The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-05-20
LONG DRAWN OUT
Case of A. j. Skinner Before
Court of Topeka.
Was Arrested in Arkansas for
Selling MOrtaged Property.
FAMILYROWINCLUDED
Claimed ThatFather Abandoned
His Is Year Old Daughter.
Items of Interest From the
Topeka Courts.

The preliminary trial of A. ]. Skim
ner, which was begun in city court
tuesday morning, has developed into
long and hard fought case with
| many complications. Skinner is
charged by ]. Lamb, complaining wit
ness. with having made way with
mortgaged property from the Central
motel which Skinner had leased from
Lamb. Skinner gave up the hotel
business here quite suddenly and went
! to Rogers, Ark, from which place he
was brought back here last week by
Sheriff Wflkerson after fight against
requlsit1on in the Arkansas courts.
me trial OF this case was still in prog
ress at o'clock this afternoon
The state claims that Skinner, when
ne left the hotel, took with him per-
sonal property that belonged to the
hotel and upon which there was a
mortgage. The defense sets up the
plea that this suit was instigated ma
llcfously and without just cause, and
that Skinner took only his own prop
erty away with him. He might have
owed debts, but he was within the law
in all his dealings.
The complications in this case arise
from the suit filed in probate court
last Saturday to have guardian ap-
pointed for May Skinner, the Is year
old daughter of the defendant, Skin
ne-'s wife, who is with him in court,
is the little girls stepmother. Skin
ner's counsel this morning claimed
that the suit in probate court was
started by Mr.. Lamb and others for
the purpose Of injuring the defendant
in the present case in city court. The
states attorney retaliated with the
startling and sensational charge that
Skinner and wife had been guilty of
extreme cruelty toward their little
daughter and when they went away
to Arkansas they had abandoned her
to the tender mercies of strangers.
The little girl is under the care of
K w. King. the humane officer, and
she does not hesitate to say that she
has been cruelty treated, more so by
her own father than by her step
mother. She said that her older sis
ter Alma. who testified today for the
defense, had also turned against her.
She said she had found place in
private family as a domestic after her
parents went away. She Is q pretty
girl and appeared very diffident and
in distress over her misfortunes.
The oldest daughter, Alma, today
testified that she was an employee of
the Bell Telephone Co., here, and that
she had also helped in the hotel She
went on to identify the furniture and
equipment as belonging to her father,
en6 said that she had packed most of
it when they went away.
Attorneys Nichols and Steigler will
soon file the papers in city court in a
case to test the validity of the law
passed at the 1907 session of the legis-
lature which bars policemen and school
teachers from receiving fees as wit
nesses in court. The case will be that
of Ben Judkins, ex-city detective.
against the county commissioners to
recover his fees in a recent case in
which he appeared as the principal wit
70, +1n %nk> 10
contention of the plaintiffs is that
while police officers may be employees
of the city and paid by the city, and
the law may hold good as applied to
police court, yet in state cases in the
city and district courts 1t would not
apply to city employees at all. The po-
lice declare that it is often a great
hardship, especially on the night force
to have to get up early and appear in
court every few days in some suit or
other in which they are witnesses. and
that they are entitled to their fees in
state and county case, even though
they are employees Of the city.
James Sibley, a negro, was arrested
by the police today on charge of steal
ton, foreman Of the Missouri Pacific
roundhouse. Sibley was turned over
to the county Authorities.
A marriage license was issued by
the probate judge Tuesday to Lee
Pendegrass, aged 20 years, and Lillian
Koker, aged only IA years, both of this
city. This is the youngest couple that
has ventured upon the matrimonial sea
for a long time, according to the rec
ords of the probate judges office.
John Homberg is being tried in pro-
bate court this evening on the question