Litchfield enquirer., 1860-04-19


 , houses, and dilapidated coffee-shop, I eu
 tered the station-house, had an interviey with the sergeant on duty, and showed hin
 the battered halfcrown, which he turne, over, and rapped upon his desk. He ha, seen few bad bits O money ill his time
 but this was about the worst 'case.' H
 would advise me to step into the court wit Lit. entered large waiting-room at tn end of the passage, and was presently ii the midst of crowd of dubious-ooking liti gants, and the friends and witnesses of peo pie in trouble.' There was predomnanc of ladies. The softer sex mustered strong
 wierd, wretched-looking widows in rust, black bonnets, with fair sprinkling of blacl eyes to match, swollen noses men dogged dirty and dejected children in arms al squalling. Eager eyes were turned towards small gloomy portal in a corner, where leaning upon halfdoor, a policeman on du ty guarded the narrow entrance to the court
 The prospect of 'biding my time,' upor the fair principle of first come first served, startled me not a little. There was hole a goodly gap made in my holiday by this precious halfcrown already. I wavered upon the threshold of justice, when the Ger 5erus at the halfdoor beckoned to me Step inside, sir said he and I entered the gloomy passage, strongly smelling ol damp greatcoats, hafsmoked weeds, and vapd beer. More of the force appeared inside. A door was pushed open, and l 1 took off my hat in the presence of his wor ship, very unhappy-looking, middle-aged gentleman, coolly nursing bis left leg as he leaned back in his chair The little court was hot and crowded. There was clerk and an inspector of police, and sergeant o the force, and an orderly man calling out Silence in the conrt,' and a sccdy-looking man taking notes in long book as the rep. resentativc of the British press The case of Jealous Wife and Drunken Husband' was just on. It was complicated affair of assault ard battery, threats to murder mix ed up with pledging gold ring, and vend- ing said pledge to third party. There were faults on both sides and language intemperatc--npon which the magistrate ad- monished, rebuked aud threatened then there were appeals to Heaven, md good deal of flat contradictory evidence, and threats of cap and nose pulling exchanged, and again his worship intcrposed. In a lull in the storm, I took occasion to ask the clerks opinion about the half-crown, and it was freely given. He never saw a worse one,' &c This was not the information sought 'Oh if would wait for ten min utes, he would speak to his worship The ten minutes was half an hour good, and even then his worship had to sign certain docu- ments, which took him ten minutes longer When his worship did vouchsafe to hear me, he cut me short before I had spoken two words. He said that end of the Road was beyond his jurisdiction, and that I should have gone to another court.
 I retrrated hastily from the presence of this Midas, and turned myself towards Southwark. Before got into the Vest minister Road, the clock struck three, and there was no lunch at the club for me that day. I groaned. I hailed a cab, and oc- cured to me that my friends in Craig's Court dined early still was determined to pun ish the baker no, rather than that beet ling-browed braggadocio should escape, l would forego the pleasure of escortng the delightful Fanny Fitzjessamine and her sis ter to the fower-show indeed, l doubted if l was in fit and presentnble state to play the part of walking-gentleman to such pretty belles Was it the Brighton Station you wanted ? inquired the cabman, as, having driven up and down all manner of cut-throat lanes, he turned into that crowded thoroughfare at the foot of London Bridge. had asked for the police station. and he had driven me to the railway station. l called to policeman, and he gave it as his opinion that it was too late to do anything to-day he said he would advise me to take it up to the Mint.
 "The Mint ! Where's the Mint ?"
 Somewhere near the Tower, have heard" said the cabman had some vagne recollection about having read that some case of smashing had been prosecuted by the solicitor of the Mint. Then after all, it was to the Mint I should have gone at first In for half:crown, in for pound' told the cabman to whip to the Mint. We were now upon London Bridge, forming part of the quadruple procession, the glorious jam, the btock of vehicles, omnibuses, carts, wagons, cabs, trucks, all denscly wedged together up cn the bridge. I had therefore to sit and listen to the chaff, the stale jests, the jbes, the jeers bandied and exchanged between the drivers of the several vehicles, the cads, the passengers. Full twenty-five minutes were lost in abortive attempts to get into King William Street; and at the corner of Fish Street Hill horse had fallen, and the road was blocked Four o'clock was at hand; and the last clerk would have taken his departure from Craig's Court by that time; the doors would be shut, the safe locked up, and DO money forthcoming. I turned my back upon the quarter of the town in which sovereigns are presumed to be as plenty as blackberIies in thicket, and commanded the cabman to gallop for his life up Cannon Street, Fl ct Street, the Strand. would pay him handsomely if he would set me down at Charing Cross in twenty minutes. Nothing loath, cabby piled his whip. We had soon rounded the cor ner into St. Paups Churchyard, sighted the top of Ludgate Hill, and fallen into another solemn procession; now we advanced in the rear of sedate Brompton bus; now we halted for ten minutes while a wagon, 8 coal-cart, flock of sheep, and drove of oxen obstructed the road at Rlackfriars. St.. Dunstan's clock chimed four while we were still in Fleet Street. It was now too late to do any business in the West End. got out of the cab, and dismissed the cabby with an admonition, after wraDgle about the fare
 In no very euviable frame of mind l ar' Il | al