
brought suit TO recover damages for q
perch which he had caught
For ID number of years Soodly por-
tion of the people of the neighborhood
disputed the right of the Gibbs family
to say who should or should not fish
in the lake and this incident resulted
in the question being brought to n test.
The plaintiffs proved title to the
pond, but admitted that other adjacent
farms extended to its shores. The de-
fendant showed that he had fished in
the pond without let or hindrance for
over 81 years and thereby acquired a
right to fish 'by prescription" or
what in land case would be COM
monty termed "squatter's right"
Judge Edwards ruled against the de-
fendant's claim and directed Il verdict
for the plaintiff in the sum of six
cents. The arguments yesterday We're
made by A. A. Chase for the appellant
and S. b. Price and w. w. Baylor for
the appellees.
The case of NJ. j. Ruddy against
William Repp, appellant was argued
by II. NJ, Hannah for the appellant and
eX-Superior Court Judge r. y. VIII
lard for the aDDellee
CONTRACTOR DEFAULTED.
Ruddy furnished stone for the con-
struction of the Old Forge high school.
Repp was chairman of the building
committee. The contractor, Van Loon,
defaulted and Ruddy sued Repp for
the price OF the stone. alleging that
Repp was acting as contractor for fur
nishing the stone ana that he had
agreed to see that il would be paid
for Repp denied all this and contend
ed that the only dealings he had with
Ruddy was to tell him one time that
the school district was indebted TO Van
Loon The jury gave a verdict against
Repp and he appealed
Mr.. Hannah. in his argument, point
ed out that the account against Repp
on which the suit was brought was in
deXed in Ruddy's ledger under the let
ter ~" indicating that Rudy had
expected to be paid by Van Loon and
not Repp.
Judge Willard I'm reply contended
that this ledger alteration matter was
not properly Of record. not having
been presented according to the rules
of court