The Dickinson press., 1902-05-10
Short Term

neld court IN DICKINSON this week. n
work of the term occupied but a short
time, a part of two days. and the jurors
who had been summoned from"their farm
work were happy.
The action against Henry Edgar was
dismissed, the complaining witness adj
hitting that a mistake had been made,
that is, the wrong party had been ac-
cused.
John Jones of Montana appeared in
court and asked that his case be disposed
of in some manner He plead not guilty
and a little questioning showed to the
court that his case was similar to the
Chapel case which was carried to the
supreme court a year ago on habeas cor
pus proceedings. The higher court said
that Stark county lacked jurisdiction and
the action was dropped. After Judge
Glaspell heard these facts he ordered
the action against Mr.. Jones dismissed
and instructed the clerk Of court to give
the defendant back his $4,000, the cash
bail he put up a year ago when arrested,
along with Chapel and one or two
others, who were supposed to have been
implicated in the stealing of Bird Head
cattle.
The action against John Leaky was dis
missed for want of evidence.
In the cases of Harry McTier and
Reginald Hummel, who had escaped Jail,
bench warrants were issued.
J. B. Mcdonald and H. v. Barnum
plead guilty and were sentenced each to
year lin the pen. Mcdonald, who
was arrested at the time of the McPeake
raid, had been in Jail 10 months. AS
there was nc probable chance of getting
a conviction under the original charge
he had been re-arrested for the theft of
the sherifs horse at the time he
broke Jail last summer. Barnum is the
mar who forged the name of ]. D. Clark
to a check for $50 and got it cashed at
the store of A. T. Crowl early in January.
He went to Montana on the night train,
it will be remembered, and was arrested
and convicted of stealing a team within
a few days, and had just served his Jail
sentence of three or four months, when
he was arrested and brought back to
Dickinson last week. Barnum came to
Dickinson last fall and his actions dur
ing the few months that he was here
would indicate that he had no regard for
his word and that he wanted to make a
living some way other than by hard
work. He proved unfaithful to positions
that we're given him and finally went to
the Cannon Ball where he represented
himself as a horse buyer. He stopped
at the Mead ranch for a few days where
he bargained for a number of horses. He
then~went up the river to the John Clark
place where he bargained for some more
horses. Mr.. Clark wrote a sealed letter
to Sheriff Goodall which Barnum was to
deliver in person. He tore the letter
open and with some blank checks which
he had found at the Cannon Ball ranches
Barnum thought he was in a position to
do a slick piece of forgery. Forgery is
a most serious crime, and had it not been
for friends Barnum's charge in the Sec
ond degree would have stood the mini.
mum sentence, which would have been
five years.
The case against Paul Tygum was dis
missed.
In the case of the state against c. F.
Merry, as was expected, a continuance
was asked for, and in support of this, de-
tendant swore to an affidavit setting
forth that he was unable to go to trial
because of the lack of material witnesses,
namely, Jack Weiderman of Fargo, H.
Cutliss Of Haley, and three or four other
parties not known in Dickinson. The
defense seemed to think that the prose-
cution had no right to rebut and that any
afid avit. no matter how unreasonable or
how fraudulent, was sufficient to put the
case over the term. Judge Glaspell in
formed the defendants counsel, however,
that it would be a strange rule of court
that would not permit of rebutal testi-
mony and that if such a rule we're per-
mitted it might, in certain cases, serve to
ind efnitely defer the trial of a criminal.
1t was shown to the court that neither
Jack Weiderman or H, Curliss were in
Dickinson at the time Merry's ofense
was committed, and the presumption
was that non of the other parties knew
anything about the affair. The court
stated that in view of the fact that sew
eral people of Dickinson, other than
those called by the state, were witnesses
OF the o%fense, that Merry could not suf-
fer by a trial and denied the motion of
the defense. For a few minutes it looked
as though Merry was up against the real
thing. His counsel refused to take any
part in the examination of jurors. etc.
But it was discovered by the court that
the defendant had not been arraigned
and as the judge did not wish to hold
court over another "a hours for this case,
he ordered that it go we the term.
The civil cases did not seem to amour,
to much. o. P. liner and Angus Pelle,
thought they could settle out OF court.