National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-01-02
A SORRY NEW YEAR


--
For the Twenty-seven Men and Women
and Boys in the Police Court Yester-
day.
IL was generally understood that the ses-
sion of the police court would commence Mt
o'clock yesterday morning, and the repre-
sentstives of the local press repaired TO the
court room at that hour. On their arrival
they met the veteran Bailiff Barton, who was
looking after the janitor, cleaning up and
busting around generally. Maurice Quin-
Ian, who is detailed from the police force to
| receive collateral in the place of Lieut..
Noonsn, who is confined to his home by sick
| ness, was at his post Of duty. officer Hardin,
| the doorkeeper, was on hand, as was also
Officer Finley, who has charge of the prison.
ers' cell. Several young attorneys were
| present, making themselves busy in inter-
viewing the prisoners. After thoir inter
views they left the building and
on their return upon the converting of the
court at 10 o'clock they presented the appear
ance of having made several New Year calls
after the old fashion when chocolate was not
the principal beverage used. In the audi
once were several faces who are regular fire.
quenters of this court, number OF whom
were recognized as being present on New
| Years day, 1883 and who arc considered
chronic callers on the police court.
Robert Humphrey was charged by James
| O'Shea with highway robbery in taking from
| him pawn ticket for an overcoat valued at
IS and 1854 in cash. The case was post
poned until Saturday.
Jennie Harrison and Sherman Edmonston
| were next arraigned, charged with disorderly
conduct in West Washington. The test-
mony showed that Jennie and Sherman had
been living together for some time as man
and wife, that dispute arose because Shor-
| mn laGt Jnnnin and tOnlf with another
girl. This enraged Jennie, and on meeting
Sherman a few days since she used profane
language toward him on the street. She was
fined So or fifteen days and the man was dis
| missed.
Charles johnson was charged with cruelty
to animals, and plead not guilty. Mr.. Henry
A. Pickstan testified that Johnson was
poddling coal in n wagon. He (Pickstonl
stopped the wagon and found the horse CALLED
about the shoulders and lame, not to work.
| $5 and costs
Sarah Jackson was fined So for assaultng
| Charles King.
Samuel Adams was fined So for assaulting
| Elizabeth Larkins
When the court adjourned and tho judge
retired to his private room he was called
| on by the members of the bar, officers of the
court, and reporters, who wished him and his
q happy new year. The judge. in n graceful
| manner, returned the compliments of the
bcbSOl, anu SOOn JUc DulluluS WdS ucSCIpcu.
And so the docket was cmpted the voice
of the bailff rolled in monotonous echoes
| through the gloomy vistas of the court aud
the slow. steady, mechanical drip-drip of the
rain from the caves outside lulled the scene
TO soporifc quiet. Through the darkened
windows the gray sky filtered its grayer
light, and intensified the look of Indebtedness
that settled on the faces of the prisoners. 1t
was a scene of tchcdness-wretchedne
sordid and coarse, unrelieyed by a ray of
humor, nor digniied by touch of pathos
1t was not a place for sentiment
| or pity. Youthful womanhoOd was there.
robbed of its freshness and its bloom, and
leered from the dock in as repulsive guise as
the wrinkled and rum-furrowed face of the
hoary beldame, stepped to tho lips in sin and
shame and scanned with the scars of sixty
years of sordid sensuality. Boys who had
known no youth but that of time, Whose
every feature wore the wan pallor that comes
| of mature misery and crime, were arraigned
with old men, out of whose lives had passed
all kinship with humanity but knowledge
of its misery. The drunkard, the hopeless
drunkard, forlornest of all lost humanity,
was there in force. The hollow, unnaturally
steady, cultural voice; the wild, half fright
ened gaze; the shaking. palsed hand were all
there. Upon all this mass of reeking, steam
ing filth, filth of body and of soul. only the
spirit of the blessed Christ could look with
| tenderness and love.
And SO the record of sin and shame was
read to its end, this dull, gray leaden New
| Years morning. For them the culprits at
the bar, the bells of the New Year rang in
the workhouse and the Jail, with the knell
of the pauper's grave sending its echoes down
the swiftly coming months. And on the out
side, out in the rain and the slush, the grand
army of recruits for this war OF misery was
hurrying, swiftly aud carelessly, down the
road which leads through sin and sorrow and
shame, through the police court to the prison
aud the potter's field.