The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-09-18
OUR NEW ORLEANS LETTER

The Uses and Abuses or Recorders Courts
The WiIss of the shyster and His
Ohicial Confe1erates-Advice
to Our Country Cousins.
New ORLEANS, La, Sept. 9, 1880.
EDITOR CHIEF:
There are, perhaps, very few people in
Louisiana, outside of small number in
New Orleans, who have the slightest idea
Of the manner in which the Police Courts
Of this city-commonly known as Re
corders' Courts-are conducted. These
courts are most important branches of
the government, for there the murderer,
the thief, the highway robber, the bur
nary examination, and the chances of
escaping arc more favorable, as the mag
istrates Of these courts are unlearned in
the law and the other officers mostly men
whom you could bride with drink of
bad whiskey. Especially where a Judge
is unsophisticated-p Of limited
knowledge of the character Of the people
brought before his court-are the chances
for the escape of the prisoner greater. A
Judge, for instance, who tells the priso-
ner that nothing he might say can lead
him to doubt the sworn statement of the
police officer, that hundred contradict
ing witnesses might be heard and still
not change his mind, must believe that
people are fools and idiots, or is himself
a knave. $780,
Composed as was the Constitutional
Convention of 1879 of many Of the
brightest legal lnmnaries in this State,
it is strange indeed that that body should
have overlooked the fact that the Police
Courts Of this city were branch of the
municipal, if not of the State govern
nent that sadly needed remodeling, and
instead of giving the people of the city
the right of electing these two "Judges
only, that large body Of wise law makers
should have taken away from us all ri sht
of selecting our rulers, made all Offices
appointive and concentrated the entire
appointing power in the hands of the ex-
ecntivc. Had the proper course been
pursued i'll this matter, there would be
no such organizations as Ring, anti-Ring
and Tax Payers to plague the people !;
hoodlums would not run rampant about
the city; the editors of our morning pa
pers would not be cracking their cocoa
nuts in vain endeavors to solve the mu-
nicipal imbroglio by one-mile editorials
which are not read by one person in a
thousand, and thousands of dollars would
be saved to the city. All, how the tax
payers and business men Of this commu-
nifty would have rejoiced if this govern
ment had been organized into central
ization, at least for few years, so that
Louisiana might have chance of re-
facilitating herself, of spreading her
name abroad in connection with her
great: industries, and of being freed from
the incessant cry and bane Of politics.
But l an DEPRESSING from my original
subject-the Police Courts Of this city.
In the evening Item several articles
have appeared relating to this sub
ject which tended greatly towards amel-
iorating the sad condition to which
the Police Courts of this city had de-
clined. 1t is a fact of public notoriety
that during the Winter of 1879-sO pro-
ceedings Of the most outrageous charac-
ter were carried on by the court officers
and the shysters, who are as numerous
as flies around these courts. The city
was then full Of strangers, and as a mat
ter of course good many who could not
paddle their own canoes after imbibing
a few glasses, had to be taken to the
nearest police station for safe keeping.
Before a prisoner is discharged he must
appear before the Recorder, and that
necessarily includes passage through
the dock. If the prisoner is fortunate
enough to possess a little cash, he is ia
ken out of the dock by the obliging court
officers, who expect him to make it
square after he is discharged. Or, court
officers would first ascertain what is the
charge against the prisoner, how much
money he had upon his person when he
was searched at the station, and would
then acquaint their favorite shyster with
these particulars. The shyster would at
once go to the prisoner, represent the
charges against him to be very serious
excite the unfortunate's fears, and dilate
upon his own influence with the Judge
and having thus gained the entire coll
tidence of his man, Mr.. Shyster would
tell him that for certain sum he would
secure his instant release. OF course the
shyster is introduced to the prisoner by
the officer of tho dock as q lawyer of
powerful Abilities" the only lawyer
that can do you any good" is the favor
lite expression. The prisoner, overjoyed
at the prospect of regaining his liberty,
readily agrees to the terms proposed.
So openly were these proceedings car
ried on that they attracted the attention
of the reporters, who aired the subject in
their respective papers, showing that the
most glazing and disgraceful acts We're
being committed under the very eyes Of
the Police Justices, and that these same
functionaries were themselves daily vio-
lating an important section of the revised
statutes which prohibited Judges Of all
L., e. 1 ].