OCR Text |
Show I MJTO driver m I NOT 10 BLUE H Extenuating circumstances, which H were admitted by Special Officer Wil- H Ham Reast, reduced the assessment H Jn two automobile speed cases in po- H lice court this morning from the regu- H latlon fine of $25 to tie marked-down H figure of ?5. H The defendant In the first case was H Joseph Scoweroft, .Ir, who entered a H plea of not guilty as charged. Young H Scoweroft was very ably defended' By H Attorney John C. I ley wood, who was H one of the passengers in the car at H the time It ran afoul the officer. The H attorney stated that while the ma- H chine had probably been exceeding the H six-mile limit at tho time it crossed H the Washington avenue crossing, H where Policeman Roast lurked, the H driver of the car was not endeavor- H ing to "pull off a Barney Oldfield Im- H personation," hut was virtually forc- H ed to fracture the literal Interpretation H of the city ordinance In order to dodge H other vehicles and a certain obstruc- Hl tion In Uie road HI On the stand, Officer Reast testified H that young Scoweroft was not ordin- H arlly a reckless driver and that he H had never had occasion to detain him. H He even admitted that the youth Is H one of the most careful drivers In H the city, but that on the occasion of H his arrest he whirled past the corner H of Twenty-second street on Washing- H ton avenue at the hurricane speed of H eighteen miles per hour. Ho asked H that lenience bo granted the defend- n H In passing sentence, the court stat- ed that the city speed ordinance was H not to be interpreted literally in all H cases, .but that the spirit of the law Hi .should ho considered. The ' judge fl stated that, according to the exact M wordingof the ordinance, every auto H driver In the city was ddubtless'guilty 1 of having disobeyed tho law. Because H of the record of the defendant, as M gfven by the arresting officer, the H court stated that he would hand down H the minimum fine of $5. M The second case of auto violatir. M was that of G. E. Thompson and as H the evidence in this case was very M similar to the evidence In the Scows H croft case, tho same penalty was ini- B posed. |