The sun., 1909-05-02
FINED SPEEDBRS BY NAIL.
MANFRED MAPS ODD COURT;
is NOW CLOSED.

He Has RasIsneu ana No More VIII Aute.f
mobile Owners (set Petite Letters
inviting to Mail fhtcxs for Zines
Effort Was Mnde 10 Inipeaeh Him.
With the elimination by resignation OF
Justice OF the Peace Manfred Mar Of
Trenton, N. j.. from the automobiIa
situation In the vicinity OF Trenton that
celebrated alliteration, Jersey justics,
loses one Of It's most picturesque features
the Correspondence Court for the Inn
posing Of Fines on Wealthy Automobile
Owners. Squire NaaE they call him In
Trenton, but his fame has gone out be-
other States; and all through his unique
system Of holding up owners OF motor
cars that trnversed the high road betwesn
Trenton and Hightstown, which was
Squire Naar's camping gro,tnd.
The squire's method OF operation was
simple. He stationed one or more aaattc.
out on the road or near II watching auto
mobiles as they passed. Fast or slow, no
attempt was made to stop the vehicles.
but the officers caught the numbers OF
those they wanted and a few days hter
the owner Of the car bearing that number
would receive letter from Squire Mar.
Ono of these letters dated September .,
1908, will servo az an example:
| DEAN Sin. There has been a complaint
lodged against you by one Of the officers u
| Faercer county for violating ihs autonobiis
law, to wit: Exceeding the speed OF twenty
miles an hour on the stone road leAdang
from Trenton to HiEhistown on September
S. 1903 II you desire trial In this matter
an early answer will obliRe ME.
| Under our automobile law II you do not
appear within Ave days | shall be COM
| PEELED to serve summons upon the De-
| partment Of state Of Motor Vehieies. - y
| Yours respectfully. 81
| MANFRED NAAR.
1t may be added that 10 one eiss ever
has discovered regulation Of tho sort
named In the last paragraph OF the squirrels
letter, nor is there in the laws Of the sovsr-
efgn State Of New Jersey any reccgni-
tion OF the mail order methods pursdsd
by the unique j. p.
The owner who received this letter
wrote back that he didn't know his car
was anywhere in Trenton on SeptemberS.
said he would discharge his chauffeur.
and closed with the sentence: Amy fur
ther Information you can give me on this
subject az to what can do to clear UP
this matter without coming TO Trenton.
for which I hardly have time. win hs
extremely obliged He got lettsr
right back from tho squire saying that
the matter had been investigated and
that a car bearing such and such Q num-
ber did pass through the county at tho
rate Of twenty-nine miles an hour. And
concluding that II the owner desired TO
settle the matter without coming 10 Tren-
ton he could mail him check Tor $lS.7s.
Then the owner mailed the oheok. The
same sum, &l3.f5. seemed TO be . fsvortte
ably were included q fine Of SO and $S.5S
costs Of the court. 70
Reduced rates were given by the squire
70 those who had to pay more than oue
fine within a short time. A Philads!phian
who received a request from Naar 70
the vicinity on the day in question, but
wrote back to Naar that II he bad
ex ceeded the speed limit it was done
lupconsciousiy aud uniDtentionslly. and
adding that during the four years he bad
been operating motor cars this was the
ing the law. He concluded his letter:
please advise me what the 1ne will Be
and will let you know whether win
pay It or stand trial. Tho squire made
the fine sl7 so, and when tasked with hav-
ing named an exorbitant sum, especially
in view Of the fact that am not guilty
replied that the same car had been re-
ported on two occasions. but two days
apart. and while the usual fine was $40
and costs for each offence he bad put
lii at si7.50 for both. The Philsdelphian
paid the fine.
The Automobile Clab OF America soon
took up the matter for its members.
and then the matter was brought 20 n
more acute stage through the summoninR
of a Young friend OF Leslie Fort. son OF
the Governor OF the State. BY Naar.
much after the method In the other oasee:
Naar had to 60 before the Governor and
ex plain his method then, and was warned
that while he was supposed to enforce
the law he should not go beyond it.
Naar continued his peculiar methods,
however, and the agitation against him
by the organizations OF automobilists
finally took form IN an attempt TO PROSE-
cute him oriminally. This attempt vas
abandoned and instead the Automobile
Club OF America laid charges against him
before the New jersey State Legislature
and asked that he be i'nPs= 4
petition embodying correspondence, BE-
tween the squire and two OF those whom
with the names OF several others, was
prepared by the automobile clubs New
Jersey lawyer. Richard Boardnnan OF
Jersey City. and presented In the AS
sembly by Assemblyman Burpo Of Pas:
saic county. Speaker Prince referred
the petition to the. Judiciary COMMITTEES.
This was last February. After some
delay the Judiciary Committee gave Nasr
a hearing on March 1e, at which time
the squire was questioned by Mr. Board
man, and his answers TO the questions
put to him were so unsatisfactory that the
committee instructed Attorney General
Edmund Wilson to draw the necessary
papers for impeachment ,prooeedlnEs;
Before the papers could be -prepared
Naar resigned on March "a. He called
at the Governors offce In person with
the resignation and Gov. Fort, accepted
il on the spot. This ended the career
OF the first and only correspondence
court of justice which has attracted AZ
tention in the country.
Naar is quoted as having said that
the total number Of automobile csses he
took up by this unique method was 2ib
between August, 1908, and the time OF his
resignation During the same pertod
he is quoted as claiming total ot 7Io
automobile speeding cases before him
| n.,.,v r,nnaE rkIp DIT