Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-07-09
INNOCENT, FREED
AFTER LONG TERM
PIatz Released from Jail to Be-
gin Life Anew With
Loyal Spouse.
Especial to the Newark start

JERSEY CITY, N. J., July 9.-After
spending eighteen months in Jail,
although he had been charged with
no crime, John Platz, blind in one eye
crippled and broken down by the mis-
fortunes that have befallen him, is
today reunited with his brave wife,
who fought for and gained his re-
lease.
In the little, three-room apart
ment at $40 Palisade avenue she pre-
pared for his Homecoming they intend
to start life anew. Platz is rs years
old, his wife only ten years younger.
During the time the aged man was In
jail he lost the sight of one eye and
became almost totally crippled with
rheumatism.
Mrs. Platz appeared before Justice
Swayze at the Jersey City Court
House on Monday and appealed to
him for aid in obtaining the release
of her husband, who was arrested and
put in pail in March, 1912, in a civil
action. He was sued for alleged fraud
by real estate agent, and the capias
was obtained to prevent him leaving
the jurisdiction of the court.
Couldn't Get 5000 Bond.
1t was impossible for him to obtain
bond of $500. and he has since re-
manned in the Hudson county jail.
Mrs. Platz told Justice Swayze that
no effort had been made to bring the
case to trial and that, after trying
for more than a year to earn the
money herself, she was convinced
that her husband would never live
to be released.
She said that the complainant
against her husband was a real estate
man who had been defendant in an
action brought by her husband to re-
cover $1,000, which he lost as the re-
suit of real estate transaction.
While her husband had been in Jail,
so she averred, she has received let
tiers indicating that he could be re-
leased If he would consent to stop all
action regarding the charges he has
made against the complainant in his
own case. She said that as all the
money they had ever had, their life
earnings, were involved in the action,
they could not consent to give up this
one hope of getting new start.
| Justice Swayze Amazed.
Justice Swayze expressed amaze
ment that such a miscarriage of the
| spirit of the law could have oc-
Cured and said he would consider a
| motion to dismiss the case. George
| e. Cutley, an attorney, agreed to
take the case in an effort to see JUS
tice DONE Bail was provided last
night and Platz was Immediately re-
| leased. He went home with his wife.
| He could scarcely move about and
held a handkerchief over his eyes
almost constantly because of the pain
in them. As he told of the trouble he
has had and of the mazes and tech
nicalities of the law which resulted
| in his Imprisonment he broke down
frequently, weeping aloud.
| He said he came to New York in
1867 and that he hao been a citizen
of the United States for forty-six
years. In 1900. after years of saving,
he had accumulated enough money
to buy some lots in Jersey City. He
sold them in 1908, and with the pro-
ceeds, $500, invested in a farm In
Astoria. His affairs became badly
entangled and in 1904 for cash con-
| sideration and farm In Delaware
he sold his property.
| The real estate dealer against whom
he now has an action pending and
who has kept him in Jail came to
look over the farm, and agreed to give
in exchange for 1t five lots In Linden,
Union county, N. ]. Platz did not
have money enough to make trip
to New Jersey, but accepted the lots
| on the word of the agent that they
| faced a thoroughfare and were fit tc
be cultivated. He found they were
in blind swamp. and, he said. ex-
perts valued them at 800 for all
| five.
| He brought an action against the
man who had sold them to him, bu!
when it was tried in the First Dis
trict Court he failed to produce wit
nesses and lost the case. He subse-
| quently brought another action ir
the Circuit Court, which was thrown
out when the records of the first CASE
were found. He was about to appea
the case when an action was brought
against him for SANDER and fraud
by the defendant in his own action
Then came the capias writ and h,
was sent to Jail. Since then all Of
his small interests have dwindlet
away and he is penniless.
Mrs. Platz has earned $40 TOWARD
the $500 bail she was striving to
raise, but now it will be used for ex
penses, until, as she expressed it