Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-09-06
TWO FOREIGNERS
ARRESTED

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About nine O'Clock the attention OF
passersby was attracted by a woeful
looking object seated on the stone step:
in front of Justice Oglesby's office,
He was an agreeable looking young
fellow, barefooted and hatless, al
though cleanly and we'll attired. His
clothing was stained with blood, which
issued from his nose and mouth. He
was unable to speak word of Eng
lish, but someone divining that he
was after justice. sent for Squire
Oglesby, who had closed up his office
for the night.
The justice finally arrived and the
young man tried to explain his griev-
ance. He was unable to make himself
understood, and it was necessary to
employ an interpreter. Leo Barron,
an intelligent young Pole, who is mas
ter of languages used by our foreign
ers, was introduced.
The story as told by the barefoot and
hatless young man was in effect as fol-
lows: His name is George Malickl.
He has been in this country a little
over a year and is not yet twenty
years of age. He undoubtedly has had
hard time of it. He came to Dan
willie about the 4th of July expecting
to work at the big mill since then he
has had no work and he has got in
arrears for lodging.
The young fellow boarded" with
Mike Watosien on Northumberland
street By this it is understood that
he had permission to sleep in the house
and to cook his meals on the Watosien
stove. He even may have been fur
nished coffee from the Watosien coffee
pot, but this was the limit; the food
he ate he had to provide himself. For
the privilege of "rOosting" in the
Watosien house and the few slim
courtesies additional he paid the sum
of $3 per month. 1t was for just about
this sum that he was in arrears.
Watosien didn't like it at all that
his young cOuntryman should be in
arrears. He permitted him to remain
in his house, however, until Saturday
night, when according to the story
told by Malicki, Watosien and one of
his boarders named Mike Bassaraba
had an evening of it together. While
these two were out Malicki being tired
went TO bed
He had scarcely got asleep. he said,
before lac was assaulted by Watosien
and Bassaraba, who acted like wild
men. They upbraided him for being
in arrears and then to use the langu-
age of the interpreter they smashed
him on the face" and beat him merci-
lessly, after which hatless and shoe
less they threw him out of the house
Malicki took the necessary oath and
to the information he affixed his sign
ature, revealing the fact that he is a
good penman.
1t was half an hour later when Ofiic
ers Mincemoyer and Young had Wat
oSien and Bassaraba, who were charg
ed jointly, in front of Justice Oglesby.
lt was hard To keep the defendants
seated. They gesticulated, they stamp
ed, they shouted and they talked so
fast that their odd jargon resembled
the cackling of geese and was just
about as intelligible.
Ii was prima facie case, however.
The prosecutor. forgetting his injuries,
chose To be lenient and proposed to
withdraw the case, if the defendants
would pay the cost. 1t was here that
the real battle began. The wife of one
of the men was present. She favored
paying the sum to avoid going to Jail,
but the men affected not to have
enough money to meet the demands of
the case and they tried to compromise.
The Justice, however, was obdurate
il was either the whole amount or
none. The two defendants searched
their pockets little more closely and
found some more money, but there was
still a deficiency. This, they felt sure,
would be overlooked and when they
found the justice as unyielding as ever
they wanted to be martyrs. They
jumped to their feet they said they
would go to Jail and they wanted to
start Immediately They reconsidered
this the next moment, however, and
the hearing went on. Ii was half
an hour later before the defendants
discovered that they We're possessed of
sufficient assets to meet the case and
thus the affair was settled.