Cider Case Ends in Hung Jury at Chelsea
A Chelsea grocer's second prosecution for selling cider turned into a courtroom dispute over dictionary definitions of fermentation, ending in a deadlocked jury.
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Burlington Weekly Free Press · February 13, 1885 · Page 1
1 min readOn Saturday afternoon, Feb. 7, was tried the case of Richard Kennedy for second offense of selling cider. This was on complaint of Franklin Dearborn, town grand juror, the first offense having been acknowledged in a plea of guilty to an indictment of last June's grand jury.
At Saturday's trial, before Justice Willard S. Hatch, a dozen or more witnesses testified to having drunk cider in Kennedy's grocery, some calling it "sweet," some that "it kicked a little," and one a "great deal." The learned attorney for the respondent contended that no juice of apples became cider until it was fermented, citing Worcester's dictionary, and neither on this or some other reason satisfactory, the jury disagreed, standing three against three.
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