Harford - George Richardson is attending school at the Congregational church, in the lecture room. It may be a good place for “lectures,” but we have not heard of George being subject to any as yet. We think he will be glad when the new school building is finished as he is going to drive the “kid wagon,” which includes the Very District or Grammar School. Also our popular County Superintendent of Schools, George A. Stearns, is living up to the old adage, “be not the first by whom the new is tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside.” While his faithful horse has taken him over thousands of miles of the roads of Susquehanna County, he has purchased an auto, which he will now use when the weather and roads will permit.

East Rush – Sunday, Will Grow was kicked in the face by his horse. Hope it is not as bad as reported. Monday morning—Will Grow is not hurt as badly as first reported. Dr. Wilson took seven stitches in his lip.

North Bridgewater – Guy W. Angle, who left for the West the first of the month, being employed with the Dr. Kilmer Co., of Binghamton, for the fourth year, is in Minnesota and says the weather is cool there for this time of year.

Hopbottom – When W. C. Cox and County Commissioners W. H. Tingley, A. J. Cosgriff and J. E. Hawley were coming up from this place, Monday night, in the former’s car, they had an experience they will not soon forget. They, nearing Oakley’s Garage this side of Hopbottom, at which point there is a sharp turn in the road, proceeding at a fair rate of speed, when they came abruptly to a telephone pole which had toppled over across the road. Mr. Cox, quickly grasping the situation, applied the emergency brakes, which reduced the speed of the car, but not till the four wheels had passed over the pole, breaking the springs and smashing the radiator, but not crippling the car so badly but that it was brought home with its own power. Mr. Crogriff’s hand was cut by coming in contact with a wire which was in their path, but otherwise no one was injured. It was a close call, indeed.

Lynn – Silo filling is in full swing now. The hardest part of the business is to get help enough to run all the outfits, as there are so many of them in this neighborhood and all want to fill at about the same time.

N. Jackson – E. W. Tallman, eldest son of Mrs. Ann Tallman, has been transferred from Boston to Philadelphia, where he is general sales agent for the Shredded Wheat company.

Forest City – A grand concert will be given at the Congregational church on October 28 by the choir, previous to entering the competition at the Mitchell Day eisteddfod, at Scranton. The program will consist of solos, duets, quartettes, instrumental and vocal, and recitations and readings by popular artists. Adm. will be 25 cents, proceeds to defray expenses of the choir and church.

New Milford – Lucius S. Brown, a former editor of the New Milford Advertiser, died at the Union Printers’ Home in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Monday. Mr. Brown had been living at the institution for the past few months, being in very ill health. The greater part of his life was spent in New Milford, where he was well known. Prior to entering the home he lived in Montrose, being in the insurance business. He was the father of Lee Brown, of Montrose. He will be interred in New Milford.

Susquehanna – Failure to secure a sufficient number of young women to work at the silk mill here, is causing the management considerable uneasiness, and may cause the owners to locate elsewhere if this condition does not improve. The company is desirous of securing 200 girls to work in the mill, the output being limited at present on account of lack of employees.

Montrose – A great treat will be given the baseball fans at the C-Nic theatre during the “world’s series.” An electric score board is being installed and every play will be given exactly as it is played in Philadelphia and Boston.

Herrick Center – Last Friday afternoon the pupils of the Herrick school rendered a very interesting program in the High school auditorium and gave a fine exhibit of flowers grown by members of the school. These exhibits of the work of the pupils are very creditable and are a source of much pride and pleasure to the community. Another one with a more elaborate program will be given on Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving. This is the annual Patrons’ Day entertainments and the pupils will exhibit fruits, vegetables, baking and handiwork.

Jackson/Thompson – Misses Merle Leonard and Corabelle Schermerhorn enjoyed roller skating at the Thompson rink last Saturday evening.

News Briefs: The frosty nights have brought the parlor stove back into commission. Also County Fairs are all over now. People can settle down to their usual routine of business again.

Also the county commissioners are arranging to replank the roadway of the river bridge between Hallstead and Great Bend.

Murder of Jackson Pepper, continued from the week of Sept. 24, 2015 – “They have arrested the Pepper murderers and have got them in jail!” was the starling though welcome news that went like wild fire through Montrose on Monday morning and quickly radiated to the furthermost extremities of the county of Susquehanna. Later in the day it was ascertained that after months of untiring effort light and truth, had, apparently, triumphed over what had seemed the most blind and baffling circumstances. The identity of the men believed to have murdered Jackson Pepper had been established and their capture effected. The men charged with the awful and brutal crime are Cornelius W. Shew, and James J. Eagan. Sometime in the spring of 1896, James Smith, or as he now calls himself, James Eagan, met Susie Graham, who was from Rush Township; they were both residing in Binghamton. Smith lived with the Graham woman for about 1 ½ yrs., she taking his name and being known as Nell Smith, although they were not married. In 1897 they lived with her father in Rush for a time, afterwards leaving for Susquehanna where they lived for several months, before separating, in the home of Mrs. Janet Witbrook. While there Smith (Eagan) became acquainted with Cornelius Shew and it was in this house that plans were made to go to Rush, overpower Jackson Pepper and his stepmother, and secure the large amount of money they thought was hidden in the Pepper home. Smith (Eagan) learned of Pepper’s money while living in Rush. The details of the plan and how it was carried out are as related by Susie Graham, who overheard Shew and Smith (Eagan) talking. To know the guilty parties is one thing, but to find and arrest them is quite another. Where were they? Susie Graham had not seen either since November and December of 1897. District Atty. Ainey decided to arrest the two for taking Susie Graham’s household goods and disposing of them and not give fair warning for a warrant for murder. Acting on information about the whereabouts of Shew, Police Chief McMahon, of Susquehanna, and Mr. Ainey went to Deposit Rock Rift first by train and found he had moved on to Kerrysville Acid Factory and was still there two weeks before. The journey was continued toward Kerrysville, up over the mountain road to Rock Rift then to Apex on the Ontario & Western R. R. and reached Kerrysville just as the factory whistle brought the noon hour to a close. He was identified and quickly secured. (To be continued next week. The above article is a murder mystery that took place in 1898 in Rush Twp., Susquehanna County, brought to you in conjunction with “Susquehanna County Reads” program. See details on the Library website. The Scavenger Hunt in the museum is now on. The museum will be open during regular hours and open the evening of September 30 at 6:30, for the first event Interpreting Sherlock Film Festival and Discussion, which starts at 7:00.

This will be the third installment in the “Drone Series” – each column continues to prompt more questions as should be expected in an area of the law that is frankly trying to catch up with the new technology.  The most common question I have received relates to the privacy expectation that a person has in their real property.  From a criminal law perspective, the Fourth Amendment protects a person from government warrantless searches so long as the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the area to be search.  This general rule is subject to a number of exceptions – but for purposes of this particular column relates to the “reasonable expectation of privacy” that a person has in his or her real property.  In particular, one reader asked if visibly posting real property creates that reasonable expectation of privacy from government intrusion.  This particular question has been settled law for several decades.

In 1983, the Pennsylvania Superior Court considered a similar question in Commonwealth v. Beals.  In that case, the police received a tip that the defendant was growing marijuana on his real property.  The informant then took the police onto the defendant’s property – which was posted with no trespassing signs – and showed him where 350 to 400 marijuana plants were growing.  In order to get to the location of the marijuana plants, the police and the informant had to walk by posted signs that prohibited trespassing on the real property.  The police then took a helicopter over the property where they observed the marijuana grow operation covering about 2 acres of land.  The police then went to obtain a search warrant – but they were unable to return to the property until the next day.  Apparently, the defendant had noticed the hovering helicopter and the marijuana had been harvested and was gone by the time the police arrived with their warrant the next morning.  The police were only able to seize 81 grams of marijuana and the remnants of a couple of plants.

Despite largely striking out on the search warrant, the defendant was still arrested and he attempted to suppress the evidence contending that the trespass upon his land violated his reasonable expectation of privacy.  The record demonstrates that the marijuana grow operation was located 1170 feet from his residence – and could not have been seen from the residence itself because of the trees and other vegetation.  The lower court suppressed the evidence and concluded that the trespass on the defendant’s land was a violation of the Fourth Amendment.  The Commonwealth appealed this determination.

On appeal, the Superior Court recognized that “open fields” are not entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy.  This was the common law rule – and it was adopted by the federal courts as applicable to the Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.  “Open fields” constitute real property that is outside the curtilage of a private residence, i.e., the areas that are generally not maintained or used with any regularity.  The Superior Court summarily concluded: “It certainly was not reasonable to expect privacy merely because ‘No Trespassing’ signs had been posted around the perimeter of [defendant’s] tract of land.  Thus, the visual observations of growing marijuana plants, whether from the ground or from the air, were not constitutionally forbidden.”

In 2007, in Commonwealth v. Russo, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that the Pennsylvania Constitution, like its federal counterpart, did not protect any privacy protection to “open fields.”  In coming to this conclusion, the Supreme Court opined: “[I]n Pennsylvania, any subjective expectation of privacy against government intrusion into open fields is not an expectation that our society has ever been willing to recognize as reasonable.”

Thus far, the Drone Series has engendered quite a few comments regarding privacy interests being violated by the offending and trespassing drone on real property.  The purpose of this column was to outline the absence of any constitutionally recognizable privacy interest in the open fields of private property, i.e., areas significantly removed from the private residence and its maintained curtilage.  As the case law demonstrates, the mere existence of “No Trespassing” signs does not automatically create a privacy interest in those open field areas from a constitutional perspective.

Please submit any questions, concerns, or comments to Susquehanna County District Attorney’s Office, P.O. Box 218, Montrose, Pennsylvania 18801 or at our website www.SusquehannaCounty-DA.org.