The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1909-02-09
conrt

| mhtCoIs bHdt Wcro pIcSCHsou w liz
After disposing of some Orphans coul
cases the Judge took up criminal matters
Edward Williams, colored man VIII
gave North Carolina as his residence, wa
the first fellow brought to the bar. II
was charged with stealing a horse froI
Edward Godfrey, of Mount Laurel. Th
prisoner said he had come to this sectio
to see if he could make a better Twin
than he was accustomed to In the South
He went to work for Godfrey and on
night he thought he saw chance to d
business and he took the horse and wen
to Gloucester, where he offered the ami
NAL for sale. The man to whom he pro
posed selling engaged the colored man i
conversation until officers could be sum
moned and an arrest followed. William
said he had never been arrested before
but the court was inclined to think other
wise. In order, however, that Edwar'
might live comfortably for time he wa
sent to state prison for two and hal
years.
Maud Green, another foreign colore'
person, was brought forward for the lar
ceny of fur coat, silk dress, gold watcl
and one dollar in money, from William
Gale, of Moorestown. Maud had beef
working In Philadelphia and went t.
Moorestown to get employment. Whel
she was not working she stopped at tn
Gale residence. "Have you ever been II
jail before 2" asked Judge Horner. IN
sir, " said the girl, II never done tool
nothin' before" "Well, said the Judge
eff this is your first offense you have Ger
tainly entered the senior class. / thinl
you did pretty well for beginning, and
also think you acted rather meanly t;
begin operations on family that was evi
IDENTIFY befriending you" In order to fine
out more about the girl the Judge post
poned sentence for two weeks.
Another colored man came up. HI
was Virginian and the court remarked
that it would not be bad idea to have
laws passed preventing the emigrating Of
Southern darkies to this part of the country
The prisoner was George Hodge. His
offence was assault and battery on his
sister-in-law. Like the others he had
never been arrested before and he had
been around here for three years. He had
been drinking and while he may have
kicked the woman he did not recollect the
act and doubted whether it was really 9
fact He had been in jaiLsince December
"a, and the court sentenced him to i'm.
prisonment for three months to date from
the time when he was first incarcerated
A warning was given George that If he
ever came up again he would get some
thing more severe.
Abner Coombs, charged with the larceny
of gun, cartridge belt and razor from
Roy Assay, of Columbus, admitted his
guilt so far as the gun and belt was con.
cerned. He said he had been arrested for
drinking whiskeY, but never for any other
offense. He worked for Assay and the lat
ter told him he could use the gun at any
time he wanted to. On the day of the
theft he had taken drink or two, and he
took the gun and dog and went out for
some shooting. The liquor made him
drowsy and he went to sleep. When he
awoke the gun was gone. Judge Horner
said he thought 1t would be good idea to
put Coombs where he could not get any
drink for awhile, SO he sent him to the
county jail for three months, to date from
the time he first arrived at that institu-
ton, which was but few days ago.
The next case to be considered was that
of George Walker, who had admitted his
guilt on an indictment charging afro
cious assault and battery. Harold. B.
Wells appeared in behalf of Walker and
said he thought there were extenuating
circumstances In this case. Walker, who
is a colored man, is helper to masons,
and he has many white friends. Some of
these were with him on election night and
all had been drinking. They went to
Walkers house and stayed all night. In
the morning they again began drinking,
and Walker, while out of the house, hap
pened to look in window and thought
he saw a man named Phifer acting indie
Gently toward Mrs. Walker. Walker grab
bed an axe and ran into the house, and
the other men ran off, The prisoner then
got gun and fired at the retreating men
and some of the shot struck Phifer, but
even at that he did not want to press the
charge against Walker. Phifer claimed
that the woman screamed and he went to
the sofa where she was lying, and was at
tempting to assist her to her feet when
the husband saw them and. with his mind
disturbed by rum, put wrong construc-
ton on the act. Mr.. Wells thought that
suspension of sentence would be good
thing in this case and would give Walker
a chance to show that he could be man.
Prosecutor Atkinson made statement
to the effect that Walkers house did not
bear a very good name, and that 1t had
been the meeting place for men and wo
men for a long time. His knowledge OF
the occurrence under consideration was
limited as he had not thoroughly exam
ined the witnesses. Judge Horner said he
would let the matter rest for few weeks
Prosecutor Atkinson called attention to
the case of Johann Moung, who was sent
to Jail for the illegal sale of liquor. He
said he had been informed that Moung's
family are quite destitute and are a care
on the township. The man is a good
workman and could get work and the
Prosecutor recommended that the sen
tence of imprisonment be reconsidered
and fine imposed This was done and
the man was fined 800 and was given six
months in which to settle.
A peculiar condition presented itself
when application was made to have Ed
ward II. Rodenbush. of Riverside, declar-
ed sane. Some time since the man was
sent to the asylum on the regular certif
Gates of insanity. He remained there un.
til his condition was such that he was re-
leased on parole with the idea that he hac
recovered his reason. But it seems to b
the law that when person Is once legally
declared insane there ID no method BY
which the decision can be changed, so !
was impossible for the court to act unit
some authorities were consulted, and thu
matter was laid over pending further In
vestigation.
s. ia q E z a.
Ihn Kind Ynf haYa Always Raunhf