Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1906-04-03

Supreme judicial Court.
i MARCH TERN, 1905.
: A. N. Spear, Justice Presiding
Charles +. Whitman, CLERK
r. L. Hayden, Stenographer
Charles p. Barnes, County Attorney
B. G. McIntire, Sheriff
w. l.. Farrar, Jailer
II. e. Hammond, Crier
Walter L. Gray, Librarian
Ralph I. Trask, Messenger
When the case OF State vs.. Allen Lin
nell, charged with killing and having II
possession fawn in close time, was re
sumed last Monday, Mr.. Hastings, at
tOrney for Linnell, moved that he b.
discharged on the ground that the STATE
had failed to make out a case. Thu
motion was granted, mol pros wa:
entered, and the respondent was dis
charged.
Work was then begun on the Rumfort
Falls liquor cases. The first was tina
of Georgianna Potvin, indicted fol
liquor nuisance. County AttOrne,
Barnes for state; Mccarthy for respond
ent. A Sturgis deputy made search
and seizure at the place of the respond
ent, 223 Waldo Street. The defence
asserts that the small quantity of liquor
seized contained Peruvian bark and was
used as family medicine. A verdict Of
guilty was returned, and the respondent
was sentenced to a fine and costs
amounting to s126.25, and thirty days in
Jail.
Edward Siddall of Rumford Falls
pleaded guilty on two indictments,
common seller and single sale. On the
common seller he was sentenced to a
| fine of 500 and costs of S3l.56, and
thirty days in Jail, and on the single
sale to fine of $50 and costs Of $40. 81,
and thirty days in Jail, this sentence to
take effect after the other one.
Roland McPhee pleaded guilty to sim
gle sale, and received sentence of fine
Of $50 and costs of S1l33, and thirty
days in Jail. He paid the fine, and was
committed to serve his term.
James Poland, whose bail had been
defaulted on Saturday, appeared in
court and the default of his bail was
stricken off. He pleaded guilty to an
indictment as common seller, and was
sentenced to pay fine of 500 and costs
of s20.65, and thirty days in Jail.
Lewis Cohen of Rumford Falls plead
ed guilty to an indictment for nuisance
found at the last October term, and was
sentenced to fine of 800 and costs of
500 az and thirty davs in Jail
Bail was defaulted in the cases of Fred
E. Tucker, single sale, and Gideon R.
Ferland, two cases, single sale, and
search and seizure.
The next case tried was State VS.. Joe
Bill, an appealed search and seizure case
from the Rumford Falls Municipal
Court County Attorney Barnes for the
state; Stearns for respondent. Joe Bill,
an Italian well known as fruit vender
at the fairs, is resident of Rumford
Falls, and has an establishment in that
section of the town known as Virginia,
where he runs store and Italian lodg-
ing house. he is a contractor of italian
laborers, and lodges the laborers whom
he handles at this house. At the time
of liquor raid at Rumford Falls on the
9th of February, his establishment was
visited by Officer Merrill and Deputy
Sheriff Perkins, and key of beer was
seized.
The defence was that the beer was not
intended for sale, but that it was pur-
chased for their own use by cOntribu-
ton from Joe Bill and nine other Ital-
ians whose names were given, each of
whom contributed $3.50 toward the
purchase of five kegs of beer in Deem
Der, of which the keg seized was the
last. According to the testimony of
Joe Bill himself and three others of the
Italians who live in his establishment,
as each keg was tapped the beer was
drawn off into bottles. and each man
then took his share and took care of it
for himself. On so much of the facts all
these witnesses were in exact agreement,
though on some other details concerning
the management of the establishment
their testimony showed some variations.
Joe Bill admitted on cross-examina-
ton that he had under his Italian name,
tax as retail dealer in malt liquors, and
said that he did it because he was told
that he had better do it to save himself
from getting into trouble. Testimony
was also introduced by the state regard
ing intoxicated men having been seen
coming down the path which leads to
his place.
While this case at the outset did not
seem to have any warrant for great
length, it went very slowly. This was
due in part to the exhaustive examina-
ton of all the witnesses, and in part to
the fact that the witnesses for the de-
fence, except the proprietor. were
Italians who do not understand English,
while Joe Bill himself, although his
testimony was given in English, does
not make it any too clear. For the
other witnesses an interpreter had to be
used, and this made the progress of the
trial very slow. Though it was opened
and got good start Monday afternoon,
it was not finished and given to the jury
until o'clock Tuesday afternoon.
The jury was out about three-quarters
of an hour, coming to an agreement just
after court adjourned for the night.
The verdict was sealed, and reported the
next morning as guilty. Mr.. StearnS,
who had before the trial filed a motion
to quash on an alleged defect in the
complaint, Immediately announced his
intention to file motion in arrest of
judgment on substantially the same
ground as his motion to quash. Sub
Sequeptly he withdrew his motion, and
in consideration of the somewhat ques-
tionable legality of the complaint Judge
Spear imposed only fine, which was
500 and costs of S34.S2. This was at
once paid.
Three other respondents in appealed
beer seizures from Rumford Falls,
Patrick PapOspa, c. c. Italien, and
Polly Procopio, decided to retract and
plead guilty, and in view of the fact
stated by the county attorney as of his
knowledge, that these men had bought
the beer which was seized under a
guarantee that it was not intoxicating,
they too were let off with a fine, which
was 500 and from $40 to SIS costs in
each case.
Immediately after the Joe Bill trial
Lewis Hanson, a young man who lives
in the town of Cumberland, was placed
on trial on an indictment charging him
with receiving stolen property. On
Sunday, Oct. 8, the house of Alonzo
Brickett, who lives in Norway on the
road from Norway village to North
Waterford, was entered through win
dow during Mr.. Brickett's absence from
the place for half-hour in the after
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