Offenders At The Bar

New York, 1895

Some Plead Guilty While Others Assert Their Innocence.

The court of sessions, Judge Garretson presiding, convened at the court house in Long Island City on Monday. A number of persons indicted by the present grand jury were arraigned. Henry Eckert, the Newtown burglar, pleaded guilty to burglary. Policeman James McLaughlin appeared in court in uniform and pleaded not guilty to two indictments which charge him with clubbing. Michel Emmett pleaded not guilty to obstructing voters in the last election. James P. Rappelyea, of Newtown, pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with misappropriating $60 in connection with the Newtown excise scandal.

John J. O'Connor, a boss painter of Long Island City, was called for trial on a charge of conspiracy with Edward Lonergan, another painter, to defraud the county. Lonergan put in a bid to the supervisors to paint the court house in October, 1892, for $750. O'Conner's bid was $1,500. Lonergan withdrew his bid on an understanding with O'Conner that they would share in the profits of the job. They quarreled over the division of the spoils. Owing to the defendant's counsel not being ready, the trial was set down for next Monday.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Jan. 25, 1895, p. 1.