The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1908-01-10
BUSY YEAR.
County Attorney Norton
Makes Annual Report.

The year 1907 has been very bus,
| season for the county attorneys Office
aud the annual report of that Official.
which was forwarded to the attorne,
general Of the state, shows that th'
County Attorney John Ii Norton and
his assistant w. j. Stevenson of Du-
nth, aud OtluC. PORTER, Of Virginia.
nave disposed of the criminal and civ
ii matters within their jurisdiction
with considerable degree of success.
County Attorney Norton has person.
lilly supervised the criminal proSecu
tions before the district court. Nj.
stevenson, The first assistant county
attorney. has advised with the count,
hoard and other county officials and
looked after all tax matters. Under
mis- supervision the county this yea
has collected "a large amount of per-
sonal property taxes which have been
delinquent for many years.
Mr.. Poirier has handled twenty-siX
cases on the range in which he secured
convictions. He has examined into
and dismissed Jhirty-nine other Gases
for lack Of sufficient evidence TO wal
rant prosecution, making total Of
siXty-fye cases Investigated by the
range assistant.
Owing To the increased work for the
county attorney during the past year.
the county board, recently, engaged
more Office room for that official
The criminal work of the county
during the year has been exception
ally heavy and the criminal trials have
lasted pretty well toward tile CLOSE
of nearly every term of court through
out the year.
County Attorney Norton's report
shows the following items Of in
terest:
During the year there have been 149
cases haudled aud prosecuted. This
does rot include the cases inVesti-
gated before the grand Jury for which
no indict mentS were returned. OF
The total Of 149 prosecutions, there
have been thirCy-four convictions,
sixty seven pleas of guilty and thir-
teen acquiLLals, after trial.
The more serious cases were divided
as follows: Murde first degree, 2;
murder, second degree, /: murder third
degree. 3:manslaughter. first degree, |;
manslaughter, second degree, l. This
makes Il total of eight trials for muir
der aud manslaughter during the year.
OF this number there was one acquit-
ted OF murder in the first degree, and
the defendant in the second case was
committed TO the insane asylum One
person charged with murder in the sec
Oud degree committed suicide before
coming to trial. In the murder, third
degree cases, there was one conviction
one acquittal and one case was nolle
pressed. There were convictions in
both the mansIaughter cases.
During the year the county attor-
neg handled 40 assault cases, and Sc
cured conviction and pleas Of guilty III
80 cases. Five robbery cases resulted
in convictions and acquittal, land %
grand larceny cases resulted in Fl con-
vicIiuns and pleas Of guilty. The pet
it larceny totalled II.
The forgery cases tried totalled IA,
with II convictions and acquittals.
Three bigamy cases resulted in as
many convictions.
The county attorneys office pros
ecuted % "blind pig" cases in 1907 and
secured % convictions.
The fines collected through t h
prosecutions of the county attorneys
office this past year totalled $5.646.
Twenty-seven persons have been
sent to the state penitentiary at Still
water, aud nine persons have been
sent TO the state reformatory.
The figures given in the county
attorneys report do not include the
prosecutions for misdemeanors with
in the corporate limits Of Duluth, or
the other cities of the county, those
eases being handled throught the mu-
nicipal courts by the city attorneys.