Porter

Defendant is charged with a violation of section 6 of the Act of 1919 regarding payment of wages, which makes it a misdemeanor for an employer, under the conditions and with the intent therein mentioned, to refuse to pay the wages of an employee when due and demanded. The complaining witness, Mrs. Gerrity, was hired by defendant as manager of an apartment house under an agreement by which she was to receive $25 per month and the use of an apartment, and was to pay the bills for her laundry, ice and milk, and, according to defendant, some other matters, all of which he testified were to be deducted from her wages. When she quit, defendant had a settlement with her, as a result of which he gave her a check for $15.57, on which he later stopped payment. At a hearing before the labor commissioner some further deductions were made and the commissioner found that the amount due was $12.57, nonpayment of which is the basis of this prosecution. At the trial defendant sought to show that this settlement was made under mistake and in ignorance of certain amounts owed him by Mrs. Gerrity on account of rents which she negligently failed to collect and for bills incurred and payable by her,…