Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-02-04
FINED S15OF0R
FALSE ALARM
DWyer Gets Heavy Fine Sen
tenCe in the Police Court
Here
LECTURED BY RECORDER
Admits Sending in Alarms
During Storm of Last Sat-
urday Night

Daniel +. Dwypr. of 356 Lawrle
street, was fined $3.50 by Recorder
Harold f.. PiCkeragill, when he was
arrligned III the rClice court at
O'Clock yesterday afternoon on
charge of turning il three taise
ala ms of fire during the storm OF
last Saturday night. Dwyer was COM
mitted TO jail until payment was
made. under the sentence of the re-
corder The fine was paid shorty
afterward and he was released.
The hearing late yesterday alter
noon was TIE result Of the announce
ment made by Recorder Pickersgiii
last Mondsy nigh when the case
.as originally called. Counsel for
DIVER appeared ic court and asked
an adjourn ent and the recorder
granted the request, adjourning the
case until Friday night with the un-
derstand.nf, that in the event that an
earlier hearing was desired he Woulu
grant il.
4 few representatives of the fire
department and 1Ie court olilclals
were the only spectators at the near
ing and before the case began the
firpnen voiced objections to what
thcv termed as secret hearings,
bus Recorder Pickersgill made IL
clear that 10 effott Lad been made
to have ne proceedings privately
The facts attending the afternoon
hearing. the judge said, were that
the case was ready and that IL was
his desire to get it out or the WAY
as soon as possible because OF the
comment that has been brought 70
bear upon him for severe sentence:
Thomas l.. Hanson who appeared
nt thp cltV.
also stated that he had not counte-
nanced any private session of the
court. When notified that the case
of the defendant was ready he de-
clared that he had refused to appear
unless the case was conducted open
ly.
In pronouncing sentence upon
DIVER, Recorder PickersgiI re-
marked that the case came under
the disorderly persons act ana tllat
the extreme penalty was one year
in prison and a fine of $l15. Ihc
recorder said he was determlneH
not to send Dwyer to Jail for several
reasons. Ore was that in the past
when false alarms of fire had been
sent in the matter had been treated
as a huge joke, even when pefpe-
trated by firemen themselves. In no
case. he continued. had an oiiende"
been punished by being cNpeiied
from his fire company ana When
police court fines had been imposed
in one or two cases they had not
exceeded SD.
For that reason" the court con-
tinued II am not going to sentence
YOU to Jail. You have admitted you"
guilt from the first and have acted
like a man. The course you have
pursued is what has saved you from
Jail"
"The seriousness of your ottense =
true. in fact, it is more serious than
either of the attorneys have express
ed it. No other case in my seventeen
wears as recorder has excited the
comment that this one has. ~
cryone wanted you punished severe
". | have made up my nina that
I will not send you to jail because
ir the past your offensc has not been
considered serious. Your condition
was no excuse. 1t was voluntarily
produced and doesn't exempt you
from blame. But other similar cases
have passed off with a laugh ana IN
view of this fact l am not justified
in sending you to jail
'In the future" the recorder con-
l1nueu, i want IL pldlHiS u'uN'
stood that anyone detected in turn
ing in false alarm will certainly
have a Jail sentence staring him m
the face. The time has come to take
a stand on the matter and no len
iency will be shown in subsequen,
cases of this kind"
Recorder Pickersgill said ne
placed Dryers action in the same
class with man who ran up and
down Smith street with a gun IN
each hand, firing right and left ana
hitting no one. If he hit anyone he
would be guilty of manslaughter. and
the court maintained that had any
fatalities resulted from last Satur-
day nights incident, DwHer would
have been i'm the same position.
Attorney David Nlientz, appearing
in behalf o. Dwyer. stated the atti-
tude of the prisoner in admitting
his 2pi't ant cited the remorse which
he has suffered Stree the unfortun-
ate affair. HE said Dwyer and his
family hal suffered keenly already
and aske5 fer clemency from the
court on the ground that the act
had noL been wilfully malicious. Ac-
qu,ttal was not desired Mr.. Wilentz