Daily Kennebec journal., 1925-07-28
Judge Reserves
Decision in Case
Of Illegal Possession

Judge Charles w. Atchley reserved
his verdict in the case of State
against Harold McTaggert of Oak
land. when the latter was tried in
the Waterville municipal court yes
terday afternoon on 13 charges of
single sale and one charge of illegal
possession. The respondent furnish
eo bonds OF $500 for. his appearance
next Monday morning, at which
time the verdict will be rendered
Ihomas N. Weeks appeared for the
STATE, "nlle council for the defense
was n. l.. Hunton of Oakland.
Inc nrst witness for the prosecu-
tion was Eli Clukey. Jr., of Front
.iee., tnis city. Clukey said that
ne knew McTaggert and had been
80 MS arug store in Oakland many
s curing the last two months
witness said that he had boueht w.
bottles of Jamaica ginger from 49,
defendant and that immedtateiv a o.
er the purchase he had turned than,
over to Deputy Sheriff Oscar Hsg-
iund, who was waiting outside The
store. There was no conversation
accorolng to the witness, Clukev q sk
ing 1or the ginger and getting u
Win no comment on the part of Nc
1asgert. Clukey said that the liz.
uor was Kept In the front mart ~
.he store ana that there was no ef-
,orI maze to be secretive in selling
~. All the bottles that he got IN
ms 10 trips to the store he had given
70 the officers directly afterward.
the witness claimed. Althoueh be
hao oeen In the store often the wit :
ness said that he had never 10
mucn conversation with McTapeart
On one occasion when McTa osart
was not supplied with Jamaica sir
ger ne sold the witness a hott,e nf
.ion>A.Vin," after giving him - =
IN cross examination Cl,kav do
nled that he had told McTaggert he
couid not take bitter tonics of that
ne was in need of the ginger because
OF illness: He admitted that in tell
ing the druggist that he was living
~ oioney at the time he had told a
falsehood. wv" "
Deputy Sheriff Oscar Haglund
william Cole, William V. Nash and
warren Moses all testified that they
nau at dinerent times accompanied
| Clukey and had seen him buv Iinuor
from McTaggert.
| eiic uSl6nS0 Mr. Hun
| ton did not deny that about six gall
| IONS OF alcohol and a number of
| pottles OF tonic and ginger which
were taken from the drug store last
I rTlday night were the property of
| McTaggert but it was claimed that
! the tntoxicants were legally there.
He spoke of the fine character of the
| respondent and declared it to be the
| contention Of the State that the lio-
qor was sold in he general run of
business for medicinal purposes.
| McTaggert, in taking the stand,
said that he was SO years old and
| has been a nesident of Oakland. His
| story was that he sold Clukey the
| liquor after the latter had said that
| he suffered with cramps and other
| illnesses and found that the ginger
| relieved him. Clukey had never ap-
| peared drunk when he bought the
| tonics and his physical appearance
| led McTaggert to believe that the
man was in need of them. McTag-
CERT said that he had been told by
Clukey that as Clukey was living
| about three miles from Sidney and
wanted to take the ginger home
with him he would like to have two
! bottles at time. The witness stout
| ly denied that he had ever sold alco-
hol in any form for beverage pur-
poses.
E. NJ. Foster of Waterville appear
ed as a witness for the defense, say
ing that he had known the respond
ent for the past 25 years and had
always known him to be an upright
1 ,Sxt,an