The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-03-18
From Fridays Daily.

From Fridays Daily.
J There will be no more Sunday shows
lin Mankato At least, there will not
until the supreme court passes upon
! the Sabbath observance law. Judge
Comstock effectually put a stop to
such performances, when he announced,
yesterday afternoon, that any wilful
violation of the law by theatre man
ayers in the future will be punished
| by a Jail sentence. Mayor Meyer also
instructed Chief Pond to allow no more
Sunday shows. He said that he had
been opposed to allowing the theatres
ito open recently, and had told the
lproprietors so, but that they were de-
termined to do So Now that the mat
Il ter has been settled SO far as the
courts I'M this city are concerned, until
the supreme court says otherwise, the
law must be obeyed as construed by
Judge Comstock.
The outcome of the trial of ID. w.
chamberlain yesterday afternoon was
his conviction by the jury, after it
had been out ten or fifteen mintes.
Mr.. Chamberlain was then sentenced
to pay fine of $40 and costs.
Argument for the Defense.
In his closing argument to the jury,
for the defense, Attorney Charles J..
TraXler of Minneapolis said that the
evidence had shown that the perform
arce had been highly moral and up
lifting and within the price of street
car fare. There had been nothing eX-
hibited in front of the theatre to at
tract attention. A person would have
had TO 90 in to find it, There was
nothing to attract attention from the
religious meditations of people passing
/ by on the sidewalk He maintained
that the performance was not show,
and also that it was not the intent
of the legislature to shut off such per-
formances on Sunday. The court in
terrupted Mr.. TraXlcr and told him
that he was going too far; that it was
not for the attorney to instruct the
| jury on what the intent of the legisla-
ture or of the law was. That was for
the courts TO say.
| State Asks for Conviction.
County Attorney Plymat said that
1.-THE theory and policy of lawmakers
, from time immemorial had been to
provide for day of rest and worship.
If the law is on the statute books it
ought to be enforced. 1t was not the
duty of the jury to clog the wheels of
|iustice and see that the laws are NULL
fed. The legislature had specifically
Exempted baseball games, if carried on
in an orderly and quiet manner, and
Iif it had intended to exempt NOV
ing picture shows it would have done
so specifically. The performance was a
public show, and the public was add
mitted for a price. The state would
admit that it was a moral show, but
the character of the show made no
Idifference-the law forbids it on Sun
|day. The state had no appeal, and
the defendant had, so the jury ought
Ito decide according to facts, and if the
law was construed wrong by the court
the defendant could get it set right
higher up.
Instructed to Find Guilty Verdict.
Judge Comstock instructed the jury
that its duty was to find out what
the facts were, from the evidence and
according to the law as laid down
by the court, and in no other way.
1t was not to consider whether the
law was proper one or not. The laws
were made to be obeyed. The moving