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The Green Bag
so made, the substituted contract will be enforced. CRIMINAL LAW. (Misconduct of coun sel.) S. D.—In State v. Kaufman, 118 N. W. Rep. 337, that case which has been so glar ingly presented by the press, Emma Kauf man, having been convicted of manslaughter, appealed from an order denying a new trial. Many errors were set forth, the most appar ent of these being the conduct of the prose cuting attorney. His efforts to convict led him into asking witnesses improper questions and arguing for their propriety, thus calling them to the attention of the jury. Frequent impassioned, sensational appeals made to the jury and sometimes to the onlookers char acterized his address, which was abusive in the extreme. To further arouse his thoroughly excited auditors he referred to the residence of accused as palatial. The Supreme Court of South Dakota reversed the order re fusing a new trial, remarking that even had accused dwelt in a palace, she was entitled to the same presumption of innocence as if she had lived in a hovel. To sustain the con viction, it concluded, upon the record before us, would mean the approval of methods of procedure inevitably subversive of the most sacred constitutional rights, it would en courage—where no encouragement it needed —disregard of universally recognized pro fessional obligations, and ultimately render the administration of justice in this juris diction a disgrace to American civilization. CRIMINAL LAW. (Sentence for crime no bar to trial for another offense.) Ct. App. Ga.—One Coleman, while under sentence of twelve months to the chain gang for assault with intent to murder, was convicted of the disturbance of public asemblage. It appeared that he had snatched a would-be preacher from the pulpit, telling him that if he at tempted to preach he would give him the worst whipping a man ever got. He was duly convicted. In Coleman v. State, 62 South eastern Reporter 487, plaintiff in error denied the jurisdiction of the city court, alleging that at the time of his conviction of disturbing public assemblage he was under sentence of a superior court on another charge. The Court of Appeals of Georgia held that the former conviction did not present a bar to his trial for misdemeanor before the city court. DISTURBANCE OF PUBLIC ASSEM BLAGE. (Interruption of sermon by rival
preacher.) Ot. App. Ga.—In the case of Woodall v. State, 62 Southeastern Reporter 485, it appeared that defendant, a negro preacher, had been indicted for the disturb ance of a congregation assembled for divine worship. The evidence showed that defend ant, to keep the ears of his flock unsullied by doubtful doctrines of a rival minister, arose, interrupted and himself began an harangue. No force or violence was indulged in. The Court of Appeals of Georgia held that as the purpose of defendant was to cany on divine worship, and not to prevent it, he was not guilty. It remarked also that it is beyond the power of the courts to settle by criminal prosecutions the respective rights of contest ing claimants to a benefice, even in a negro church. EVIDENCE. (Admissibility of telephone communication.) Ot. App. Ky.—Just after a man had been fatally stabbed, some one giv ing the name of appellant called up a doctor telling him that the man slain required atten tion, and adding that he had stabbed him. It appeared that no other communication had been received by the doctor relative to the affair and that appellant had stated to another that he had telephoned to the doctor. In Chapman v. Commonwealth, 112 S. W. Rep. 567, the Court of Appeals of Kentucky held the conversation admissible in evidence. EVIDENCE. (Judicial notice of football season.) Iowa.—Appellant in Sieberts v. Spangler, 118 N. W. Rep. 292, was employed as assistant manager of a football team for the season of 1903. Appellant contended that as the contract fixed no date for pay ment of the agreed sum the court could not arbitrarily name the date (December 1) at which interest could begin to accrue. The Supreme Court of Iowa remarked that it was a matter of common observation, of which the court may take notice, that while the re mainder of the year in our great American institutions of learning may be religiously devoted to the study of football, the "season" proper, in which academic investigation gives place to the applied science, begins with the first frost, and ends very appropriately with the day of general Thanksgiving. GARNISHMENT. (Stenographer is la borer.) Ct. App. Ga.—The case of Cohen v. Aldrich, 62 S. E. Rep. 1015, arose from the garnishment of $35 of the salary of a sten ographer by a person named Cohen. The
