“Reeve Weber Heavily Fined,” Toronto Globe. February 25, 1919. Page 02.
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And Gets Month in Jail at Hard Labor for Uttering Sedition
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SCATHINGLY DENOUNCED
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Magistrate and Judge Alike Rebuke Neustadt German and Warn Him
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(Special Despatch to The Globe.)
Owen Sound, Feb. 24 – One month in jail and a fine of $4,500 was the sentence pronounced on Reeve Joseph Weber of Neustadt here to-day. In default of payment of his fine Reever Weber would be imprisoned for three years in the Provincial Penitentiary, but he chose to pay the fine. Besides he has to pay all the costs of the proceedings, amounting to approximately $300.
The trial was held in Owen Sound on February 12 and 13 before Police Magsitrate A. D. Creasor, with N. F. Davidson, K.C., of Toronto, acting for the Crown, and D. O’Connell and F. W. Callaghan of Toronto for the accused.
The charge was laid under the War Measures Act of 1914, whereby Weber was charged with making seditious statements likely to hinder recruiting. It was based on words used by Weber to Arthur Mutton, when he is supposed to have said: ‘The _______ British are licked, and they know it. Before either of my sons go to fight, they will die in the hardware store. If they want any fighting let them come to Neustadt and they will get it.’
Magistrate Creasor found Reeve Weber guilty on this charge and remanded him for sentence. An application for a stated case made by counsel for the accused was withdrawn.
Pleads Guilty on Second Charge
On a second charge before the local Police Court Reeve Weber pleaded guilty to making seditious statements likely to cause disaffection. This also was based on the conversation with Mutton, and on it Weber received a sentence of $4,500 fine and one month in jail, this sentence to be concurrent with the previous one.
In sentencing him Magistrate Creasor said that Reeve Weber was a man born in this country, who had lived here all his life. In times of danger he had used disloyal expressions and had possibly influenced his sons to be disloyal also. When he was through with his sentence the Magistrate hoped that he would remember that everyone living in Canada was supposed to be loyal.
Sentenced Suspended on Other Charge
Reeve Weber also came before Mr. Justice Lennox at the Spring Assizes in Owen Sound this afternoon on four charges. Weber pleaded guilty to one charge and is on suspended sentenced pending his good behavior. The charges against him were the only ones in the docket, and were laid under the Military Service Act.
The first charge was of attempting to resist or impede the operation of the Military Service Act by a written communication to Judge Widdlefield, a member of the local Appeal Tribunal. In this letter Reeve Weber offered to give $500 to patriotic funds if his son, Elmer Joseph Weber, were exempted, and the second charge is of offering a consideration directly or indirectly to a member of an appeal Tribunal. The second indictment was based on written and oral communications by Reeve Weber to secure signatures for his son’s exemption.
Admits Guilt, Stay Granted.
On the first charge of the Widdifield indictment the Grand Jury brought in almost immediately a true bill, and Reeve Weber pleaded guilty. Crown Prosecutor Davidson requested a stay of further proceedings on the second count of this indictment and on the second indictment, and also asked for a suspended sentence. These were granted.
Seething Denunciation.
The denunciation by Mr. Justice Lennox of the Neustadt Reeve was most scathing. He said that disloyalty was one of the gravest offences, and there was no ground or excuse for anyone in Canada being guilty of disloyalty. Reeve Weber was a public man and a leader of the people in his district, yet he was stirring up disloyalty and encouraging his two songs to evade the service of their country. He had also made threats of grave bodily harm. In connection with the war and in defiance of the duties of citizenship, Mr. Justice Lennox said, Reeve Weber displayed some of the worst characteristics of a bad citizen. His father had come to this country to better his condition, and he had prospered here! New citizens were welcomed and encouraged, but they had to behave. The only alternatives were to get in behind the prison bars or to get out of the country. In conclusion the Judge said that if after he was released Reeve Weber was a man of good behavior toward his neighbors and the Corwn his sentence would be suspended. If, however, he showed any intimation of relapsing, he would be brought before a Judge to receive a heavy sentence.
Reeve Most Dejected.
During the rebuke of the Judge Reeve Weber stood in the prisoner’s box with his head bowed, and supported himself with one hand on the railing. He appeared most dejected, both in the Assizes and when receiving his sentence in the Police Court, and his face showed considerable emotion. With hardly a word of his counsel, he was led slowly off to the cells in the county jail.