The Davidson boys were each given a fine of $50, and Frank Gannt and Hal Roseman were fined $5 each and their part of the cost in Recorder’s court yesterday, in the case in which the young men were charged with beating up the policeman and creating a disturbance in general in Troutman on the 30th of December. In addition to the fines mentioned, the four boys were to pay policeman Hartline $25 for the week he was unable to work and $10 for the medical attention required as a result of the injuries the officer sustained in the difficulty.
The case was compromised and settled in a manner that appears to be entirely satisfactory to all parties concerned. Most of the day Monday was devoted to taking evidence by both the prosecution and the defense, and in the argument before Judge A.L. Starr, Solicitor John G. Lewis was assisted in the prosecution by Attorney John A. Scott and Z.V. Turlington. The defendants were ably represented by Attorneys H.P. Grier, Raymer and H.E. Lewis. It was a hard-fought contest and there was much interest manifested on the part of the public, the court room being crowded during the greater part of the trial. After a strenuous day Monday, court adjourned at 6 p.m. to resume work yesterday morning at 10 o’clock. Owing to the fact that attorneys for both sides were working on a compromise, the opening of court was delayed 45 minutes when Solicitor Lewis made the statement that the defendants through their counsel plead guilty to the charges in the bill of indictment and he recommended that Joe Davidson and Roy Davidson each pay a fine of $50 and that Frank Gannt and Hal Roseman pay a fine of $5 each, that defendants pay policeman Hartline $35 to cover the expenses of medical attention and the lost of one wee on account of physical disability brought on by the assault; the solicitor also stated that he agreed not to prosecute in the case against C.A. Hartline, Floyd Allen and Clyde(?) Alley for assault on parties who were in Troutman to attend the trial in the mayor’s court. The judgement of the court was in accordance with the compromise agreed upon, all costs in the case being paid by the defendants promptly and thus an unfortunate affair, which might have been a disastrous fermination(?) came to a speedy and satisfactory end. It appeared from the evidence that Troutman’s chief of police had overstepped the bounds of the law n a two free use of his “billy”, both on the night of the assault and at a later trial before the mayor of Troutman, and that he had attempted to arrest parties for speeding outside the corporate limits of Troutman, and he admitted that he had chased one of the county commissioners for speeding. The charge against him for assault with deadly weapon on certain persons who were quietly attending the trial at Troutman was “nol prossed” by Solicitor Lewis on the ground that the policeman had suffered sufficiently in the first case in which the boys beat him up.
The evidence crossed in certain particulars. Some witnesses stated that Joe Davidson struck Mr. Alley with a pistol and other stated that he hit him with a clenched fist; witnesses also differed also as to the state of intoxication of the four defendants on the night of the trouble, some claiming that they were all drunk and others alleging that only the Gannt boy was drunk and the rest had only taken a few drinks. In view, therefore, of all the evidence the judgment of the court as announced was agreed upon and approved by all parties concerned.
From the front page of the Statesville Sentinel, Wednesday, January 11, 1922.
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