Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-30
Applicants for Retail Licenses Will
Have 10 Wait Awhile.
ALLEGHENIANS WILL BE HEARD
Before Any Announcements Will Be Made
as to Pittsburg.
SCENES AND INCIDENTS OF THE COURT

softest cushioned chair or finest upholstered
tete a tete veritable anxious seat, even il
the candidate is a very young and hand
some man and very young and beautiful
daughter OF some older candidate occupies
a snug portion of the same seat. Allegheny
counJy's criminal court room, in which the
Judges of the License Court now hold forth
to large audiences daily, Saturdays ex-
cepted, is well provided with anxious seats.
There are numerous kinds of anxiety but
they are all anxious seats nevertheless.
The applicants are anxious to know their
fate and they will occupy those same seats
for several days to come, notwithstanding
alleged interviews with Judge Magee to the
effect that decisions would be handed down
on Tuesday. The lawyers, too, are on the
anxious seat; anxious to know whether
they will get more than retainer out
of their clients pockets. which they will if
| the clients are successful. B. G. Christv is
on the anxious seat regarding one OF the
wards. as he is paid "per Knockout, no
Knockout no pay" The jury box contains
70 anxious seats, the majority of which are
usually occnpied by w. C. T. U. ladies,
who are anxious to see as few saloons as pos
sible.
Will That Time Ever Come?
The judges and court officials are anxious
to get through as soon as possible, and the
newspaper representatives are anxious TO
know if there is any possibility of Judge White
| changing the order or number OF questions in
his catcchism.
With all this anxiety there is no probability
of the sigh of relief being heayed from the bos-
| oms of even the Pitrsburg applicants for sew
eral days at least. A conference is necessary
before the decisions can be made, and the
judges are not inclined to quit work in the
middle of the week to hold that conference.
The strong probabilities are that when Alle-
gheny has been finished the decisions the
two cities will be made and all handed down.
Then work on the remainder of the county will
proceed. Applicants whose hopes were raised
by any other reports can return to the Court
House and resume their places on the anxious
seat. prepared to remain there until the last of
this week or the first of next
All is monOtony land ever the sameness
Notwithstanding there are times and scenes
when License Court is as good as the palmy
days OF the l0-cent circus or an Uncle Toms
Cabin show In a provincial village 1t would not
do to liken it to "Ten Nights in a Bar ROOM
for that would be too realistic by half and
realism carried to extremes is worse than no
reality.
In the lobby the blacks and the whites inter-
mingle as readily as in game of checkers. and
all nationalites are represented with the posi-
BILE exception of the Chinese, whose tastes ruu
to opium. The tastes of the average colored
man vary and ne can enjoy himself at the ex-
pense of the shivering victim who Quails be-
fore the searching glance of Judge White-who
appears to see clear through mans private
life even before he left the classic precincts of
the Rhine or the beautiful bogs of Kilkenny
as though he were IN the midst of the parquet
circle with both eyes and ears taking III the
splendor of Edwin Booth in his faYorite char
acter.
One day last week one of these sons of Ham,
through listening so long to one of the soothing
lectures of the presiding judge, was luIled into
sweet, peaceful sleep. In proof of the peace
possible under the circumstance of the
bronze background, suffused his countenance
and for full half an hour not even the lightest
sigh escaped his lip. But IL could not last
forever, and when deaf applicant took his
place before the bar of hope-which sometime
ends in despair-the Judge was compelled to
talk so loud as to disturb the slumberer.
1t Was Quite a Descent.
A bailiff might have been despatched to the
lobby to beg the gentleman's pardon, but he
Immediately disappeared after having rubbed
his eyes sufficiently to cause his muddled senses
to descend from the height of their fanciful
dreams to the common level of a License Court.
Under ordinary circumstances it would be
laboring under difficulties to sleep standing up,
but in the License Court lobby it would be I'M
possible to do other than stand up, because of
the crowd, so that sleeping would be no great
task for one who knows no care and thinks of
nothing more than q common suit of clothes
and well-supplied stomach.
Not many rows of chairs in advance of this
sleeper was a sight that would give firm
believer in the occasional return of restless
departed spirits good argument to advance
on his side of the theory. There. with one leg
thrown over the knee OF the other, and with his
big thoughtful eyes fixed on the court, sat an
ola man whose striking likeness to old
Thaddeus Stevens offered a theme for con-
siderable discussion. His luxurant white hair
was thrown neglgently back over his head and
here and there stray lock would steal down
over his forehead, when he would carelessy
brush it aside and resume his steady attention
to the proceedings.
An Oasis in the Desert.
Whether the old gentleman was merely
spectator or had some special interest in the |
days programme matters not; he made re- |
freshing oasis in the desert of the court room, |
and dozens of persons there would be glad to |
have him return again. His honest, open |
cOuntenance was strangely in contrast to some |
of the other disinterested frequenters of the |
place.
1t is surprising the number of women who
are willing and ANXIOUS TO sacrifice the modesty
and gentlity of their sex by keeping saloon,
and even by going behind the bar and dealing
ou drinks. 1t looks all right in man, but a
woman seems strangely out OF place. At least
she does when 1t happens to be a young and
rather prepossessing woman, and then Judge
White beams down over his spectacles with a
kindly eye, and questions the propriety of such
a proceeding. Not that they are not successful
sometimes, and perhaps often. but the Judge
doesn't fancy the idea and takes every oppor-
tunity to frown upon 1t. Still thoy come and
they will doubtless continue to the end of time
or at least to the end of License Court. The
Judges eye and lectures are reserved for the
young women, and many an aged female. with
u very red face, likewise very coarse voice, |
gets off with less talk than man.
rendered a Great Reception.
reception is not usually gotten up for an
applicant, SO an aged German had good reason
to feel proud Friday. as most protuse arrange
ments had to be made to allow him a chance to
be seen as well as heard. He was not built
after the most approved and latest style of
architecture, but, on the contrary, IL was after
the manner of our forefathers, who had plenty
of room on the ground floor, and were not COM
Delled to build SO high into the air. H Q was
not a little nan. but, on the other hand. was
immense if the proper proportions had only
been respected
But they were not, and the result was that
there was about lS5 pounds of human flesh
crowded into perpendicular space OF about
feet, while his breadth of beam was enough for
two men. To top off this thick-set little native
of Germany was q good-sized head, 4 smiling
face and eyes twlnking with merriment
Shortly before his arraignment he remarked to
his next neghbors, who happened TO be of the
same nationality:
You Germans won't be in it. You'll be
thrown out on your shapes"
This mans attorney was little dubious
about the result if not more than an inch of his
by the Judge, SO he slid large stone spittoou
over in front of the bench for him tn stand on,
in order that he might gain three or four inches
>'- Mt N.,t IT.a