The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1908-08-15
GRAND JURY WILL
PROBABLY Be CALLED
Julius Solomon Arrested on Charge
of Provocation Swears That He
Paid SIS When Officer Junic De-
manded a Weekly Stipend for
Protection.

A grand jury investigation of the
Juric of the Gary police force wiii
probably result, through the arrest of
Julius SOIoman, BrOadway grocer, a
few days ago, charged with provoca-
tion. Solomon claimed this afternoon,
under sworn testimony, that he had
paid Officer Zurich the of So for
protection. and the officer had de-
manded a weekly stipend and that the
grocer had refused to accede to the de-
mands.
The graft charge has caused great
commotion throughout the city. Yes
terday morning when the case came up
for a hearing before Justice p. L. Fitz-
gerald it was seen that the petty
charges of provocation would resolve
itself into serious complications. The
various attorneys in the case We're i'm
mediately reused into a state of great
excitement and charges and counter
charges became rampant.
LAW FIRM Is RETAINED.
The attorneys retained in the case by
Solomon, namely: the firms of Houren,
Sefton & Rennolett and Beck & O'Con-
nor, had previously decided to push the
charges of graft against the officer, and
Judge Fitzgerald. sitting in the provo
cation case decided to give the attor-
neys a large latitude so that the mat
ter could be sifted to the bottom. The
story of extortion related by Solo
man and his witnesses on the stand
was startling in the extreme. The
reason. he said, that Juric demanded
protection money was for the unsani-
tary condition in which the grocery
store was kept.
The law firm of Harris & Bretsch,
which it has previously been charged
is in cohorts with the police, has again
been dragged into the limelight. It
was asserted by Soloman, that in
previous case where his brother-in- law
was charged with horse stealing, Har-
ris & Bretsch defended the case.
TELLS OF QUEER CASE.
Before taking the case. however,
SoIoman stated that the attorneys de-
manded the sum of 5000. fifty dollars
of which was to be given to Mayor
Knots. SIS to several of the police Of
ficers and the remainder to be re-
tanned by themselves. This he claimed,
he thought was the purport of a con-
tract drawn up by Attorney Harris and
which he agreed to sign. He admitted
that he was in ignorance, however, of
the reason for the various amounts
which were to be paid to the city of
ficials. The contract exhibited before
the court had no such terms in 1t, but
as Soloman is unable to read English
he would have been ignorant of that
fact
The reason fnsinuated for giving this
money to the city officials was for the
release of the brother-in law on the
charge of horse stealing This part of
Soloman's story, which is most un-
plausible, was not given much credence
OLD ACCUSATIONS REVIVED.
The old accusations of conspiracy be-
tween the police department and Har-
ris Bretsch were revived in the pres
ent case. 1t was said by Attorneys
Beck and O'Connor that when Solo
man asked for a bond the desk sergeant
sent for Attorney J. Glenn Harris, and
that the alter took advantage of the
opportunity by refusing to sign the
bond unless his firm be retained in the
case. The grocer also claims that Har-
ris had attempted to whip him into line
As to the charge of provocation, pre-
ferred by officer Juric, it appears as
If there had been personal animosity
between the two men for some time
In this instance Juric questioned Solo
man about a new horse which he was
driving, suspecting that the animal
might have been stolen, as it an
swered the description of a missing
horse. An argument followed in which
rapid fire of insults were hurled at
each other and finally resulted in the
arrest of the grocer on a charge of pro-
voking the officer. Soloman stated
that at this time he was offered his
release upon paying the officer stipu-
lated sum.
The case. which had consumed nearly