On This Day: Snyder found not guilty

A jury found Michael Snyder not guilty On This Day in 1880 for selling liquor on Sunday. Snyder kept a saloon at Schoenberger’s Park, a hotel in Lancaster City, but testified he never sold liquor on Sunday.

from Lancaster Daily Intelligencer

20 January 1880

John Potts testified he never drank on Sunday thre nor did he see anyone else be served there on Sundays. Henry Gardner however said he drank there but the drink was actually paid for on Saturday when Lawrence Snyder had been married. Benjamin Schaum, like Potts, testified he never drank there nor did he see anyone else drink on Sunday.

John Fritsch testified he drank there on a Sunday in May 1878. Fritsch did not know if Snyder was there at the time but said his father E.E. Snyder had been there.

The court instructed the jury they could not consider anything prior to August 1878. If Snyder had sold anything after October 1878 then he could be charged. The jury rendered a not guilty verdict.

Source

Lancaster Daily Intel. Lancaster, PA. 20 January 1880.

On This Day is a prompt to further explore historical events.

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