Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-08-20
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.
QUARTER SESSIONS SKETCHES

QUARTER SESSIONS SKETCHES
! TENDIN' COURT AND GIrTIN' LAW
How the COIored Citizens Bring Grist to the
Justice Mill.
Is there person in this city, who has
ever had occasion to pass the court house,
during big court week, that does not stoI
and take look at the funny crowd OF
people who are always about, and wonder
where they came from 1t is the same in
every week of quarter sessions court and
the same familiar faces always can be seen.
This crowd is largely composed of colored
people, many of whom are of tho worst
stripe. What they want at court is not
known, but if asked they will tell you that
they are either witnesses, prosecutors, or
defendants. Many of the colored people are
from Columbia but the most of them hail
from the Welsh mountains. The latter
drive or walk to this city on Monday and
generally remain until Friday evening.
The teams which they own are as funny
looking as the people. The horses are
of the " finest" kind, indeed some
of them are so fine that a man with
| a good eye could read the INTELL1GENCER
through them. But the wagons are the
objects Of great curiosity. They look as
| though they had been used by Western
settlers, and had made dozen trips across
the continent. Some of them have four
different kinds Of wheels, for it is mighty
queer darkey who can't rig up a wagon to
come to count in, even if he has to put a
cart wheel and one from sulky on the
same axle. The harness is made of pieces
of leather and rope lines arc used. The
man who OwDs a team is very popular
during court week, and the number of
! friends who know him is very large. Many
people wonder where this gang stays at
night. 1t is said that some of them 20 to
the poor house in the evenings. The writer
saw one crowd with a two horse wagon,
who, during their sojourn in this city,
camped in woods near town every night.
They did not eat dinner, or if they did
| they caught it on the fly, cr visited the
| slop barrels in the rear of tho hotels i'm
mediately after dining hours. They come
into the court house bright and early and
| always stay late at night. They never
leave until the Black Maria has been
loaded, for most Of them have friends or
relations concerned in it, and they want
to catch ca q glimpse of them as they pass
A good time to see these regulars is
! when court adjOurns at noon or Just be-
fore it meets in the afternoon. Men,
women and children can be found all over
the front Of the court house. Some are
smoking (and there are mono of tho woman
who don't smoke or chew, some eating
peanuts, some '' shooting snipes' or
'' birds" and all talking claw" There
arc very few of them who don't know all
about court, and to hear the learned ar
guElcnts of the men wodld astonish q
judge Of the supreme court. The child
rem are allowed to run at large, and the
more trouble they can get into the better
time they have. On Friday these citizens
get ready to 60 home and the crowd 60
ing that way is generally smaller than it
was when they came in OH Monday,
as many of those who were
so loudly claiming justice in the early part
of the week are detained at the stone
castle on the end of East King for costs or
some equally good cause. Many an i'm
portant darkey, who takes the trouble to
walk to town on Monday, is sure of free
ride i'll the black barOuche before the week
is out. The drivers and attendants of this
turnout are very attentive and are always
anxious to show those they haul the sights
inside of the prison doors.
Tho crowd of colored people from Col
umbia who attend court is smaller than in
other years, but their places are taken by
''tOwn" cOons and Welsh mountaineers.
The town darkeys can always bo distin-
guished from their less fortunate friends
from the country. and the two kinds do not
associate very pleasantly.
1t is very strange how many "cOons
can get to bc witnesses, but they always
do. If fight occurs in the Welsh noun
tainS, darkeys can be found in Columbia
who were there and saw it and arc willing
to say so after kissing the big book.
Among and assOciating with those from
the mountain number of drunken, indo-
lent and worthless white people can be
found. They all live together and many
of them are married to colored people
All of this gang seem to be fond of law,
and as long as they are allowed to bring
would probably come if they had no cases
at ali, as they think their presence here is
necessary to the successful running of the
court. But these people arc not the only
"Queer ones who attend court and
make humor for the officers, lawyers and
spectators. There are many others who will
receive attention shortly.
Cars Wrecked.
Last evening about s o'clock, while
wOrkmen were engaged in shifting and
dropping cars upon the wharves at the
outer depot of the Reading railroad, this
city, q section of cars moved backward
from one of tho wharves, owing to the
failure Of tho brakes to operate, and ran
from the siding to the main track. Just
at that instant the passenger train hap
pened to be backing out of the upper de-
pot to run drown to the King street sta
tion, and, the engineer and conductor fail
ing to notice the accident to the coal cars,
ran into them, crushing. one of the coal
cars and breaking the steps and otherwise
damaging the passenger car. The passen-
gers were considerably shaken up, but
none of them seriously injured.
Fruit and Flowers.
Mrs. Free, 1874 WestOrange street, sends
to this office fine bunch of pears grown
upon tree in her garden. The bunch is
q small one but contains fourteen hand
some and fully developed pears of fine
shape and excellent flavor, and the lady
assures us that it is fair sample of the
entire product Of the tree Acoon,D,rv;c,