The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-09-02

Judge Arthur M. CoInley in the City. court dealt the first blow in today's encounter when he found Jacob Shirwindt, a, jitney driver of 3S3 Myr- tie avenue, gunIty of violating provi- sions of the new jitney law by oper- .at:ng without Q Public Utilities Com !rnisSion license. He imposed a nom 1na1 fine of $5, and fixed bonds at $50 for the appeal taken by Attorneys Jacob Klein and W. F. D. Fitzpatrick.
 Shirwindt's case was in the nature of test of Police Super1ntendent F'lanagan's orders for the arrest or every jitney man operating on com :mercial licenses. Leaders of the Jit- .neynen sought to gain time by the move, but were outnnaneuvered by further orders for continued proSecu- ton of violators, irrespective of the test case.
 As it now stands, no jitney, except the few with the coveted "J" mark CTS, can operate The next move will be taken in the Common Pleas court, which opens for the fall session on Tuesday. It is more than probable, however that it will be Wednesday morning before the Shirwindt case will be called for a, hearing.
 The City court hearing this morn ling attracted wide attention, and the court room was damned to the doors lwfth jitney owners ana dr1vers. thI- .1u tile time was lost in disposing of the 
 ion the calendar
 Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Win. ,cent F. Keating read the forn1aI charge against Shirwindt. alleging |that the man violated the new Jaw by Ioperatins a passenger-carrying ve- Ihic1e between designated points on tthe public highways without a per limit from the Utilities Commission.
 Attorney Klein for the accused 1m- lmediately filed a general demurrer (which was overruled by Judge Com- II F, 6a a To ispeech in which he reviewed the gen ertl jitney situation and the clrcum< stances surrounding Shirwindt's ar rest, and made the statement that more than 300 men were deprived of a livelihood by the action of the po- lice in stopping the iitneys,
 In summing up the states case Prosecutor Heating stated that the City court was not the proper place for the rendition of a definite dec1- ,sion on such a weighty question, and !recommended conviction and the .imposition of a nominal me
 ''In this way" he stated, mo time will be lost in fruitless arguments The counsel for the defendants may take an imm mediate appeal, and allow the case to pass on to the hlsher courts. I will do whatever is possl- ble to expedite immediate action as it reaches the Common Pleas court for I believe the riding public and the community at large would be benefited by a speedy decision"
 Judge Comley accepted the recom- mendajion, and imposed the fine o1 S and costs. Attorney Klein took an appeal, and bonds of S5O were fur- nished.
 The cases of six other violators, all drivers on the Norwalk-Brid dgepOrt line, who were taken into custody while operating on a free system of transportation to patrons, were taken up, and immediately nolled on the States recomm mendation. MT. Keat- ing stated that all the cases were ot the same nature as Shirwindt's, and that he believed but one decision was necessary.
 The cases which were disposed ot lin this way included that of Louis Hoffman, 315 Bostwick avenue; Tony Luciano, Riverside avenue, Westport John T. Bodnar, 545 Ellsworth ave nue; P. Henry Curran, 1133 Hancock avenue; Anthony J.. Succa, SIS East Main street, and Julius Steinberg, A Highland avenue.
 Another movement started by Rep resentative w. F. D. Fitzpatrick, one of the counsel for the jitneymen, i: to have Governor Lake call a Specia' session of the General Assembly Representative Fitzpatrick is conf1den that the state legislators would sats fsctorily settle the existing traction I7uddle provided Governor Lake seei fit to call the special session
 Practically every representative have spoken to-" declared MT. Xiii patrick this morning, lis in favor o the jitneys, and has informed me h. was misled at the last session. Whel they voted for the new jitney 1av they believed they were simply givin| the Utilities Commission power tn
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