Camden Courier-Post – October 28, 1931
Editorial Page
Do gangsters laugh at the law?
Here are some curious facts in a curious case.
Harry J. Green and James A. Toland, supposed racketeers, were held in heavy bail as material witnesses in the Mickey Duffy murder. On August 30, they were arrested at Berlin on the serious charge of carrying concealed deadly weapons.
Since that date rumor has been rife that these man made two boasts:
One, that they would not be tried until AFTER election.
The other, that they would be acquitted at that time.
Have they made good the boasts? Glance at the record.
The men were scheduled for trial on September 23.
But Judge Shay was involved in the registration cases then, so the criminal case was postponed until October 13.
On October 13, Prosecutor Baldwin asked postponement, saying he feared to try the men before the jury panel which heard the Rettberg case, and whose verdict Baldwin severely criticized. This time the case was put off until October 26.
On Monday, October 26, the trial was again postponed.
Green, it seems had bronchitis. They couldn’t try Toland alone, as Green was a leading defense witness.
It was suggested that the trials be postponed a week. But that would bring them THE DAY BEFORE ELECTION. All the attorneys, it seems, would be too busy to bother with the machinery of justice on that day. So the trials were put off another week- until AFTER ELECTION.
It will be interesting to see whether Messrs. Green and Toland now make good their boast of acquittal!
Since everything seems to be more important than the dispensing of criminal justice at the court house these days, that outcome would not be at all surprising.
No sign of the hard-boiled, fast-moving methods Judge Wilkerson, of Chicago, used in the Capone case.
Jersey Justice, it seems is running with its brakes on!
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