”;Back in the Day,”; appearing every Sunday, takes a look at articles that ran on this date in history in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Hawaii's oldest continuously published daily newspaper. The items appear verbatim, so don't blame us today for yesteryear's bad grammar.

Seaman socks himself, finds jaw just glass

It isn't the mirror's fault if you don't like what you see in it, Judge Griffith Wight decided today in police court.

Judge Wight fined Gilbert Howarth, 23, a merchant marine sailor, $50 on a charge of malicious injury.

Howarth pleaded guilty to smashing a 6 by 10 foot mirror in the men's room of a downtown theater.

Police Officer Wendel Bayne, who made the arrest, reported that Howarth said he looked in the mirror, decided he was a “;hopeless case,”; and punched himself in the jaw.

Instead of his own jaw, Howarth punched his reflection. The seaman was also fined $10 on a charge of being drunk in a public place.

Devices that deliver slugs held illegal

Coin-operated devices that deliver slugs to successful players were declared illegal in a case heard in Judge Harry A. Steiner's court Wednesday.

Vincent Russo, 1182 Alakea St., fined $50 on a charge of operating a gambling device, has appealed the decision to the circuit court.

The decision may affect all coin-operated devices including pinball machines, police court prosecutors said.

Russo was specifically charged with operating a game known as Paces Races in which six mechanical horses travel down a track.

The winner was paid off in slugs good for future chances. Judge Steiner ruled that the five cent fee necessary to operate the machine caused the law to be violated.