John Chester In Trouble Again

Why, oh why, does the Hobart News tantalize me this way? On June 22, 1916, it reports: "A warrant was sworn out on Wednesday by Ethel McIntire against John Chester, charging him with assault and battery on her son, John McIntire." And then it never follows up on the case!

If I've found the right people in the census records, John McIntire was then about nine years old. So the matter sounds pretty shocking, but for all I know, John Chester might have been completely innocent.

♦    ♦    ♦
The Chester family was then living on Sixth Street in Hobart (in the Feiler house, wherever that was). In September of 1916, John decided that he wanted to live closer to his business, so he fixed up the rooms in the rear of his garage as living quarters, and moved his family into them. I can't help but think that must have been a bit grim for the family.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 22 June 1916.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 22 Sept. 1916.