The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-09-03
SALOON KEEPER FOUND
GUILTY AS CHARGED
BUT THE JURY RECOMMENDS
MERCY IN CASE OF c. j.
BERTLESoN.
I'VE, the jury in the above-entitled

\ amt be granted the extreme mercy
! the court"
The above verdict was returned
: the jury in the case OF the city
: Astoria against c, ], Bertleson, pr,
, Iprietor OF the Warwick saloon on Con
mercial street, in police court yestei
day afternoon, The jury deliberate
for only comparatively short tim,
, but before reaching verdict the
had gone to the Warwick saloon an
viewed the wine room which the de
fendant was charged with having ha,
open last Thursday night.
Judge Anderson imposed scntenc
OF FIVE days in the city Jail or a fin
of $40, which was paid The defend
ant had already forfeited $40 bal
money, because he had failed 10 ap
pear in court when the case was frs
called, and in addition to this had pu
/ up the requisite $6 for jury trial
| thus making his total costs in the ma
ter so.
| The case attracted much attention
and the court room was comfortabl,
filed with auditors yesterday after,
noon when the trial was commenced
| Two of the jurymen failed r. -,
up and in their stead were secured
I. Cunningham and F. n. Mooers
and these with ], N. Laws, Alex
Tagg, Jacob Utzinger and L. f.
Howes formed the jury.
Police Officer Houghten was the
principal witness for the prosecution,
He testified that he had seen won
an and two men enter the rear en-
trance OF the Warwick saloon and fol
lowing them in, found them inside
one Of the wine rooms. They were
talking to Lee Herring. the barkeeper
The fact that the wine room was open
and the further TACT that woman
was inside of it were established be-
yond question Of doubt, and these
facts were even admitted by the de-
tense.
But the defense offered to explain
these facts by adducing extenuating
circumstances. The woman who was
in the wine room testified that she
had gone there to use the lavatory
The man with her said he was merely
chatting with the barkeeper. The de-
Tense, through its attorney, Mr.. Cur
It's, emphasized the alleged fact that
the woman had gone there for a pur-
pose other than to secure drinks and
this apparently had an effect upon
the jury, though the mere fact that
the woman had sauntered into the
place and stepped right into the wine
room as il she was very much at
home there was taken as an indication
by Captain Abercrombie, the city at
torney, of direct evidence OF guilty
intention Why the woman felt JUS
tilted in freely entering the saloon at
all was not explained, as she testified
that before the ordinance went into
effect prohibiting the wine rooms. she
had frequently been in the place, and
hence she knew all about the ordi-
nance and the fact that the wine
rooms were presumed to be closed
1t was alleged, however, that this
time no effort was made to buy drinks
andthe further fact was brought out
that the proprietor himself did not
even know of the presence of the
party in the wine room.
Considerable comment was caused
by the fact that the defense asked
that the jury go to the saloon to view
the wine room. That what the jury
saw influenced their verdict was TAX
en- to be true by many who followed
the case, and it is presumed not to
have strengthened the defendants
case.
Police officers look upon the decis-
ion as victory for them, and had the
jury held differently it was freely pre-
dicted that in the future it would be
difficult matter to get an officer to
make an arrest in such case.
A warrant has been issued from
Justice Goodman's court against Mr.. |
Bertleson, the Warwick's proprietor,
charging him with having drawn a
revolver upon Officer Houghten at
the time of making the arrest.
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CT TIL A