The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-23
BOB SPRIGGS FOUND GUILTY.
NEGRO DIVE KEEPER LIKELY TO
GET 30 YEARS.

-
Jury Just Ten Minutes In Finding That He
Abducted Hattie warren, White-His
P~rocuress. sallie Bennett. Immediately
Pleads Guilty OF the Same Crime.
Bob spriges, the negro dive keeper. was
convicted before Judge Cowtng In Gen.
eral Sessions yesterday OF abduction. AS
he was indicted for a second offence he
may get twenty years in Sing Sing. n
it Is not unlikely that he will get the maxi
mum punishment.
1t took the jury ten minutes to convict
him. 1t was after he had gone on the wit
ness stand and denied everything that
Hattie Warren had said Of how he had
beaten her and held her prisoner in his house
in Cornelia street. When Spriggs's counsel
was making his opening address for him
the negro made a pretence at crying But
when the verdict was brought in he glared
at the foreman Of the jury. He has been
something Of a political power, having been
a member of the colored Democracy, and
he also had influence with the police.
Immediately after Spriggs had been sent
over to the Tombs Sallie Bennett, a negroes,
was brought into court. She is indicted for
HDUuCIlOH dk II etCDIhb CIV eHN r.
a house four doors from the Tenderloin sta
ton. When she heard that Spriggs mad
been convicted she decided that It would
be a. good thing to plead guilty. she was
allowed to plead to a first offence ana VIII
probably get ten years. She has been IN
Sing Sing four years. She is said TO nave
had a working business arrangement with
Spriggs whereby white women were shifted
from one house to another.
A few minutes before Sallie Bennett
pleaded guilty Marie Smith, a negress
whose place at Forty-seventh street and
Broadway was raided after Sallie Bennett
was arrested, was convicted in Special
Sessions Of running a disorderly house.
She was fined S25. 1t Ia expected that
there will be other developments OF the
District Attorneys inquiry about negroes
who nave white women in their houses.
There was a crowd in court TO see the
last day of the Spriggs trial, Allen @.
Brown, an architect, told OF making draw
for, the District Attorney. This was after
the place had been raided. He said that
new sashes had been put on the Windows
and that the locks had been removed from
the doors. Then Policeman Berbenich
told of the night OF the raid on S%priggs's
DldCt. MS Sdlu VIA NiV Vihoo"c VI
nailed. that there were padlocks on the
doors and that the shutters were fastened
with chains. 49,,
aHattie Warren was in the house with
three other girls said Berbenich., Il
told the women to dress. They said their
clothes were in a closet. Spriggs, refused
to give me the keys. / broke in the closet
door and found the clothes.
Mark Alter opened the case for Spriggs,
who then took the stand. He denied every-
thing that Hattie Warren had said. He
declared that the women simply rented
rooms from him. He was a waiter, he said,
but now and then sold race horses. He
wasn't in the house the night the police
men raided it. His wife was a white woman.
He admitted that he had written from the
Tombe to her and TO two other negroes
to keep out Of the way" or they would be
picked up. He admitted that he served
three years in Sing Sing for assault,
Assistant District Attorney Caravans
summing up was a conservative statement
of the facts in the case. Lawyer John
Heinzleman summed up for Spriggs. Judge
Cowing in his charge to the jury said that
the case was a most important one. but
that it should be judged without sympathy
or prejudice. p