Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-05-14
M|TCHELL.F FREED IN
GENERAL SESSIONS
Man Accused of Robbipg Horace
Johnson Declared He Was Try
ing to Stop Fight.

Before the former John Mitchell,
accused of highway robbery upon Horace
Johnson. Of 9O2 West Fourth street on
the night of April 80 was found not guilty
The prisoner conducted his own defence,
staunchly asserted his innocence and said
he WAS only trying To prevent night from
being staged on Shlpley street
When Mitchell was indicted anothcT
man. John Nandegrift, also was indicted
on similar charge, but he pleaded
guilty last week To n charge OF assault
which plea the State accepted
Johnson said that ON the night IN
question he had been IN a saloon at second
and Shiplcv streets and when he entered
the place had $50 in his pockets when
he left. in the ncighborhood of o.l5 q clock
he had spent only about 81 ot 1t, the
remainder being in loose bills IN thc INSIDE
pocket If his coat Mitchell and Nandc-
rrift. he declared followed hun out
OF the saloon and little distance up the
street thcrcfrom. NandcgrIft knocked hun
down and Mitchell throulcd shlm with
one hand and went through hum with the
other. Five of his S2S all III loose bulls,
Ncrr put back rs Policeman l'CVlnheN
came upon the scene, he SAID
Nitchclls defence was that he was
acting as pcaccmakcr between Johnson and
Nandegr;ft He was corrohoratcd bY
Nan1cgrift
Judge Rice. in freeing Mitchell, re-
marked that he would do we'll 10 keep
away from bad company and saloons
which seemed to have caused hls trouble
TROUBLE OVER a CHFCK
Waterman Duchatklcwicz, was placed
on trial accused Of Cmbcz1lcment by ba'cc
in having misappropriatcd check which
was the property ot Antonin TchcrkOvSkl.
In effect rChcrkovski :. testimony was
that he had received check from he
Prudential Insurance Go.
The check wa, tor sin6 30 rs payment
of = policy upon the lite ri his witc, who
had died Duchat-krcwic7 knew he he'd
this check and came - hum with au Otter
To hrlp him get II cashCd tehnrkoNSkI
SAID Duchat-krewlcz took tho check from
him and together they went ~ Whist
TcherkovSki called 'thc conrt house,
where Duchat-krcwicz lrft him on the
ground floor and went upst airs. alter trSt
having gotten him to Iudorsc the check
.atcr the defendant came 20 him and SAID
he would FIX things mp tomorrow II
morrow didn't come 50 far rs fixing up WAS
concerned
What became Of the check WAS disclosed
when Henry II lsaacS, attorney w'sN
called 10 the stand lie sad some tune
before DIichat-krcwicz WAS IN danger oi
having certain Of his possessions sold
because of the foreclosure Of q mechanic
lien against him and he called upon him
To help him raise tho money Mr. lSaacS
told him to sec some of hls friends about
the matter and lsteF th0.dctcndnnt came
back To him with Sin0 cash and a check
drawn hy another person on New ork
bank for $3.50 He finally sVr'ccdcd in
cosxing Mr.. lsaacs 10 advance hum the
difference between tho amount ~ tho cash
and the check and the amount Of tho
money due on the foreclosure MIR iSaacs
took the check and the cash and gave
Duchat- -krcwicz his personal check for
S7n3. -6 The New \ ork chcsk camC hark
protested and Mr. IsSsacs found himself
ont the $3.50 il represented the protest
fees and the money hc advanced cry
naturally he got after nuch.-i- -hrrWIcz 10
Obtain = settlement lew DAYS sa'FF
Duchat-krrwicz r.mr Ia h,m while he Was
in court and gave um the I"hcTknVSki
chc,k rs part payment III his tudcft edneSS.
Duchat-Krewicz defence was that
Tcherkpvskis wife had borrowed s5b3
from him some time ago whrrcwith 70
paw taxes and other debts and that Ichcr-
kovski had gwen II 10 him in pa II payment
He gave a lengthy recital Of he borrow
ing Of the money by Mrs TCherkovsk and
her acknowledgements OF tho debt IN a
written paper 10 which she signcd her
name bv making her mark The witness
to this was the defendant wife
AT Mrs TcherkovskIs death, the de-
fendant said. Tchcrkovski at first wanted
him to take over 81 POO interest Icher-
kovski had in his house paying Tor II by
clearing off Mrs TchcrkovskI : S563 IN
debtedness and giving the balance IN
cash Duchat-i\rewIcz SAID he hadn
the money and then later IcherkoVsh
gave him the check.
: Cross examined by Mir Relnhardt he
denied that the acknowledgment Of
debt bearing Mrs. Tcherkovsh alleged
mark was fixed up" after her death. OF
that the transaction had been anything
but proper and Just.
Mrs Duchat-krewlcz was called as
witness hv her husband She SAID IN reply
To Mir Relnhardt 5 croSS-cXamInatiOn that
she had written acknowledgment, but
that Mrs Tcherkovski had made her
mark.
Former City Judge .Ioslyn, put on the
stand bv Mir ReInhardt SAID that the de
fendant had sued Mrs Tcherkovski tor the
money she owed hm and he had been
paid Duchat-krcWicz claimed that she
had borrowed more from nm later and
fflS was NilAt iltI iit4Si5dIitl pau ~
the check The defendant reputation
for honesty. he saidt was tad
The case was still on trial when court
took recess for lundheon
COURT R4oN 80 ,
Fred Cans was laced on trial before
Judge Hclsel IN COutt Room No ,. on the
charge OF driving off an automobile with
out the owners c0hsent He was rep
resented by James SALISBURY
He was alleged TO have taken the car
OF Charles " Ten Brock on the night of
October l9. and crashed into a lanppost,
damaging the car
MIR Ten Brock testified that the de-
fendant drove to his home, 1871 Gilpin
avenue, and later that evening ran the
car into a lamppost at Fourth and Har-
rison streets, while the garage was at
Fourteenth and Rodney Cans denied
'joy riding, saying he was taking friend
home III the rain when the car skidded
This was corroborated by Charles Morris
The jury found Cans guilty and rec
commended him to the mercy Of the
court.
When james salisbury, his counsel
asked that Cans be paroled, Judge Heisel
declared that he viii refuse to take this
action In any case Of driving of automo-
biles
AS the defendant is in the draft, sen