JURY IN SQUIRTING
CASE IS DIVIDED.
IT WILL BE TRIED OVER NEXT
MONDAY MORNING.
Defendant is D. A. Harrington,
Charged With Common Assault
on Miss Frances Beers.
Threw Water on Auto.
The case of the state of Kansas against D. A. Harrington, charged with using his garden hose for squirting an automobile and its occupants, occupied the entire time of the North division of the city court, Kansas City, Kas., yesterday. The complaining witness was H. M. Beers, a prominent trader at the stock yards, who insists that the defendant should be punished for assault inasmuch as he turned a hose on his automobile while it was being drivien in front of the defendant's home on the evening of August 1.
The assault charge was not based upon any damage sustained by the machine, but it so happened that Mr. Beers's daughter, Miss Frances, was an occupant of the auto, adn she received a quantity of the water aimed at the chauffeur and the machine.
When the case was called Senator James F. Getty appeared for the defendant, while ex-State Senator J. K. Cubbison represented the prosecution as special counsel. Among the forty-odd witnesses subpoenaed there were many residents of the fashionable neighborhood in which the squirting stunt was pulled off. Some testified as to how automobiles had been driven along the street in front of the Harrington home at reckless speed and that protests had been entered against using the thoroughfare for a speedway. Mr. Harrington adopted a plan of his own to put a stop to this practice. Miss Beers and other witnesses testified that when the hose was turned loose on her auto it was running at a moderate speed. It was shown that had the machine been running at the high rate of speed which it was claimed, but little water would have struck it. The evidence showed that the chauffeur, Miss Beers and the machine received a thorough drenching.
The case was given to the jury at about 4 o'clock and, after being out about thirty minutes, the twelve men announced that they could not agree upon a verdict. They were discharged by Judge U. S. Guyer and the case will be tried again next Monday.
