Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-10-02
PROMINENT CASE
DECIDED TUESDAY

me supreme court mas uallQeu
down a decision in the case of North
Dakota VS.. Joseph Winbauer, revers-
ing the decision OF the Barnes coun.
ty court and ordering that sentence
be enforced against the defendant.
Unless the defense petitions the SUI
preme court for a rehetring, within
10 days, this is the end Of the So
called "Mandan blind pig cases."
1t will be recalled that in the fall
of 1907 Judge e. Y. Burke and Assist
ant Attorney General Miller created
something of a sensation by the
wholesale indictment of offenders
against the prohibition law in Morton
county. Judge Burke stirred up the
animals by dismissing a grand jury
as biased and unfair, and converting
another, which indicted the offend
ers against the prohibition law.
These cases were taken to Barnes
county, where a conviction was secur
ed against five Of them and the cases
have been drifting about in the dis
trict and supreme court ever since.
Special interest is attached to the
decision in the Winbauer case, as it
is identical with the CASE OF Peter
Schantz. SchantZ was indicted in
1907 and convicted in February, 1908,
and sentenced by Judge Burke at that
time to 80 days in the county Jail and
a fine of 5000. Unless a petition for
a %rehearing is made to the court with
in l5 days this settles all of the cases
and Schantz, as we'll as Winbauer,
will have to serve his 80 days and
submit to a fine of 5000 for violation
of the prohibition law.
The question settled by the court
in this cas- was, whether or not the
irregularities practiced by Judge
Burke in sentencing the convicted
offenders against the prohibition law
in Bismarck rather than Valley City,
was Of such a nature as to set aside
the judgment and the sentence. 1t
appears from the records that the
term of court at which these piggers
were convicted adjourned on Febru-
airy Z, 1908. and that on February Is,
1908, sentence was passed upon them
in the chamber of the house of repre-
sentatives at Bismarck by Judge
Burke, and that each was sentenced
to so days in Jail and the payment of
a fine of 5000. On February II, 1909,
or just two days less than one year
after the "prOnOuncing of sentence, an
appeal was made to the supreme
court on the ground that judgment
had been entered by the clerk
of the court of barnes county against
these offenders. On December "a,
1909. Judge Burke issued a special
order directing the clerk of the court
of Barnes county to enter judgment
and sentence as Of date February 13,
1908. On March 8, 1910. on applica-
ton of the defendants, the supreme
court allowed the cases to be with
drawn from their jurisdiction with
out prejudice and ordered them re-
manded to the district court for fur
Their proceedings under the law.
An application vas at once made to
Judge Coffey of the Fifth judicial dis
tcirt, Of Valley City, to have the judy
ment and sentence set aside. After
hearing the motion. Judge Coffey is
sued an order on November 10, 1911,
that the Judgment and SEN
tence Of February 10, 1908 was void
and that it be set aside, vacated, an
Assistant Attorney General
Zuger represented the state in
hearing and the attorney gener-
ais office at once appealed to the SUI
preme court. Juge Burke was dis
qualified and Judge Kneeshaw of the
Seventh judicial district sat in his
place and wrote the opinion, in which
he declared the ir%regularity of the