The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1918-10-15
Affairs ar Court


i The October term of court opened OF
e Tuesday. William 7. Baggs, o
}. Beverly township, was chosen foreman
It of the grand jury.
e There were two matters to which
Justice Kalisch called attention in hi.
It charge. One was the shooting Of
0 Harry w. Wilkinson by Clarence
!, James, of Burlington. The justice
: said the act was undeniably violation
e of the law, but there might be circum-
stances connected with the shooting
5 that would have much weight in set
! thing the case. With all the reported
facts before him Justice Kalisch said
: he did not think an indictment would
: stand for any higher degree than man.
} slaughter. The other case was where
| it was said that obscene exhibitions
had occurred in the city of Beverly.
The date of this offence was reported
to be September, 1917, and the court
said it was somewhat peculiar that the
affair was not called to attention before
, this time.
The grand jury had short session,
coming in on Tuesday evening, return
ing IL bills of Indictment. The charge
against Clarence James was ignored,
as the facts showed that the man was
perfectly justified in shooting the man
who had destroyed his home.
On Thursday Judge Lippincott held
the usual weekly session. He had
some decidedly annoying cases to deal
with.
Bertha Ross was brought in on the
charge of fornication. She pleaded
guilty. Judge Lippincots conducted a
very lengthy questioning of the girl
with the hope of finding something of
her life. She said she is 10 years of
age but later became confused or was
trying to tell different story as she
lprofessed ignorance of her exact age.
Her home is at Augusta, Georgia, and
because of not being able to live with
her stepmother she left home and went
to her sister in Pottsville, Pa. There
she spent about year and a half in
school learning to sew and did some
dressmaking. Drifting around she
finally reached Philadelphia, and then
got to Camp Dix, where the offence
she was charged with was committed.
There were several discrepancies in the
girls story and the Judge decided to
write to some of the people she had
mentioned and see If he could get
more information. In her travels
Bertha became acquainted with
Florence Mitchell and she claimed that
the latter was responsible tor her pres
ent trouble.
4 Richard P. Hughes, of the Depart
ment of Justice, said he was enabled to
arrest this girl by means of letter
which he had secured and which she
had written to soldier at Camp Dix.
This letter was one of the vilest pro-
auctions that could be imagined.
Bertha admitted that she wrote the
letter but said that Florence had
coached her about the terms used She
said Florence had written a letter
which was worse than that in possess
sion OF the court. Judge Mppincott
said he could not imagine anything
worse. The girl said she was willing to
go home to her sister in Pottsville and
''go straight" but the court decided to
wait the result of further investigation
of the case.
Florence Mitchell, the other woman
in the case, was called to plead to the
charge of fornication and she said mot
guilty" 1t was at first attempted to
show that this woman is married but
that fact is disputed as her husband is
reported to be dead. She denied much
that Bertha had said and the court will
try the case on Thursday. In the
meantime MIR. Hughes will attempt to
get the letter which is said to be
worse
Florence Buscagalia was to have
been sentenced on a serious charge
She was brought into court and she
claimed her health is very bad and
that she is suffering from tuberculosis.
1t transpired that Florence had been
in the Western House Reformatory,
Aldine, N. Y, and is now out on
parole, which will expire next month.
The offence for which she was incarcer-
ated there was larceny. Tests ha ye
been taken of the physical condition
of this woman and the Judge said he
would wait until the results had been
ascertained before imposing sentence
The next case was that where Mary
Gibbs sought to have her child correct
ed because of the incorrigibility of the
youngster who would run away from
home and sleep in the woods and
other places. The woman told tale
which, if half true, shows state of de-
pravity at New Gretna that one can
hardly imagine. 1t was ordered that
detective Parker go to the place and
investigates&he matter.
On Friday the following persons
were brought into court to plead to in
dictments that had been found against
them:
Ethelbert and Ernest Haines, as
sault on George Worth, of Chatsworth
Their plea was not guilty.
Ethelbert, Ernest and Louis Haines,
and Charles Stefano, criminal trespass
ing on John H. RitzendoIlar's proper
ty at Chatsworth. Not guilty.
Edward F. Deacon, Jr., Edwin S.
Warner, Charles f. Ghaul, Harry
Crane and Watson Robinson, of Bur
lington, taking and driving an auto
mobile of Elizabeth r. Hires, of Bur
lington, without her consent. Deacon
and Warner are in the army. Ghaul
and Coleman are ill, but V. Claude
Palmer entered plea of not guilty for
them. The other two were in court
and pleaded not guilty.
Lewis NJ. Nelson, assault and battery
on Herman Croshaw, of Bordentown.
Not guilty.
Robert Marshall, indicted on three
bills, charging him with breaking and
entering and larceny of goods at the
Pig'n Whistle Inn, Browns Mills. He
n pleaded, not guilty.
Fisher Martin pleaded guilty to as
sault and battery on Isaiah Cotton.
The defendant said he was drunk at
the time. The fracas was the result of
quarrel over a woman Martin was
livir g with and whom Cotton tried to