IAGenWeb Project - Clayton co.

New content added 12/15/22 (1931)

Court Records Index

Clayton Co. Justice & Court Proceedings
... as reported in the 1932 newspapers

~compiled & transcribed by Reid R. Johnson for Clayton Co. IAGenWeb

 

1931

State of Iowa vs. Harold Walters. Defendant pled guilty to the crime of malicious mischief. Sentenced to one month in county jail and fined $100. Sentence suspended and defendant is paroled to Leonard Mikota during good behavior.

State of Iowa vs. Geo. Lieb. Defendant pled guilty to larceny of domestic animals and poultry. Sentenced to county jail for six months and to pay costs of prosecution. Sentence suspended and he is paroled to Thomas R. Holbert of Greeley during good behavior.

State of Iowa vs. Earl Ingles. Defendant pled guilty to larceny of domestic animals and poultry. Sentenced to county jail for three months and to pay costs of prosecution. Sentence suspended and defendant is paroled to Thomas R. Holbert of Greeley during good behavior.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 12 Feb. 1931.

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State of Iowa vs. Anna Schmid. Defendant adjudged guilty of contempt. Fined $200. and costs.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 12 Mar. 1931.

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State of Iowa vs. Leslie G. Kuempel. Defendant pleads guilty to the charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Sentenced to pay a fine of $200. and be deprived of the privilege of driving a car for one year. On payment of $100. of fine, the balance will be suspended during good behavior and defendant paroled to the Sheriff of Clayton County.
~Clayton County Register. Thur., 19 Mar. 1931.

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Vallie Behrens of Elkader was fined $300. and costs and was sentenced to serve three months in the Clayton County jail when he was found guilty Wednesday of violation of a liquor injunction in the district court by Judge Carl Reed. Behrens arrest and subsequent sentencing for contempt of court followed his violation of an injunction issued Dec. 12, 1930. At that time the court ordered him to refrain from bootlegging or any traffic in intoxicating liquors.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 26 Mar. 1931..

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State of Iowa vs. George Freye. The defendant plead guilty to the charge of malicious mischief and he was sentenced to pay a fine of $100. and to serve one month in the county jail. If the fine is paid the jail sentence will be suspended during good behavior.
~Clayton County Register, Thur. 14 May 1931.

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State of Iowa vs, Sam Jennings. Jennings whose home is in Volga City, was arrested some time ago for driving his car while intoxicated. He pled guilty to the charge and was fined $300. and prohibited from driving his car for three months.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 04 June 1931.

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In the case of Roland Gass, of Postville, in which the defendant was charged with assault with intent to commit murder on the person of his brother, Edwin, the court imposed a sentence not to exceed thirty years in the state penitentiary at Fort Madison, after Gass had pled guilty to the charge. Because of circumstances peculiar to this case, Judge Eichendorf suspended the sentence during good behavior of the defendant and he has been paroled to the sheriff of Clayton County. Gass is also to go to the psychopathic hospital at Iowa City for examination and treatment.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 25 June 1931.

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Mrs. Harry Love, McGregor, who was arrested last week on a bad check charge, and confined to the county jail for several days, was arraigned before Judge Eichendorf last Friday. She pled guilty to the charge and was given a sentence of two years in the women's reformatory at Rockwell City. Sentence was suspended upon Mrs. Love's promise that she would make the spurious checks good and she was paroled to Sheriff E. H. McGhee. Judge Eichendorf gave Mrs. Love six months time to make good on the checks she had passed.

Rex Richards, 21, of McGregor, was arrested last Saturday evening at Guttenberg, charged with driving a car while intoxicated. As Town Marshal Radamacher was opening the town jail to place him there, Richards started on the run for the river nearby, plunged in and started to swim away from the officer. After swimming some distance, Richards got into difficulties and called for help. He was taken from the water and then placed in the town jail, where he remained until the following morning, when Sheriff E. H. McGhee was notified. The latter brought him to the county jail where he was held until Monday afternoon. Monday afternoon young Richards appeared before Judge W. L. Eichendorf, waived time to plead and pled guilty to the charge of driving a car while intoxicated. He received a sentence of one year in the county jail, sentence, however, was suspended during good behavior and he was paroled to Sheriff McGhee during good behavior. Judge Eichendorf further ordered that Richards be forbidden to drive any motor vehicle for a period of three months and also that he use no intoxicating liquor for a period of one year. Violation of any of the orders will be cause for revoking of the parole.

~Clayton County Register, Thur., 09 July 1931.

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Oliver Rodenberg, charged with assault with intent to commit murder, was fined $100. and costs, after pleading guilty, and his certificate of registration suspended for six months.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 15 Oct. 1931.

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Two federal prisoners are serving a sentence in the local county jail, having been sent here from the federal court in Sioux City. One is Joe Blodget, 35, of Garnavillo, and the other is Cyril Mink, 35, of McGregor. These men were convicted of a liquor law violation and were brought here last Saturday by the federal marshall. Blodgett has a ninety-day sentence and Mink's term is for thirty days.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 05 Nov. 1931.

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Realto Wille, charged with assault with intent to inflict great bodily injury, plead guilty to the charge and received a fine of $100. and costs.

Clarence Olson and Louis Olson plead guilty to the charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. They were fined $300. and costs and the court recommended that defendant's car certificate of registration be suspended for 3 months.

Peter Larson plead guilty to the charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. He was fined $300 and costs and sentenced to 3 months in the county jail and it was recommended by the court that the defendant's certificate of registration be suspended for one year.

John Carpenter, charged with illegal possession of intoxicating liquor, plead guilty, was fined $300. and costs and was sentenced to 3 months in the county jail. Jail sentence, however, was suspended upon payment of the fine and during good behavior and he was paroled to the sheriff.

Jack Dunphy and Leo O'Brien both plead guilty to a charge of illegal transportation of intoxicating liquor. The first named was fined $400. and costs and the last named $300 and costs.

Ernest Backes plead guilty to a charge of grand larceny and he was fined $100. and costs and sentenced to six months in the county jail. The jail sentence was suspended upon payment of the fine and during good behavior and the defendant was paroled to the Sheriff.

~Clayton County Register, Thur., 17 Dec. 1931.

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Marvin Lau of Guttenberg is serving a thirty-day sentence in the county jail here. In addition he was fined $100., all as the outcome of an automobile collision on the Guttenberg hill on No. 55 late last Thursday evening. He plead guilty to a charge of reckless driving before justice of the Peace C. P. Luther, who imposed both the jail sentence and the fine.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 31 Dec. 1931


1932

The population in the Clayton county jail here was materially increased last Monday when ten young men from Guttenberg were sent up by Justice of the Peace C. P. Luther to serve thirty day sentences in each case. The young men had pleaded guilty to stealing coal from cars in transit on the Milwaukee road, which passes through Guttenberg. The ten young men receiving the sentences are:
Roy Sassen
W. Carrier
Eldon Lau
Harold Lau
Ray Luther
Art Stoeffler
Herman Baltes
Delbert Meyer
Harold Hindell
George Hunt
After pleading guilty to the charge, Justice Luther sentenced each to a $100 fine or thirty days in jail, and as all were unable to pay the fines the men are serving the jail sentences. The arrests were made Monday afternoon by J. R. Laird, special officer, and Fred Boltz, captain of the railroad police, together with Guttenberg marshals, F. L. Miller and Art Raadamacher. Following commitment to the county jail here, Sheriff E. H. McGhee was notified and he returned with the prisoners late Monday afternoon.

It is alleged that the young men climbed on to some coal cars in the lower part of Guttenberg and proceeded to pile large chunks of coal on the sides of the cars. As the train passed over crossings the coal was pushed from the cars, the intention being to return later with a truck to gather it. According to plans the young men intended to leave the train in the north end of Guttenberg, but the train was going too fast for them to jump off, so they rode through to Marquette. Here they hopped a southbound freight to take them home but this proved to be a through train and the first stop was at Dubuque shops.

Before the Guttenberg men could return home to gather the coal they had dumped from the train, railroad officials were on the job and the arrests followed. Much of the coal so taken, it was stated to a Register reporter, has been returned to the company.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 21 Jan. 1932

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Wm H. O'Neill plead guilty to a charge of keeping a gambling house and he was fined $50 and the costs of prosecution.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 3 Mar. 1932

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Vallie Behrens was found guilty of contempt of court in Judge W. L. Eichendorf's court here yesterday morning and sentenced to six months in the county jail. Testimony in the case was taken last Monday afternoon but Judge Eichendorf did not pass sentence until yesterday forenoon. The case grew out of an alleged sale of liquor last week. An injunction to restrain Behrens from selling liquor, had been obtained in a previous term of court.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 5 May 1932

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Two cases of drunkenness were disposed of in D. E. Gleason's justice court here Monday and Tuesday. In both cases the men were sentenced to serve thirty days in jail. Hugo Gusta was arrested about six o'clock Sunday evening by Sheriff E. H. McGhee at the Gusta house following a fight in which Gusta, Frank Leonard and John Gjertsen figured.

According to statements of witnesses Gusta had been drinking Sunday afternoon and when he returned to his house, which is occupied by the Gjertsen family he threatened to shoot some one. Following this statement he left the house for a short time and while he was gone Frank Leonard came to the place. Upon Gusta's return he and Leonard started an argument which ended in a fight, which Gjertsen attempted to stop.

Gusta was quite badly battered up and required the services of a physician to patch him up. He was taken to jail and Monday morning when he appeared in justice court he plead guilty to the drunkenness charge and received the 30-day sentence. Before that sentence is completed he will be faced with an information charging operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. County Attorney F. E. Sharp has also started padlock proceedings in an attempt to close the Gusta house on the grounds it is a public nuisance.

Ben Petsche, a farmer living on the John Molumby farm, north of town imbibed too freely Sunday and [next several words illegible]. According to the testimony drove his family from the house early Monday morning. Sheriff McGhee and his deputy L. F. McLane and County Attorney Sharp were called at four-thirty in the morning to arrest Petsche.

He was taken before Justice Gleason and he also plead guilty to the charge of drunkenness and was sentenced to the county jail for 30 days. Petsche also has hanging over him a liquor injunction on which he will be prosecuted by the county attorney after his jail sentence is completed.

~Clayton County Register, Thur., 30 June 1932

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Gilbert Welsh, 19, of Millville township, who was arrested late last Sunday evening by Sheriff E. H. McGhee on complaint of Chas. Vorwald on a charge of sodomy, waived to district court here Monday morning when he was confronted with the charge by County Attorney F. E. Sharp. Judge W. L. Eichendorf of McGregor is expected here this afternoon at ten o'clock, when Welsh will be given a hearing and it is expected that the case will be disposed of at this time. Welsh, we are informed, has signed a confession. The charge carries a heavy penalty upon conviction.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 14 July 1932

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Gilbert Welsh, 19, of Millville township, who last Thursday forenoon pled guilty to a statutory crime in Judge W. L. Eichendorf's court, was given an indeterminate sentence of ten years in the penitentiary in Fort Madison. Sheriff E. H. McGhee left the same afternoon for Fort Madison to enter his prisoner in the penitentiary there. McGhee left here in the afternoon, made the drive to Fort Madison, delivered his prisoner and was back home here in Elkader by three o'clock Friday morning.Welsh was arrested a week ago Sunday, after charges had been filed by Chas. Vorwald of Millville township, on whose farm the alleged crime had been committed.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 21 July 1932

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Two - a minor and an adult - have received sentence on charges of malicious mischief to which they plead guilty in Judge H. E. Taylor's court here last week. These two were connected with the destruction of public property in the rural school house in Pony Hollow, Halloween evening. Merle Martin, the adult, after pleading guilty, was sentenced to six months in the county jail and was assessed the cost of the action. Donald Laird, the minor, now 15 years of age, was sent to the State Training school at Eldora until he reaches the age of 21 years, unless sooner paroled. Another juvenile connected with the same charge is Arnold Rothlisberger. He did not plead guilty as the other two did and his case has been continued.
~Clayton County Register, Thur., 10 Nov. 1932

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Glenn Sherman, charged with larceny by embezzlement, plead guilty to the charge. He was fined $1,000 and sentenced to three months in jail. The jail sentence, however, was suspended if restitution is made.

Edward L. Spaulding, charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, plead guilty. A jail sentence of 30 days was suspended and the defendant was paroled to his father, C. F. Spaulding of McGregor during good behavior. He is also to pay the costs of the case. The defendant is restrained from driving a motor vehicle for a period of one year and he cannot make application for a driver's license during the same time.

C. C. Witham, plead guilty to a charge of illegal possession of intoxicating liquor. He was fined $300 and costs and sentenced to three months in jail. The jail sentence, however, was suspended and he has been paroled to the county sheriff. A liquor injunction has also been issued against Witham.

Wm. Boese plead guilty to a charge of [several words illegible] and sentenced to five months in jail. Oliver Rodenberg, who also plead guilty to a larceny charge was given 60 days in jail.

Martin Knudtson plead guilty to the charge of larceny of a motor vehicle and he was sent to the men's reformatory at Anamosa.

Arnold Rothlisberger, a juvenile, had violated his parole and he has been taken to the boys' training school at Eldora.

~Clayton County Register, Thur., 22 Dec. 1932

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