Denying the defense counsel’s motions for dismissal, Magistrate Raphael Murphy in the Third District Court, Second avenue and Second street, yesterday sent up to the Court of Special Sessions the cases of the Department of Markets against Meyer London, Inc., 494-498 Grand street, and Dr. Kopel London, the firm’s president, charged with offering for sale short-weight matzohs. Parole was also continued.
At the same time Assistant District Attorney William Goldman moved for dismissal of the cases of two storekeepers, charged with selling matzohs of less than the specified weight, on the ground that the manufacturing firm and not they was responsible. Magistrate Murphy granted the motions. The storekeepers dismissed were Jacob Sultan of 25 Hester street and Sydney Alstock of 24 Ludlow street.
Taking the stand early in the hearing, Inspector Katherine Powers of the Department of Markets, Weights and Measures, testified that on March 29 she entered the defendant’s premises and asked for thirty pounds of matzohs. She went on to relate that six packages were produced, and, revealing her identity, she weighed them to discover that the total weight of matzoh in the six packages amounted to twenty-six pounds and three ounces.
Supervisor Francis Spieker of the Department of Markets testified that he had requested a five-pound package of matzohs at fifteen cents a pound, and upon opening it and weighing the contents, discovered that they amounted to four pounds six ounces net. He produced an invoice of the transaction.
Max L. Finkelstein of 277 Broadway, counsel for the defendant, called to the stand Dr. London, who stated that he was a physician for seventeen years.
Trouble over short-weight matzohs started during the last days of March, when Deputy Commissioner Hamilton of the Department of Markets decided to look into the charges that matzoh manufacturers and jobbers were providing customers with less unleavened bread than they were paid for. Scores of summonses were issued. Magistrates Court has shown a tendency to dismiss cases against retailers because there was no evidence of fraud.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
