The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-01-13
FROM K. C.
Twenty Cases Disposed of in
Federal Court.
Nineteen Indictments Were
Made by Grand Jury.

Al +. Williams, United States dis
trict attorney; W. w. Harvey. assist
ant district attorney, and John Free.
chief clerk, are back in Topeka after
spending the past four days in federal
court at Kansas City, Kan. During
that time about twenty cases were dis
posed of in court, and matters. were
presented to the grand jury resulting
ing the return of nineteen indict-
ments. Assistant District Attorney A.
H. Skinner remained on the job. in
Kansas City to handle any other mat
tiers which may come up during the
next week or ten days. as court will
be in session there at least that much
longer.
Return Verdict of Guilty
In the case against VIII Green,
Lloyd Baker and Gregory O'COnnelI,
charged with stealing five pouches of
mail from a postal messenger at Bax-
ter Springs, Cherokee county, June II,
1921, the jury late Thursday after
noon returned verdict of guilty. As
result each of the trio faces a seh-
tence of twenty-five years in the fed
eral penitentiary.
All three defendants were identified
by Gus Shields, the messenger. He
said the robbers in a motor car forced
him to drive the mail truck, contain
ing the pouches, into the country.
About half a mile out of Baxter
Springs, he said, the sacks were rifled
and first class mail with liberty bonds
worth $500 was taken. The defend
ants tried to establish an alibi by tes
tifylng that at the time of the rob
I berry they were at the home of farm
er, near Pittsburg, kan, fast asleep.
Pleads Guilty to Murder.
Learder Martin, colored, who shot
and killed another colored man on
the Fort Riley military reservation
last June, pleaded guilty to murder in
the second degree and was sentenced
to spend ten years in prison. Had
Martin been tried and found guilty of
murder in the first degree the old
question of hanging a man in Kansas
would have again risen.
The return of indictments may re-
pleas of guilty within a few days, al
tho it is believed that most of the
cases will be carried over until the
April term of court at Topeka.
One of the indictments returned was
| against William Reifel, which name
| the governments attorneys declare to
| be an alias, Paul Hill and Alex Par
lima, charged with transporting a stol-
en- motor car from California to Belle
! vile, Kan, in December. Parlina, who
| has been held in Jail at Junction City,
will be taken to Kansas City, today,
plead guilty is not yet known. Reifel
and Hill are both out on bond.
Charged With Stealing Auto.
| 1t is alleged that the three men stole
the car in Pasadena, Cal, early in De-
cember, and drove it to Nebraska and
| then into Kansas. The car was the
property of William Reifel, a United
! States naval officer, who is in Kansas
| City at the present time having been
| called in the event a trial is held. One
| of the three men took over the name
| of Reifel, the government authorities
| allege,. after taking the car and find
ing a copy of the owners license, it
| being a state law in California that
such Identification be carried in every
| car. In statement made following
| his arrest, Hill claimed to be a news
paper man and having had three years
experience in China as special
writer.
/ sWilliam- d. Kerfoot, charged with
robbing the mails while acting as a
substitute mail carrier on a Union
Pacific train between Leayenworth
and Mi1tonva1e, Kan, in October, 1911
may also be tried during the next few
days. Kerfoot, who was recently ar
rested at Sacramento, Cal, is Due
to arrive in Kansas City sometime
today in custody of a U. S. marshal
and two postoffice inspectors who
have been handling the case. Kerfoot
is charged with taking two registered
packages of mail containing $1,000
in currency consigned to Kansas
banks. The case has attracted much
attention as during the ten years Ker-
foot was at large the action was
once dismissed, to be opened again
| last fall when a second indictment
was returned against him