Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-05-18
OATH TO CLEAR
MEN OF CHARGE
Trio of Austrians Furnish The
atrical Scene in Local Po-
lice Court.
ONE is ROBBED OF SAC
Accuses Two Companions, but Latter
Are Able to Convince Him of
Innocence.

Pathos and comedy were intermin-
yled in trial which came up this
morning before Police Magistrate c. ].
Smith in which the principals were
Austrians employed as gardeners at
the residence of Miss Sue Denkmann,
south of Eleventh avenue.
The climax came when two of the
aliens, the accuser and the accused,
embraced each other with tears in
their eyes and kissed and made up.
One of the two had been so unfor-
tunate to be touched by some one
to the extent of $40 and he charged
the other two of committing the job,
as he claimed they were the only per-
sons who could have done it, seeing
that they all live in the same house.
He had them arrested and they spent
last night in Jail. One of the defend
ants was a middle-aged man whom it
was afterwards learned is the father
of nine children, six of whom are still
in Europe, and the other was young
fellow hardly out of his teens. The
aged man is very religious and during
the night and most of the morning he
repeatedly called for his pastor, whom
he said would vouch for his honesty.
Interpreter Necessary.
When the two defendants and the
complainant were arraigned before the
magistrate it was found that none of
them could talk English and the court
was in a quandary until Constable
Simon Goldberg appeared on the scene
and offered to act as interpreter. The
principals in the case are all natives
of Austria. living near the Russian
and the German boundaries. and their
language was mixture of all three
tongues. The three men were allowed
to argue matters for themselves. and
Simon reported what was being said
From him it was learned that the com
plainant had INDUCED little too freely
in wine Sunday night and that when
he returned home he slept heavily.
Each of the other two men had a room
to himself in the same house and both
had come in after the plaintiff. Tne
younger of these two stated that at
some time during the night he had
heard footsteps in the hall of the house
but that he had thought nothing of it
until the following morning when he
was accused of having stolen the $40
from his fellow countryman.
Swears He Is Innocent
The older of the defendants and the
accuser finally cleared matters up after
long conversation, during which the
court and the spectators sat and
listened with considerable interest, al
though outside of the interpreter no
one knew what was being said. The
latter finally announced that the COM
plainant would believe the two inno-
cent provided they would take an oath
to that effect. Thereupon botn defenu-
ants arose and proclaimed their inno-
cence by every manner of oath known
to them and while their earnestness
and tearfullness was very touching
the whole situation was extremely
amusing. The charge of larceny was
thereupon dismissed on the request
Of the prosecuting witness, and every
one was surprised and astonished to
see the two emotional aliens shake
hands first and then affectionately en-
brace and kiss each other, after which
the interpreter announced that peace |
md harmony again reigned
Wants Pay for Day on.
The younger of the two defendants
vas less emotional and more inclined /
towards business. In broken English |
he demanded to know who was going !
10 pay him for the time he lost while |
lying in Jail. The magistrate replied /
with the counter question as to who |
was going to pay him for the time he |
spent in trying the case. The young |
fellow thought it over for moment |
and then raised his hand above his |
head and solemnly stated that God /
will pay" The three men then went |
back to their labors as friends, al /