The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-11-02
BADLY MANAGED.
Lawyers Criticisms Of the
Sheriff's Office Which
Cast Discredit on
McPhillips.

20 Hucn mas been SAID about the per-
sonal fitness of John j. McPhiIIips for
the Office Of Sheriff and the excellent
manner in which the business OF that
Office has been conducted for the past
three years, during which he has occupied
the position Of Under Sheriff, has been
paraded before the public, attested to by
many OF the leading lawyers OF the
county, that the majority of people have
come to look upon Mr.. McPhillips as a
vely sad case of poor old Tray Nothing
has been said against his fitness for
the Office On the contrary, most people
have said that he would make nsa excel
lent Sheriff, and that the only reason
they had for opposing him was his unen-
viabie connection with the Ring and the
in isputable fact Chat bis election would
mean continuance of that Ring In
power and a continuation Of those Grim
mai and fraudulent practices which has
made the name of Hudson county by
word and reproach in every part of the
country.
WHY THE LAWYERS SPEAK WELL OF
MPHILLIPS.
The laymen having no relation with
the Sheriff's office and nothing but the
word of the lawyers to judge by, were
sincere in their belief. while the law
yers- well when you come to examine
their endorsement OF the present Sheriffss
office you will find that 1t endorses moth
ing but the fact that personally Johnny
McPhillips is good fellow, which in the
language of the poet T. Wiggienaggle
Pangborn. Nobody will Denyn II Is q
difficult matter to persuade any lawyer
70 talk much about the Sheritf's Office
Why is obvious to anyone who Temem-
bers to what great extent the lawyer Ii
dependent upon the Sheeiff and his
officers in the conduct of his business.
| especially when they have such Sheriff
To deal with as the one which now
curses Hudson county.
Their summonses. writs and venire
can be served on time or they can be
| pigeon-holed until they are practically
useless; yerdicts can be rendered In their
favor or against them at the pleasure of
| the joker Boss end In hundred other
ways they can be annoyed and embar-
/ raised, to the detrifnent of their business.
There is slack method about the
Sheritfs Office" said one of the most
prominent lawyers IN the State to me
| yesterday, (which never obtained before
during the twenty years I have prac-
/ ticed at the bar. Writs are not returned
upon the return day aud Lawyers are
/ obliged to hunt them up AMI find out in
what deputy's hands they are in after the
| return day. The work Of the Office Is
done in q most careless manner Papers
| which require to be served promptly are
served OILY after much delay. It is hard
| to consummate business with the Sheriff's
office, things drag So
| THE LOOSE METHODS OF THE sHERIFF's
OFFICE.
ITO give you an example OF the loose
| and careless manner in which the bust
ness is conducted by the present Sheriff's
Office. Some time ago u venire was de-
4 l1yered to The Sheriff from the District
| Court one moning. directing him to pro-
vide a jury for a trial which
/ was set down for eleven o'clock
/ the next morning. At that
| hour the Judge, four lawyers, the officers
| of the court aud large number of wit
nesses were on hand but no jury There
was no other case set down for that day.
and SO the Court lawyers and witnesses
| had nothing TO do but wait. At twelve
| o'clock the Sheriff's Office was called up
on the telephone and asked what the
! trouble was. The reply was that deputy
would be down right away. When the
! deputy came he said that he had only been
| given the venire a few minutes be-
| fore and the case had to be adjourned
until the next day. The time of the Court,
| lawyers and court officers was wasted,
\ and the witness and HIigants lost half a
day. The jury was on hand the next day,
| but when the trial of the suit came on it
| was discovered that the summons which
was issued several weeks before had not
yet been returned.
''This is only a sample of what is going
on continually in the Sheriff Office in re-
gard to the business of the District Courts.
besides otner careless methods too nu-
merous to mention. Processes are seldom
returned within the time required by law.
The responsibility for this state of affairs
lies with the under sheriff, who in past
times as well as at the present has had
full management OF the Sheriff's
office. IL the lawyers in the
city xvar1ld snaak fran tv fhaxy xrz,,,tx1 tr.If
you that the Sheriff's Office under the
management OF Under Sheriff McPhillips
is everything but satisfactory, and a
great contrast to the management of the
office under Cornelius J. Cronan, Colonel
Toffey or Patrick H. Laverty."