The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-10
Three Gases Out Of Every Five Are
 NOIIed
Officers Draw Fat Fees For Arrests Made On Trivial
 Charges
Especial Correspondence of Farmer.

| the methods in vogue in the justice courts of the town for many years but | the matter was brought forcibly to at 1 tention of the public by the warrant
 recently issued for Mrs. Jeannette | HaHock who died in Oronoque after
 an attack of euremia- In this case Sheriff Daniel J. Russell was sum
 moned to Oronoque distance of near 1y five miles by the frantic appeals of two residents there who said their lives were in danger from a drunken l man who was crying to force entrance into their homes. The drunken man. proved to be Mrs. Hal1ock who in des- perate straits was seeking assistance
 The sheriff made two trips in answer to these calls and to obtain his charges was obliged to have a justices order
 This was issued after Mrs. Ha1lock
 had died at the Bridgeport hospital.
 The sheriff charged $10.00 for auto
 mobile hire and $5 for his services
 Grand Juror Lewis was named in the
 order for costs on the town treasurer
 drawn by Judge Charles H. Peck and
 his fees was placed at $2.O6, the ordt-
 nary grand jurors fee for appearance
 in court and drawing a warrant. As
 there were no court proceedings this
 charge was an error and Judge Peck changed the figures to $1.O6 after the
 order had been turned over to the town treasurer. This was not so great an offense as it might seem in the light of previous practices in the town,
 but it served to call the attention of everyone to court practice and there was an instant demand all over the town to know more about what the justice court were costing the town.
 The following summary of court ex- penses in the town was taken from the orders for the fiscal year now closing in the hands of the town treas uref, George T. J Jewell. If there are
 
 stances they are not known to MT. Jewell for he asserted that he had absolutely no information except that which was contained in the orders themselves. Although he said that he had no desire to conceal anything he was not particularly cheerful and was present during the whole proceeding l in order, as he said, to prevent any further tampering with the orders in his possession.
 The following is a summary of 15s orders which represent as many ar rests and trials. The accused in these | cases were disposed of in the follow | ing manner: Fined or jailed 30, ap- peaIed or bound over 20, discharged, | sentence, not guilty, fines remitted, etc, 96, total costs $1,729.1 10, | costs paid into court $394.27, costs on cases of appeal or bound over $512.30, | taxed on the town $812.79. There are some discrepancies in these figures only to be rectified after the town | treasurer makes up his books but they are approximately correct as repre- senting the situation in the town.
 Judge Charles H. Peck leads the list with IA cases in which the total costs were s1,32O.88, costs paid by accused | S226.S9, costs in cases appealed or l bound over $381.21, costs taxed on the town $71S.1o- Of these IA cases, 7e l were nolled, fines were remitted or | in fines or jail sentences and 16 ap- peaIed or were bound over. In ex- planation of his docket Judge Peck says that the large proportion of cases l which are no1led would only have been | reversed in a higher court had the ac- cused been found guilty or fined.
 Justice Louis E. Policy presided in l 27 eases in three of which the accused l were found guilty and fined, four ap- pealed or were bound over and II | were discharged or their sentences suspended. The total costs were $23e.96 of which $11s.45 was paid 1 by the accused, $38.24 on cases ap- pealed or bound over some of which | will come back on the town and $82.57 l has been paid from the town treasury. l Nine of these were automobile or oth- CT cases in which the bond was for feited. Four state policemen drew big ] fees for arrest of two penny in the slot | ma chimes which the court ordered l destroyed and the costs taxed on the ] town. Others were liquor seizures in l which contraband goods was destroy | ed.
 ten cases in which he fined or jailed | four, appealed or bound over 6, and | four. These included the liquor cases against StovoIo, Travis | (3), Stafford and the Caprillian case all of which were appealed and which I 1T7f of ho number of state police engaged in the arrests. The total costs in the 10 cases are S147.10, paid in court $41-43, on appeals $92.85, taxed on the town $4.06.
 Justice Frederick Bevans sat in seven cases, principally arrests for failure to pay the personal tax. They were set tied in almost every instance by the payment. of the tax. He taxed $9.30 on the town. They are difficult cases to handle.
 Of the total costs the grand jurors received fees as follows: I. L. More house, S357.2S Harold Holmes, $3O.9o; S. c. Lewis, $21.6O; H. B. Barpu1n, $500; and B. w. Burritt, $z.0S; Charles Graham, $1o:3O.
 Deputy Sheriff John J. Williams re- seived $1O7.11 and Deputy Sheriff D. I. Russell, $62.14.
 The state police for whom. Rowe Wheeler. signed in most instances got '235.56 in fees Officer Frank VireEf received $38.77 for his work in run 1ing down the murderers of Jennie Cavalieri and for; which work he has ,een highly mp1imented.
 William Bassett leads the list of con- ta bles with $71.89; F. L. Palmer ,57.46; Allen Judson. S43.24. Other s .onstables who received small sums in [ ees are Antony Fellows, George Wood h md Edward Manchester. c Much time must be used in exanain- : ng the details of these cases before a. c ealIy just opinion of the merits of q he case can be obtained but there IS L general opinion among those who