The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-12-13
ABOUT THE CRIMINAL COURT.
The Motley Crowd of Curiosity NJ on
gers Who Gather There.

Ii one were asked why 1t is that day after
day, year after year, the proceedings had in
the Criminal Court attract the crowd which
Hills the courtroom, the reply would be be-
cause of a morbid curiosity to witness the mis-
fortune of other fellow beings. There is
something In the makeup of the average hu-
man being which creates q craving for the
sight of suffering, and yet in those beings In
which such craving is the keenest the
tenderest nature is often found. It is not,
therefore, cruel heart which beats always
within such breasts, and If one should spend
day In our Criminal Court and carefully note
those about him who 60 to make up the
audience In attendance, rarely would that
one discover in their countenances the charac-
teristics Of cruel and hardened natures.
In general, the crowd in attendance upon
the sessions of the Criminal Court is com
posed of two classes, court house loafers on
one side, and idle seeks OF all that is curious
In human depravity and suffering on the
other. Or course, on unusual occasions
when the prominence Of the crime or of the
criminal rises above the ordinary, there are at
tracted those who appear only on such oc-
caslons, and then it is that women no longer
restrain their natural curiosity, but crafty it
by spending hours, often days, in q room into
which common humanity, if not common
decency, should prevent their entrance Yet,
short time since, when debased brute was
sentenced to die by the rope, several women
hurried into the room, eager to not only feast
their eyes upon the wretched being listening
to his doom, but as eager to catch every word
OF the judge, who, man that he was, shrank
from the duty which the law imposed upon
him. AS was said then by an old officer of
the court, if ever there was time in the his
tory OF the court when the presence of
woman, especially an idle looker-on, was un-
womanly it was then.
or the two classes which commonly compose
a nyxyHi in ntfa 1Inr,, r..
curiosity-seekers, the latter predominate
The most remarkable fact in connection with
those who ale drawn there merely out of idle
curiosity Is this, the class represents almost
every condition of life, from the poor devil
out at the elbows to the man whose well-filled
stomach is covered with costly and fashiona-
bly, cut clothes. In the first instance, little
wonder there is that the impoverished fellow
should be there day after day, but in the case
OF the well-dressed and well-fed being one
never ceases from wondering.
Ihe class known as courthouse loafers is
composed OF a set of beings who year after year
regularly appear every court day long before
the court is opened and soemnly sit through
out It's sessions, however monotonous and dry
the case on trial may be- While this class
does not invariably represent almost every
condition, nevertheless, if searching INQUIRY
should be made that inquiry would reveal the
fact that In this class may be found men who
once adorned brighter positions than they
now fill. There sits man once a high legal
officer Of prominent State; there sits one
once prominent merchant in town; there
sits one who once preached the word of God,
and so, outside of those who never were aught
else but what they now are, proverty stricken
unfortunates, may be found in this class rep
resentatives of almost every walk in life.
There is still another class who loiter about
the court rooms, not particularly about the
Criminal Court room, but in and about the
City Hall and its immediate neighborhood,
and that is the class in which is represented
the few remaining members of once very nu-
merous and quite an important set of men,
that body once known as professional jury
men," Under the present system of selecting
lurymen, the occupation OF the professional
1uryman has about departed, and In only one
instance Is a chance for such employment
now left him. That is in cases where the
selection of jury is made necessary by the
issuance of writs de latnatico inquirendo. In
such cases, the selection of the jury is left
entirely in the hands of the United States
Marshal. The professional juryman is al
ways fully informed as to the exact time
when such jury will be needed, and con-
sequently places himself directly In the path
OF the officer engaged in it's selection. Hence
1t is that on jury after jury impaneled for
such purposes the same men may be found
Of such classes, idle curiosity pro-
fessional jurymen, and the ordinary court
house loafers, is the crowd composed, and it
may be safely said that no good ever has been
done or ever will be done them in wasting
time deserving of better and much more ele-
waiting influences than are obtainable in the
trials of wretched criminals. This must have
been the thought of his Honor, the present
distinguished presiding judge OF our Criminal
Court, when, short time since, he directed
the immediate removal from the courtroom
of several boys of tender age, who loitered
about filling their minds with the incidents of
criminal life. 1t was righteous order, and
one which should be rigidly enforced on all
future occasions.