Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-27
LAW VIOLATED
WITHOUT intent;
Markell IS HELD
Incorrectly Kept Record OF Watch
Transaction Constituted
Infraction.
COLLUSION WAS LACKING

Court this morning held Adolph Market,
a pawnhroAer at 400 Market street, under
slpn bail for General Sessions ON the
charge Of violating the law covering pawn
brokers reports To the police.
The City Detective Bureau contcnded
that Markell had wilfullv falsltled re-
,ort az n stolen watch which had been
nawpcd at his place and had thus con-
,ealed the criminal involved, and had
failed 10 give such informa tlon rs mig
have prevented other rohbcrieS by the
same men, which occurred subsequently,
The watch is part of the alleged loot
obtained BY Jesse Reed and William L
Hoffman. the two Young Wilmington men
who are awaiting trial in General Sessions
on the charge Of robbing upwards OF IL
dwellings, in this city between September
and December III OF this year II was
Alleged 10 have been stolen from Mrs
Harry 7. Dunbar OF SOB West lhlrtIeth
street. II is small, open-faced affair
and bore the initials on the back IN large
letters. &C. " b. " and was thought 70 bC
81 platinum and worth $500
Reed testified this morning that ne
mad pawned the watch mt Market ; place
on October p asking for s. on the watch
and cham. and giving has name rs Jones
and his address a a01 West street. Mrs.
Ruth. an cmplove Of the shop. testified
nat she had made the loan 10 Jones
after she had received PERMISSION from
the manager Of the shop. Edward hnota.
Markell was not present ai the tranSac-
ton shc said The manager sah ne rec
ngnized the article aS made oi silver and
worth possibly 81
Miss Margaret Cuppctt. formerly en-
DIoveSi bv Markcl As a bookkccPcr. tcStl-
ed that she had entered the transaction
on the sheet which went To the Police
Department in what she intended 10 be
PROPER manner though she admitted
hat she could sec now that shc had not
cen accurate She had described the
watch ~ M O. face. which means
man : open face. had failed 70 ciyc tho
color ~ ewes and hair oi tho man Pawning
Il. entering III the column general aI-
,,earance the sign % IL, and had
iaied 10 put down he initials which the
watch bore on Its back
The defense testified, however, that II
had been customary to send sheets 70
Tie Police Depart n2cnt. omiftinC the de-
scription of the person paWnlng TIC ar
ticIr. using the sign 20 h - de- ignatc
that the pawncr appearance vas gen
orally satisfactory.
CIAIMs CUSTOM WAS FotIoUED
! Markell said that these sheets had been
accepted without protest TN 'hc pohce
Ee showed that hi> clc-k had entered tie
number ~ the watch on ht STREET winch
be ss,d was a sure means nf Identification
Outside OF co,Ir: Markel declared hat be
co,!ld show thaf at least coo entries IN
the past two wears had gone 10 nc pohcc
Ulth he dcsrripf ION oi the person pavnlne
an article marked only @ \ tie pro
duced carbon copies Of sheets which be
~ -
and June l6 Of ms year which contained
l39 such entries
Hc declared that tho FLYER sent o,f
the detective bureau which described
he watch A. made of platinum 10y
PaIlcv and Banks was Inaccurate ard
misleading since The watch war plainly
marked with the HALLMARK frr silver and
that there was no such srn a. Bailey
and Banks
Detective Sergeant Green testified
that he and Sergeant Benson had com
nlained 10 Aiarkel many times that ms
sheets were unsatisfactory IN failing ac-
riIratelv TO descrIilo the article pawncd
He could not bc SUR he said. thar he
had ever complained 10 Narkel about the
lark of description Of the person pawnIng
he article
The testimony offered by the defence
no wilful faisfving Of the records Miss
Cuppett said She had no reason To mis-
cles crlbe the watch and that whatever
error had occurred N her description was
without intent The manager # the shop
said he had recognized the watch - Of
silver and not 81 platinum when IL was
presented by Reed
In rendering MS decision. Judge Church
man said that the point he had to decide
was whether OF not there were jIst grounds
for suspicion that the defendant had
violated the law IN reSpert u making
proper report Of articles pawned 10 the
police He said that the violation was
apparent In that such rep rts ha.d been
Incomplete, Inaccurate n c4releslS
made
He said 1t was unfortunate that the
defendant should be caught by d prueecu-
ton Of law that had apparently been
violated time and again without due warn
ing b eng gwen him ''But he said 'this
law was passed by the General Assembly
and no other power can alter suspend or
revoke IL While il has been shown that
the defendant was not present when this
violation OF the law occurred and that
the entire transaction was carried on bv
his servants, still he is bound bv the
acts OF his agents ! must hold him for
the next term Of General Sessions Xix
the bail al sl00
II was the contention Of the detective
bureau, originally under the belief that
the watch in question was made Of
platinum and which would at this time
be worth probably $500, that the paumng
Of the article for only 81 was q crcun-
stance so suspicious that Markcl should
have at once reported the transaction TO
the bureau But aside from the ques-
ton Of the value OF the watch, the bureau
contends that the flyer" they sent to
Markell should again have called his
attention to this particular watch. and
had they been furnished with descrip-
ton of the person pawning 1t they would
have been enabled TO arrest Reed and
stop many robberies.
The reply Of the defence was to the
effect that the small value of the article
concerned made IL trivial transaction
and that whatever violation Of the law
had occurred was the result Of long
practice which had been accepted with
out question by the police or the result
simply Of oversight on the part Of clerks
of the shop.