Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-10


gagement. l had
mt cent neither mad I mouthful to eat for
two days. l was starving | determined to get
food at any risk. chose swell restaurant be-
cause thought that while poor restaurant keeper
might make rich hotel would not mind Civ
ing me meal to save me from starving. That s
all. A point made at the trial that if the
actress had ordered three dollars and sixtv-ive
cents worth of meat, vegetables, and bread sent
to her home from provision market and had
eaten the food and had caused the same to be
charged to her account, and had not paid the bill
action could have been brought against her
The Judge refused to see the point, and sent the
actress to Blackwe1s Island for thirty DAYS along
with pickpockets and shoplifters.
In North Dakota young man refused to deliver
up his estate to his creditors. His estate" con-
sisted of interest from fund held for him in trust
during the lifetime of an aunt. He said he had
spent the interest for several years in advance and
SO had nothing to deliver. Nevertheless he was
imprisoned and one of his creditors was heard to
remark: We've got him where want HMM
jail for debt
In Portland Maine, judgment for one hundred
dollars obtained against young physician
His creditor summoned him to make disclosure
concerning his business affairs. Looking upon the
summons farce, as he had business affairs
to reveal the physician on the day appointed for
the disclosure, went to picnic. Upon his return
he was arrested for contempt Later he proved
his Impecumos1ty and was released; but he had
already suffered red thirty days Imprisonment.
exists IN relation to Imprisonment for failure pay
fines imposed by the militia. A militaman in
JEFFERSON City, missouri, was lined. He neglected
to pay, was arrested and detained" for period
at the discretion of the court In Lansing, Mich
lgan,. however, member of the National Guard
arrested for the same offense was dismissed on the
ground that " no person can be imprisoned in Mich
igan for a militia fine in time of peace"
Many Held for Fraud"
NEARLY all the States allow Imprisonment for
debts contracted fraudulently" So SAYS Wilbur
Larremore, editor of The Law Journal" To
which the attorney general of Connecticut adds:
imprisonment for debt is practically obsolete;
but for debts based upon fraud it may be said to
exist to a limited extent"
The difficulty seems to be to determine what
constitutes fraud In the of a Young widow
of Chicago fraud constructed to mean contract,
ing an Indebtedness beyond ones ability to paw
The widow had bought thirteen hundred dollars
worth of jewels Under examination she declared
she had given the jewels to friends as presents.
The Jeweer then had her arrested for fraud. The
court decided that the widow had contracted in
therefore there had been intent to pay. But the
law provided no penalty, and the widow was dis
charged. Meantime, she had spent five weeks in
jail. California defines fraud in cases of debt as
malicious mischief, and on this ambiguous charge
the debtor may be imprisoned Michigan and
Arizona imprison debtors for breach of trust"
that is, obtaining credit for a certain and not
paying it when due.
Misdemeanor' is one Interpretation of fraud
in number of States; that is, under certain cir
cumstances the nOn-pa yment of a bill is made a
This refers especially to hotel and
board bills Not long ago a German American
woman of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a bookkeeper in
a brewery, disappeared from her boarding house
leaving fifty-doar board bill unpaid She left
trunkful of clothes; but that sufficient for
the boarding house keeper who wanted not security
but fifty dollars Accordingly she demanded that
war; rant he for I,ar