Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-21
THE TOPICAL TALKER.
Changes Are Few in lhe Criminal Court-A
Stroll Among the Halls of Justice.

|
Stroll Among the Halls of Justice.
THE courts of justice in this city are vastly
changed, but the same faces are to be seen
there that you might have seen in the dismal
old rooms four years ago. Strolling into the
Criminal Court room in the forenoon yesterday
I found Mr., William Reardon getting off
speeches at the rate of six an hour in behalf of
frowzy-looking man charged with petty
larceny Judge Collier, the personifcation of
patience, sat on the bench and didn't even look
bored.
Mr.. Reardon kept stirring up the spectators
to mirth by addressing his opponent, Major
Montooth, as Governor. Round about the
room noticed dozens of familiar faces. The
beauty and cleanliness of the great room were
all that seemed strange. Somewhat, too, clean
illness seemed to have spread to the occupants
of the benches at the back of the room. These
seats are set apart for the general public, and
are usually kept warm by the loungers and
loafers of the city. Many of the faces had
blossomed in the same quarters four years ago,
and l remembered them, though they appeared
to have been washed lately. Can it be that the
sweetness and light of the new courtrooms
have impelled the regular visitors to them to
occasional use of soap and water?
~
IN the front chairs which are nominally re.
served for lawyers, but which yesterday seemed
to be filed with witnesses, prosecutors and de-
PENDANTS out on bail, 1 observed two young
women Of very respectable appearance, who
seemed to be engaged in the extraordinary task
of taking down MI. Reardons speeches in short
hand. Upon inquiry 1 found that the girls
were pracJicing stenography
/ Wouldn't it be kindly thing to allow the
girls to sit at the big counsel table, as under
stand is often done in other courts? These
young stenographers had their writing pads in
their laps, and so were forced to lean forward
in manner which must have been far from
comfortable,
One face missed. The venerable Mr.. Smith,
for 60 years doorkeeper of the Criminal Court,
was not at his accustomed post. l was told that
hundreds of people ask for him every day. He
is very i'll, but the doctors even yesterday enter
tanned the hope that his marvellous store of that
indefnable spirit, vitality, might yet bring him
to his feet again.
You can't encounter a dozen lawyers in any
part of the Court House but one or two of them
will ask you if you've heard Dick Johnstons
latest, and proceed straightway to reel off
story of humorous kind. Mr.. Johnston does
not tell all these Stories but he tells so many
that are good that it has become the fashion in
legal circles to attribute anything funny in mar
rative shape to him.
IN speaking of the few changes that have
taken place in the personnel of tie Criminal
Court of late, I forgot to say how much one
misses the sharp, eager face and small but omni-
present body of John Coyle. The powerful de-
fender of the poor man in the Criminal Court
filled pretty big place. which nobody seems
likely to take since he died.
~"
A SCRAP of conversation in the cable cars:
Young woman with brown bonnet and blue
eyes-Did your hear about Miss Loraly7
Young woman with blue bonnet and brown
eyes-Who is Miss Loraly7
ooh, she's leading lady at Toojust &
Mackey's: and heard she was engaged to
marry Mr.. Chiffon"
"Who's he?'
"0h, he's walking gentleman at Twiley &
Crimmins"
The slang of the drygoods store is very much
like that of the stage, it appears.