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BOOSE THIRST LEADS TO CRIME('has. Coffeen and J. J. Penrod Forge ( hecks to Finance a Drunk and ,Get in Bad. jII rged on by their desire for a prolonged drunk Charlea V*’. Coffeen and Joseph J. Penrod uttered several fraudulent checks on last Thursday, succeeded in cashing two of them, and after spending the proceeds in the saloons of Attica and Danville, were run down by officers of the law. They were arrested in Danville and brought back to this city where thagfci.'rv tried Satua day before Mayor Heed in the city court. The evidence produced was sufficient to indicate their guilt and the mayor bound them over to the circuit court (for trial. They were taken to Covington Saturday and are now in the county jail, with the certainty of a prison sentence before them.The checks were both past by Coffeen one for $10.00 at Jesse Miller’s shoe store and another for $10:50 at Anton Schmid’s saloon. They attempted to pass another at Eviston’s Candy Factory but Mr. Eviston was suspicious and declined. The checks were all written by Penrod on Farmers Merchants State bank blanks and were signed in his own name He had no money in the bank and had not had. He made the checks to Coffeen and the latter indorsed them when they were cashed. At the trial Saturday Coffeen ‘ 1 and Penrod both admitted that they were hobos with no regular abiding' place. Coffeen is a plasterer by trade1 and is the son of Seth Coffeen, a well known contracting plasterer who livedin Attica. Pine Village, Kramer and 111 Oxford and has workt in ail the smaller towns in this vicinity. The family has lived in St. Louis for several years, al-this city. Charles is a ne’er-do-well j1 and drifted into Attica last January j , from St. Louis. He has been in the 1 vicinity ever since, altho he has 1 workt but little, living the life of a hobo most of the time and sleeping at the light plant, in box cars or anywhereelse that he could. He huskt corn for 1a short time for Miles and Black on , the Hughes farm and there he got ac- |f quainted with Penrod, a fellow of like | character, who claimed Lafayette as his home, his mother being an inmate of the soldiers’ home there. The acquaintance was renewed in the saloons of Attica Monday of laat week and they were together for several days. Thursday afternoon in Russell’s saloon they were drinking together and in the presence of Omar Mitchem, Roy Gar- , ner, Newman Russell and one or two ^ | others, wrote a check for $10.50. They offered it to Russell but he refused to cash it and Coffeen went out and went to Schmid’s saloon, “where he got the money on it. Returning to Russell’s saloon they divided the money. The one casht at Miller’s was presented two or three hours later.In the hearing before the mayor Coffeen declared that he had been drunk for a week and could not remember clearly what had happened. He remembered Penrod giving him the first check and the details of cashing it, but claims not to remember the Miller check. Penrod swore that he had not written either of them and declared that he could not write.
Newspaper Details
Attica Ledger Press
Attica, Indiana, US
Fri, Dec 22, 1911
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 07 Jun 2025
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