Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-12-19

court took recess until Wednesday aft
ernoon. The special term of court will
be adjourned from day to day until a
presiding Judge can be secured. 1t Is ex
pected that this will be ibout January &.
when the first of the cases will be taken
up. Prospects now are for lengthy
special term, which may last all winter.
The sudden shift from city court to
county court was the result of care
fully executed plan on the part of States
Attorney Theodore E. Hopkins, assisted ,
by II. 3. Shaw. Monday afternoon ut
two o'clock was the time set for the hear
Ing in these cases in city court. it being !
expected that the men charged with re-
ceiving stolen goods would he bound |
over to county court II the evidence pre-
scented at the preliminary hearing war;
ranted. Acting City Judge Jed +. Ladd !
was to have presided in the absence of
Judge G. S. Palmer The nine men had /
already furnished bail before Judge Pal |
mer.
SPECIAL TERM ORDERED.
Mr.. Shaw and Mr.. Hopkins. however, |
did not think that the State should he |
obliged to disclose its line of evidence in
the city court hearing. They believed that
they were justified in view of the infor-
nation they claim to have in asking for
a special term of county court. MIR. Hop
kins, therefore. communicated with Judge
Taylor last Friday, requesting that a spe
cal term be called. The order for this
special term did not arrive until Mon
day morning, but in the meantime the
States attorney and Mr. Shaw had their
I'd fr1 Cd
rants We're issued against each of the
men and women they appeared Monday
in city court the cases against them
were mol pressed. They We're then imme-
diately served with warrants by Sheriff
Allen and learned for the nrst time that
/, lnformations had been filed against them
in the special term of county court,
which was actually in session at that mo-
ment. This action of course nulliiied the
bail that the men had already furnished
and they were marched over to the
county court, where Assistant Judges
Merrihew and Hall were sitting ready to
hear arguments by counsel and the prose-
| cutting officers relating to securing new
| bail The county court room became full
to overlooking when the news got abroad
| that the special term was In session, and
| the crowd listened for more than three
hours to the battle royal waged between
Max L. Powell and V. A. Billiard on the
one side and States Attorney Hopkins
and Mr. Shaw on the other, over the mat
! ter OF bail Nj Shaw had already de-
clared to Judge Palmer in city court,
when the arrests We're first made. that
bail in each case should be fixed at Il
substantial figure and Mr. Shaw renewed
this argument yesterday before the as
sistant judges. The result was that bail
In nearly every case was almost doubled
OPPOSITION TO INCREASED BAIL.
This result was not secured however,
without bitter opposition on the part Of
Mr.. Billiard, who represents seven of the
respondents, and on the part of Mr..
Powell, who represents one respondent.
Mr. Bullard declared that larger bail in
at least two or three of the cases would
result In actual hardship to the re-
spondents, and he argued that the same
amount of bail fixed by Judge Palmer
would hold the men here for trial just as
effectively as larger bonds. Nr. Shaw and
Mr.. Hopkins, however, urged the court
to take into consideration the serious
ness of the offense with which the men
!. are charged, rather than to consider
whether or not the men could furnish the
amount of their bail. States Attorney
Hopkins asked that the minimum bal
in all the cases be fixed at 81, 900 and tn,
maximum bail at $500. This request was
vigorously opposed by Mr.. Bulard and
MIR. Powell, and a long argument ensued
Mr.. Shaw said he thought the State wa:
justified in asking that bail be increased
in view OF the fact that several re
spondents had jumped their bail lately
This brough up the matter Of Slim Brax
! ton, who recently jumped his bail afte
1t had been furnished by Joseph Agel
Mr. Billiard intimated in strong term
that the cash bail in Braxtons case ha'
been paid to the bondsman before BraX
ton skipped out and that the prosecutin,
, officers were aware OF this fact.
CASES TAKEN UP sINGLY.
n During the arguments pro and CO.
that followed the assistant judges lef
the room for a conference and when the
returned announced that they would tax
up the cases one Mt a time, The first cas-
!, to be considered was that of Georg
Saiger who had one count against him |
the information. Mr. Billiard had fur
nshed Saigers bail in city court to tn
amount OF 500 hut under the statute
was barred from furnishing bail In count
:, court He told the court that n higher ba
:. would be a great hardship to his ellen
. Mr. Powell. who Is with Mr. Billiard 1
this case. also urged the court to leav
:, the amount of bail at 800 Mr.. Hopkir
said he understood that Saiger had rei
- estate in the city and was worth severi
., thousand dollars. After much talk tn
- court fixed bail at $1,000
- Harry II. Rosenberg case was ne,
and bail In his case was fixed at s.
as against 500 In city court. Mr.. Hopkir
stated to the judges that while Roser
'u berg was not deeply involved, the sta
VI had evidence which warranted them
.sking that ROsenberg's bail be increase
w. Mr. Billiard objected to these statemen
by Mr.. Hopkins. but the latter continu,
to mako statements In connection Wi
each ease 80 It came up. Bail in the ca
% OF Harris Woodland was nxed AZ N.W
Il In city court his bali was $780, An 4
formation had been filed against Harr
woolkind and Fam Miller Jointly ana
Of this case Woolkind's bail was fixed
ne $500 and Miller's at s., 900 The latter,s n,