Norwich bulletin., 1911-10-16
INTERESTS OF WESTERLY
Poisoned Whikey Cases Argued Before Supreme Court Contest Due in Republican Caucus Today-Henry l.. Burdick Wants Albert H. Langworthy's Place as Second Representative Wedding Anniversaries Gel ebrated.

c- wood alcohol or poisoned whis- ... Sssss of no-license Westerly are
 ....= |. .;ef-re the public again by ! 4i~ ( ypearLnce in the supreme court (, the state. Here arguments were i.-lsG Oil questions certified to that li h t.iDunal, which were raised in the s4pe.jur court for Washington county 5y .i@nurrers filed in the indictments against John DeFonti and John Cis- C.. and wife, charging them with sell iis poisoned whiskey to two men who ,s5e.i soon thereafter. These are two e. the several deaths which occurred aoaut a year and & half ago and were attributed to poisoned whiskey- In nearly every instance wood alcohol is alleged to have been the poisonous in- gredient in the whiskey.
 The accused were indicted for man. slaughter by the grand jury in ses- sion last September. Judge John w. Sweeney, counsel for respondents fl- ed dernurrers to the indictments, and in the supreme court he made argu- Tents and filed briefs in support of his claims. He declared that it is necessary to allege in the indictments that the respondents knew that the whiskey was poisoned or to allege facts from which such knowledge could be inferred, otherwise perfect 1y innocent men could be indicted and convicted. The validity of the in dictments is therefore questioned on the claim that they do not allege guilty knowledge.
 Tn Judge Sweeney's brief he shows that an indictment must be clear and certain as to the acts constituting the offence to such degree as is suf- ffcient to give notice to the accused of the particular accusation which he must prepare to answer. It is claim ed that there is no allegation of fact O. facts in the indictments which con- stitute the alleged negligence and that there is nothing stated to show that the defendant knew or had reason to know that wood alcohol was mingled with the wl1iskey sold.
 Assistant Attorney General Harry p. Cross for the state, contepded that an allegation of guilty knowledge is unnecessary; that the facts constitu- ting the negligence in the cases in question are sufficiently set out and that unfntentionaI homicide negligent ly committed in doing an unlawful act has been held to be manslaughter.
 An opinion of the court will follow in due time
 The last of the series of republican csususes in Westerly will be held to- day, tMonday), commencing at foud in the afternoon and terminating at eight in the evening, to decide upon the nomination of candidate for the general assembly from the Second representative district. The commit tee of the district has voted unani- Ksousfy to recommend the nomination sf Henry l.. Burdick. The present in cumbent. Albert H. Langworthy. a member of the general assembly for four consecutive terms has announce ed his candidacy for renomination. and therefore there is to be a contest fin the caucus for the first time against the nomination of MT. Langworthy.
 In addition to his legislative duties, Mir. Langworthy is a member of the Westerly town council, serving with that body for even a longer period worthy Is a gentleman of leisure and therefore has ample opportunity to play the political game for pastime and up to date he has held the win ming cards.
 Mfr. Burdick is a young lawyer. and active party worker and is said to have knowledge of the fine points of the game of politics.
 Lieutenent Colonel George w. Cat cheii, United States Army. inspector Instructor to the Rhode Island Nation zi Guard, has arranged Coast Ar tillery school for officers and for this purpose has divided the staff and line officers into seven classes. It is evident that he intends to hold ses- sions in Westerly for he has designat- cd the resident officers into Class Five the membership being Major Arthur Y. Nash Major Bourbon A. Babcock. Captain Robert G. Thackery. First Second Lieutenant Eugene IT. Partelo, This will be Colonel Gatcheli's smallest class and perhaps the most proficient.