Camden Courier-Post – January 2, 1928
Bertman Frees Both After Police Tell of Fuss at Brewer’s Cafe
Mickey Blair, Camden pugilist, and Thomas Schneider, secretary to Commissioner William D. Sayrs. Jr., started the New Year by getting drunk and becoming both abusive and pugnacious when ordered away from Horace Brewer‘s restaurant on Market street, it was testified by three policemen in Police Court today.
But Blair and Schneider as well as James Borini, who was arrested with them, won their freedom when Judge Bernard Bertman suspended sentence.
“There is no doubt but that you were all drunk” was Bertman’s comment.” Surely, if you had been sober, this would never have happened. I know you are respectable men of the community and I regret to see you here. I will suspend sentence.”
According to the three policemen, however, the trio of defendants acted like anything but respectable men of the community yesterday morning when the New Year was little more than three hours old.
Patrolmen Frank Evans, Charles Bowen and August Fortune testified that Blair, Schneider and Borini had been ordered away from the restaurant by Brewer and that they had become abusive, threatening the policemen and calling them names.
Schneider insisted that he entered the argument only because Evans was “beating up Blair,” but Evans and the other officers retorted that Blair had warned the policemen that they would be sorry if they arrested him and Schneider had boasted that “no cop can pinch me.”
All were charged with being drunk and disorderly. Blair, whose real name is Michael Tenerelli, is 19 years old and lives at 833 South Fourth Street. Schneider gave his address as 414 Spruce Street. He is acting secretary to Commissioner Sayrs as a temporary appointee. Borini, 22 years old, gave his address as 324 Pine street.
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