Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-22
Motorists illegally Held Up at
RossIyn, Court Decides.
LAW IS NOT YET IN EFFECT
Old Statute Of 1905 Not Operative in
Alexandria County.
MISTAKE MADE BY OFFICIALS
Automobiles May Cross the Poto-
mac and Enter the Old Dominion
Without Fear of Interference.

Automobiles from the Distric. OF CO.
iumbia may journey across the Potomac
river to Rosslyn. Va, and into the Old
DOMINION without fear OF being held up
by Sherin Palmer and his deputies, who
Tor the last week have been excesdingly
active In arresting owners and drivers Of
automobiles. and making thsm pay fines
for not observing the provisions OF the
new Virginia automobile law But II
was discovered, after a large number OF
fines had been collected, that the new
law does not go into effect until June
-. 1t was also found that Alexandria
county, I'm which Rossiyn is situated. had
never complied with the provisions OF the
old automobile law of the state. and that
for the time being there Is no state auto
mobile law in force in Rosslyn and the
rest of the county. In consequence the
ofhcials are now paying back the fines
they took from the motorists they held
last week.
About fifty Automobiles were held w
and taken into the temporary court In
the store Of the Rosslyn Feed Company.
over which a justice of the peace preSid-
ed. Among them were several chauneurs
employed by the Federal Taxicab Com
pany and the Auto Livery Company Of
this city.
New Law Not Yet in Effect.
AS a result of the efforts of Samuel v.
Hayden, attorney for these two compa-
MES. the fines collected from the concerns
have been refunded. These companies
have about fifty of their cars equipped
with the necessary identification tags for
the District. Maryland and Virginia. The
cars held up last week displayed the Vir-
ginia tags, but the chauffeurs were re-
quested to show their registration papers.
These were held by President A. L. Cline.
The chauffeurs were detained. pending
their arrival. and when Attorney HAYDEN
arrived on the scene he was also called TO
halt" He Immediately set the legal ma
chinery to moving and phoned to the
secretary Of state OF Virginia. ascertain
ing the status Of the law Of March Ia.
1906, and the new law which goes into
effect June To-
Upon investigation il was found that
the motorists were being held under the
new law, which is not Yet in effect.
which provides for an annual reEistrs-
ton certificate. Under the old law the
registration was perpetual.
Law Ignored by the County.
Another interesting point in the old
Law, of which the Rosslyn authorities
were ignorant when they made the ar
rests, was that the county wherein the
arrests were made had not complied With
section Il, which reads as follows: This
act shall apply to all counties In this
state (Virginia) whose board Of super
visors shall. by q recorded vote. adopt
the same and to none other. and upon
such adoption this act as to the county
shall become Immediately operative"
Section Is Of the same act says:
Every bord OF supervisors or council
adopting this act shall at once notify
the secretary OF the commonwealth.
who shall keep a record OF the counties
or cities SO adopting open to public In
spection." Further investigation develop
ed the fact that the secretary of state at
Richmond had never received such mott
fication from Alexandria county because
that county had never adopted il as pro-
vided in the act.
Money Ordered Returned.
When the fines were paid an appeal
was noted and a hearing was held yes
terday in the circuit court at Alexandria
courthouse, and after reviewing the
cases Court Clerk Thompson ordered
the money returned, which was done by
Sheriff Palmer. who was present. There
is virtually no law providing for arrests
in Alexandria county, and as there Is but
short time before the new law goes
into effect it is doubtful il the county
authorities will go to the trouble Of
adopting the law Of 1906 for the purpose
of making arrests. The new law Is prac-
tically state wide. and adoption or action
by the various counties in the state Is
unnecessary.
The Rossyn crusade was a severe
blow to local motorists, who Immediately
suspended their trips across the river.
rather than be subjected to arrest.
In view Of the fact that refunds have
already been made to several of the mo-
florists who were illegally arrested and
fined last week 1t is probable that those
who have not already taken action To
~t,As,- Ia 10 he
necessary steps.