The Savannah morning news., 1903-01-22
HIS BOND ESTREATED
GROVES DID NOT APPEAR FOR
TRIAL IN SUPERIOR COURT.
TWO GAMBLING CASES TRIED.
STATES WITNESSES WERE EITHER
MISTAKEN OR UNPRECIsE.

Case Resulted in the AssIS nment
Dend DOcLet-BOwers Was Tried.
There Were Two Witnesses
Against Him-One said He Had An
other Man in Mind-The other Was
Not Positive in His Testimony.
Some Interesting Cases To-day.
A combination of mistaken identity,
haziness of memory and failure of ap-
pearance on the part of the states wit
nesses in the gambling cases set for
trial yesterday resulted in the placing
of six of the indictments on the dead
docket, the dismissal of a seventh and
an acquittal on the trial of the eighth.
In the case of w. c. Groves the bond
was estreated.
There were two cases against Groves,
one for keeping open a tipping house
on the Sabbath day, and the other
for maintaining a gambling room. The
same witness, on whose testimony the
indictment was returned, appeared for
the prosecution. He said that he did
not know of Groves ever conducting
gambling establishment. AS he was
the sole witness for the state, the case
was mol pressed.
Defendant Did Not Appear.
There being no appearance for the
defendant in the other case, a rule was
issued, calling upon him and his secur-
ity, ]. F'reid, to show cause why the
bond of $500 should not be estreated
The rule is returnable to the March
term of court, at which time, if there
is no reason shown to the contrary, a
rule absolute will be aiken. On this
rule absolute an execution will issue.
AS forecasted in the Morning News,
the cases against Jack Monahan and
Julius Rosenthal, for keeping gambling
houses, and those against j. H.
Hayes and Thomas Daniels, for
renting property for gambling pur-
poses, were assigned to the dead dock
ct, because of the absence of Horace
r. Hunter the states sole witness, UNI
der whose testimony the indictments
were returned in July, 1901. Twelve
cases have thus far been relegated to
the dead docket on this account.
One Case Was Tried.
When the case against Joe Bowers
was tcAllGu anu IL was lOuuu lIldl TWO
witnesses had appeared on the states
side, the spectators thought there was
something doing. a jury was empan-
elled and the case went to trial. There
were two charges against Bowers, one
for playing cards for money and the
other for maintaining a gambling
room. The former case was tried.
w. P. Spaulding, the first witness
for the state, explained to the court
that he had been laboring under a
false impression. He had not intended
to testify before the grand jury
against the man on trial. He had in
mind, he said, a red headed. sharp
featured man, and not Bowers. who
is stout, and brunette. He had got
ten the names mixed.
Isaac Sternberg was not mistaken in
his identity of the accused. He knew
him alright. There was no doubt about
that. He had seen him gamble, but his
memory was a little hazy as to the
exact time. He was pretty sure it was
within two years of the time alleged
in the indictment. 1t had been some
time ago, and he did not remember
exactly the time.
Bowers Denied the Charge.
Bowers made his statement. 1t was
in the shape of a general denial The
sworn statement of Sternberg, mainly
because of the lack of definiteness in
the witness testimony The jury con-
sidered the case about half an hour,
before reaching their verdict.
The case against Bowers for keep
Ing a gaming room next came up for
trial. The same witnesses, on whose
testimony the indictments were return
ed eighteen months ago, appeared for
the state. Both of them made a state
ment under oath that they had never
known Bowers to keep a gambling
room. Therefore, on the failure of the
state to make out it's case a nolle pro-
seoul was entered on the indictment.
Interesting Cases To-day.
OF the twenty-eight cases set, the
most interesting are scheduled for to-
day. when the indictments resulting
from the shooting in the keno room
last November will be tried. 1t is
evident from the number of witnesses
served that the state expects to make
fight. Besides the cases against those
alleged to be the proprietors of the
keno room, the cases against the prop
erty owners are also set for a hear
ing.
Besides these cases there are four
others which have been set for final
disposition to-day. These are against
Neil Gildea, James L. Mehrtens, T. %.
Dean and Slaughter Wallace. Other
cases have been set for tomorrow. and
it is expected that the end of the week
will witness the disposition of all of
the gambling cases now on the docket.