People ex rel. Edelstein v. Warden of City Prison

154 A.D. 261, 29 N.Y. Crim. 492, 154 N.Y. 261, 138 N.Y.S. 1095, 1912 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9917
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided December 30, 1912·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

Woodward, J.:

The petition for the writ of habeas corpus is made by the managing clerk of relator’s attorney, and sets forth in substance that Morris Edelstein is illegally detained by the respondent upon the charge' of being a fugitive from the justice of the State of New Jersey, in that he is charged in the city of Paterson, N. J., with, having committed the crime of arson on or about the 18th day of. June, 1912. The petition also alleges on information and belief that Morris Edelstein was never in the city of Paterson, State of New Jersey, at any time, and more particularly on June 18, 1912. The return to the writ sets forth that Morris Edelstein is detained by the respondent under and by virtue of a commitment dated the 18th day of August, 1912, made by Hon. Harry Miller, city magistrate, second division, sitting in the Tenth District Court. The return includes the commitment,, the affidavit on which the warrant was issued, the warrant for the arrest of Morris Edelson, alias Edelstein,” the examination before the city magistrate, the warrant of John Keys, justice of the peace of Paterson, N. J., for .the arrest of one Morris Edelson, bearing date of August 17, 1912, and the exemplified copy of thei complaint óf John Tracey charging Morris Edelson with willfully and maliciously setting fire to and burning a dwelling house. The return likewise includes the warrant of extradition in the usual form, signed by the Governor of this State, and directing the delivery of Morris Edelson to the agent of the State of New Jersey. No traverse to the return was made by the relator, but the court proceeded summarily to take proofs upon the return of the writ. At the close of the testimony the court directed the discharge of the relator from further custody, and the respondent appeals to this court from the orden

[263] No question was raised before the court as to the regularity of any of the steps taken in procuring the warrant for the extradition of Morris Edelson, but the petition before the court alleges that “Morris Edelstein is presently confined in the Raymond street Jail; ” that “your petitioner is informed and verily believes that the said Morris Edelstein was arrested on the 17th day of August, 1912, in the Borough of Brooklyn, City of New York, and charged with the crime of Arson ’ alleged to have been committed in the City of Paterson, State of New Jersey, on or about the 18th day of June, 1912. * * * That your petitioner is informed by said Edelstein and verily believes that the said Morris Edelstein was never in the City of Paterson, State of New'Jersey, at anytime during his life and more particularly on the 18th day of June, 1912.” The petitioner further sets up that on the day of the alleged crime the relator was actually employed in the borough of Manhattan, and while there was no formal traverse of the return, the question which appears to have engaged the attention of the court was the variance between the name of the person charged with crime under the warrant of extradition and that of the relator.

The relator testified on direct examination that he had never been known by the name of Edelson or Edelstone, and on his cross-examination he declared that he had never been in the city of Paterson and knew no one in that city. Subsequently two witnesses, whose credibility is not questioned in the record, identified the relator as the man whom they had encountered in the immediate vicinity of the fire on the 18th day of June, 1912, in the city of Paterson. The relator’s wife, Gfussie Edelstein, on direct examination, testified that she had lived in Brooklyn for six years; that her husband had never gone by the name of Edelson, but had always been known as Edelstein, and that she had never been in Paterson. On cross-examination she admitted that she had been in Paterson two or three weeks before the hearing, and that she had seen in a saloon in Paterson one of the colored witnesses produced by the appellant.

Abraham Intemofsky, on direct examination, testified that he was engaged in the cooperage business; that he had known [264] Morris Edelstein for four months, and that relator had been employed as a helper upon one of his trucks. Asked if he knew relator under the name of Edelson, not Edelstein, this witness replied. “I call him Edelson; Morris Edelson.” On relator’s counsel asking, “Morris what?” the witness replied, “Morris Edelstein.” The court reminded the witness that he ' had said Edelson, and then asked him if there was any such name as Edelson in Russia. The answer was “ Edelson, yes, Sir.” Asked, “This is Edelson?’’ the witness replied, “Yes,' sir.” Again he was asked, “And Edelstein? Do you recognize the difference between the two ?” and he replied, “I call' him Edelson.” Relator’s counsel then asked, “What did he call himself ?” and the witness answered, “ I called him Edelson.” Further examined throug’h an interpreter, the witness said: “To tell you the truth I called him Morris, his first name, mostly, but I wasn’t particular-, called him sometimes Edelstein and Edelson.”

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People ex rel. Edelstein v. Warden of City Prison, 154 A.D. 261, 29 N.Y. Crim. 492, 154 N.Y. 261, 138 N.Y.S. 1095, 1912 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9917 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1912).

154 A.D. 261 (People ex rel. Edelstein v. Warden of City Prison) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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