Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-11-01
xImportant Decisions :
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.

ROBBERY PECULIAR SENTENCE.
| The defendant was convicted of an
attempt to commit robbery. Under
the penal code of California, it is re-
CURED that one convicted of robbery,
where prior convictions are shown
against him, shall be punished by i'm
prisonment for life, and there is no al
tentative An attempt to commit
crime, however, is punishable by only
one-half the sentence due for con-
summation of the crime. To avoid the
uncertainty of the duration of this SEN
tence, the lower court resorted to
mortality tables, and sentenced the de-
PENDANT for one-half of his expectancy.
This the supreme court of California
declares was erroneous, as under the
statutes the sentence is not for one
half of an average life, but for the one
half of the defendants life, which prob
ably will be shorter or longer than
the average. The court concludes that
the punishment for crime of the class
involved in this case is SO vague and
indefinite as to be impossible of en-
forcement, and that the statute pro-
viding penalty of that kind is void,
and clothed in the garb of an intricate
Chinese puzzle. 50 Pacific Rep. (Cal-
ifornia) Is.
HOMICIDElGROUN FOR TRIAL.
During a trial for murder, while
defendants lawyer was addressing the
jury, about 100 people, being one-fourth
of those present in the court room,
simultaneously, and as if by agree
ment, left the room. Soon thereafter
a fire alarm was given near the court
house, which caused Q number of other
persons to leave. The trial judge, in
his statement of the case, found that
pose of breaking the force OF counsers
argument, but did not find that the
jury We're influenced. Held, that altllo
the judge did not SO find, the disorderly
proceedings were such as to warrant
the court in declaring that the trial
was not conducted according to the law
of the land, as guaranteed by the con-
stitutional provision that no person
ought to be deprived of life, liberty,
or property but by the law of the land
AZ Southeastern Rep. North Carolina,
Judge Montgomery 536.
JUMPING FROM r. r. TRESTLE.
Plaintiff, with two female compan.
ions, was walking on the track of the
defendant railroad company, and in the
direction of a bridge. She testified that
they knew when they went on the
trestle that they had not time to cross
before certain train was due. On
reaching the edge of the bridge proper.
they looked back, saw train coming,
and tried to return over the trestle.
The train was not going to cross tho
bridge, but plaintiff, not knowing this,
and fearing she would not be able to get
off the trestle before the train reached
her, jumped from the trestle and was
injured. Held, that in going on the
trestle, plaintiff was guilty of negli-
gence as matter of law, making her
responsible for her inprudent method
of avoiding the threatened injury. ~
Southeastern Rep. North Carolina.
Judge Cook sd.
BANKS-DISHONO OF CHECK.
In an action against bank to re-
cover damages for it's wrongful refusal
to honor depositor's check, plaintiff.
who at the time her check was dis
honored, was pursuing a special study
in a strange city, may recover for any
time she lost, or any expenses she in
Suileu VI III Oily 1888 VI circuit, OIL DuSl-
ness, or of instruction that she sus-
tanned, but the fact that she had a.
nervous chill when her check was pro-
tested and returned to her is not to be
considered in estimating the damage,
as the chill was not such a thing as
should reasonably have been antici-
pated from persons of ordinary health
and strength. 60 Southwestern Rep.
(Kentuclsy. Judge Hobson) 759.