Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-12-26
FINED $500 IN
CONTEMPT CASES
MATT MIER. A. L. NELSON, M.
BRENNAN AND J. r. ER6ACHER
HELD GUILTY.

Matt Mier, A. L. Nelson, M. Brennan
and J. F. Erbacher are each fined $500
and costs including attorney fee of the
plaintiffs attorney OF $25 with the
usual order Of commitment In the
opinion received by the clerk of the
court today from Judge D. M. Ander-
son. The fines resulted from the suits
instituted by G. w. Creath, Charles
Kirkland and Martin Hardsocg charg-
ing that the defendants were guilty OF
contempt in that they sold and kept
for sale in Wapello county intoxicating
liquors in violation of injunctions here
tofore Issued against them. In the
cases of Mier and Brennan in which
Hardsocg and Kirkland are the plain
tiffs, the question Of former adjudica-
ton was raised. Brennan had been
indicted for maintaining a liquor
nuisance and upon trial was acquit-
ted In the action against Mier he
had N,en indicted for the same offense
and upon trial the jury disagreed and
the case was thereafter dismissed on
motion Of the county attorney. The
court held that the former trials were
not a bar to the prosecution brought
by the plaintiffs.
Opinion In Mier Case.
Judge Anderson's opinion with
reference to the Mier case reads IN
part as follows: H..
"The evidence offered in the Mier
case is of two sales testified to by
three witnesses. Efforts we're made
to impeach these witnesses as to their
reputation for truth and their general
moral character. They were sus-
tanned by witnesses who appeared to
be average reputable witnesses. In
prosecutions for the illegal sale OF
liquor the testimony must necessarily
come from those who aid the violator
in the illegal business by purchasing
the contraband. These people are
not those who put up the best front
and a man who will testify for the
prosecution in community where the
liquor traffic has so much encourage
ment as It has in some places IN Iowa
has to have nerve and moral courage.
Such evidence must also be secured
by employing people to buy the liduor
that they may be used as witnesses.
This is not the most satisfactory kind
of testimony, but where the violator
Is we'll entrenched and believes ne
knows his customers and to whom he
can safely sell, it is about the only
kind available. The defendant intro
duced some testimony tending to show
that he was not in the house where the
sale Is claimed to have been made, nor
could have been and also that on the
night the Box boys claimed to have
bought Of him, he was about the police
station all evening and they were on
a. drunken rampage in the east part or
Ottumwa. There Is some discrepancy
in the testimony as to time but on the
whole it is satisfactorily shown that
the defendant sold whisky to the Box
boys and to Belgard as claimed by
them and that he is guilty of viola
ton of the Injunction standing against
him."
Court Views Other Cases. g..
In support Of his action IN the
Brennan case Judge Anderson recog-
nfzed the testimony given by Belgard
and Walter Skervin as to sales. He
took cognizance of other testimony
the place Of sale as Bren-
mans and in addition to the sales made
therein. the Judge declared that there
was evidence that liquors were snip
ped and delivered to Brennan during
the past year in such quantities that
It was for other purposes than family
use. He was found guilty Of violating
the injunction against him.
The evidence given by Detectives
Davis and Dorsey as to the identity
Of the place and the actual purchase
Of liquor was sufficient to hold A. L.
Nelson guilty. .
In the Erbacher case. Davis and
Dorsey testified to purchasing beer
On October 10, 1912. The defendant
introduced evidence tending to show
hat he was in Chicago on that date.
The Judge ruled that the plaintiff
proved that Erbacher was holder OF
4 retail liquor dealers stamp and the
explanation of this was not
Continuing the opinion
reads:
aside from the evidence of the