The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1921-04-22

IN Lne IeCOruS Oh -. u ID. JuiiAib
Justice of Lambertville, appears the
entry of August 81, 1917. Harold
Bilby sentenced to three months in
the Jail at Pennington for disorderly
conduct and resisting an officer.
The facts Of this event can be
testified to by Officer Morse Of
Lambertville. Bilby had started out
to clean up the town" as was his
wont. Officer Huselton (now dead
attempted to arrest him. Bilby re-
sisted, and knocked Huselton into
the street. Bilby then squared off,
and cursing horribly, dared the en-
tire town ito arrest him. Officer
Morse came for him, and was greeted
with a curse and dare. Morse took
him by the arm, and Bilby immed-
lately directed a smashing blow at
his jaw Morse lodged the blow and
in the struggle that ensued, succeed
ed in mastering Bilby with the use
of his billy. But on the way to the
jail, Bilby tripped Morse, and started
to run. The officer had fallen to his
hands and knees, but succeeded in
catching Billy by the ankle. After
subduing him this time Morse put
handouts on him. Continuing on to
the jail, pal of Bilby's came to his
assistance by falling in with Morse,
| ~ "a ut rod ont
stamped his heel down on Morse's
foot, expecting to make him finch,
and thus let go his prisoner. But
Morse managed to hold Bilby, and
drove off the other man.
For this Harold Billy was sent
enced to THREE MONTHS IN THE
COUNTY JAIL AT BENNINGTON.
He had served but short time on
this sentence when he was called by
the draft board. DR.. Theodore Balder-
ston (then mayor of Lambertville'
petitioned his release so that he
might go into the army.
So you see, Mr.. Herr, if we apply
your principle of restoring discharg-
ed service men to the status which
they held before the war; Bilby
would have been sent back to Jail in
Pennington.
George Agin has been fortunate
enough to leave no police record.
But by his own confession, he was
guilty of thievery. Your insinuation
that | should apologize for using the
term criminal" is laughable. AS
lawyer you should know the def
milton of criminal" Evidently you
do not, and for your edification l
will quote Webster's New Inter
national Dictionary: Involving, or
of the nature of crime. Said of 40
act or conduct. See crime" The .d
milton for crime is: can omissNn s5
a duty commanded, of the commN al
of an act forbidden by a publ .
Acrime is a violation of a I'D
right, and may also involvs NO
lation of the rights of an GGividual.
Crimes include all gradek3Bf public
offences, which at the Bnmon law
are often classified as treason, felony
and misdemeanor."
And according to Blackstone (of |
whom you may h heard) Sfelony"
is defined as "hora rape, larceny,
burglary, arson" =
Evidently your conception of good
regulations" differs from ours in
New Hope and Lambertville. The |
temper of these people just now
would not tolerate your reflection |
upon their good sense and Judgment |
after they KNOW for themselves
the good regulations" of these men.
You say these men are ex-service
men. So is Mr.. Bohn from whom the |
chickens were stolen. So are several |
of other men in the United |
States. But they are all expected to
respect the law just the same.
No man realizes the debt owed ex-
service men better than l do. The |
columns of this paper have carried |
many articles in their defense. But |
having been a soldier is no excuse |
for continued criminal conduct. There |
are many ex-soldiers and sailors in |
the Trenton Penitentary at this time
One formerly imprisoned there owes |
his liberty to my efforts in his be-
half. (And for which l received no
payO This man had addressed a plea
to the Legion Post of which | was
a member. was appointed to in
vestigate his case. found the pris-
oner to be a youngster under age,
who had beat up" a taxi driver for
cursing him as fool for working in
the navy for a dollar day. l was i'm
pressed with the boys sincerity, and
Warden Mulheron and Chaplin FL
der agreed the boy was not crimi-
nal at heart. l worked for weeks in
establishing the boys status. And
when it was established 1 recon-
mended his case for endorsement. A
petition, who signatures / secured by
hard work, went to the Pardon
Board, and the boy was released to
return to the navy to redeem him
self. 1 do not lack sympathy where
sympathy is deserving,
Finally: l have too much to do,
and too much to think about, to spend
my time 'maliciously" attacking
people. have simply reflected the
public opinion of the community. In
cidentally, have you ever seen or
heard the expression "Vox populi,
vox Dep? But perhaps you don't
understand that. But if you want to
learn what it means, come down to
Lambertville, introduce yourself, and
ask the people how they feel about
the Agin-Bilby case. (And by the
way, if you have any political aspir-
ations, you might utilize the oppor-
tunity to ask these same people