Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-06-03
IX, BRATTLEBORO, FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 1s92
Recorder smvth,s Fun.
lie Has il i'm Making Pawnbrokers hi,
gorge.

| 10 look at the hrm. stern face OF Record
er Smyth when that magistrate is on the
bench in the court of general sessions you
would think that he is sadly deficient in
humor You would remark to yourself or
some one else, "IIere is the strict. unbend-
! ing judge. ever serious and liking not his
! joke nor the Joke of any other man. But
there you would be wrong, for the Record
er likes his joke as well as any man, albeit
| it is at times the reverse of funny to some
men.
Now be it known that Recorder SMITH
dislikes awnbrokers-dislikes them with
dislike that is full, hearty and lasting.
| In the city of New York there are several
! thousand pawnbrokers many of them
! clever, careful, consistent rogucs and abet-
| tors of crime. In the directories they are
! known as pawnbrokers. To the police
! they are known as fences and receivers
of stolen goods. Occasionally one of them
| is ralroaded to Sing Sing, but. as a rule, it
is the thief who is punished while the re-
ceiver escapes through perjury or restitu-
ton, or both. 1t is with this class of
! pawnbrokers that Recorder Smyth has fun
1t may be a pawnbroker of pretty much
any place in New York. who comes into
the court of sessions, bringing with him
! bundle. He comes with i'll grace and be-
cause he cannot help it. A certain thief
has deposed that certain goods, stolen from
a certain place, were sold to that same
! pawnbroker, and Recorder Smyth has or
dered the same to come and disgorge.
The recorder beckons unto him a fright
ened looking man who is sitting in the body
of the court And then he remarks to the
! pawnbroker:
"Unpack those goods Thereupon the
| pawnhroker lifts his voice in lamentation.
Fairer than the gardens of the gods is his
pawn shop, wherein no man was yet cheat
! ed, and into which no thief would dare en-
ter. And the recorder says:
"Unpack those goods And the victim
being slow, he beckons to a court officer
and again remarks
"Unpack those goods
Thereupon they are unpacked Then
there is a sight of trousers galore and also
of other articles of one kind and another.
Now, then. you take the witness stand.
the recorder says to the frightened looking
man before mentioned. The order is obey
ed. and then. bit by bit, he Identifies the
goods as being property stolen from his
. store. The despair of the paWnhroker
while this is going on is something fearful
TO behold, and the grim satisfaction OF Re
corder Smyth is worth going far 10 SEE.
His stern features relax. and a smile of
contcntment rests upon his face. Many
OF the duties that he is called upon TO per
form are very unpleasant ones. but there
is something pleasant about this one.
1t is significant of the tenacity with
which this class of honest tradesmen'
hold on to anything that comes into their
hands, either by fair means or foul. that
although goods are positively identified as
being the property of some one else they
almost invariably make an effort in court
to retain them.
1t is at this point that Recorder Smyth
comes out strong and has real fun with the
pawnbroker. The goods being fully identi-
fed, and there being no evidence that the
pawnbroker knowingly was a receiver Of
stolen goods, he is told that he can GO
Then he makes as though to pick up the
property before going and then it is that
the recorder pounceS down upon him.
Let these goods lie where they are, he
says. The pawnbroker groans and looks
despairiugly at the firm Judge.
Never mind those goods" the record
er says, sternly, "and get out of this
court room a. quick as you can. and be
thankful that You are not leaving it TO 20
to prison, where a good many of your
class would he if they had their due.
All Of these profeSSed pawnhrokers do
not get of SO easily. Only a few weeks
ago one of them was sent to state prison
for a term of years. In his case. however,
the thieves from whom h. had bought
property supplied the evidence upon which
he was convicted Criminals generally
shield the fence" however. and il is thus
that the latter are rarely convicted
Mother Mandelbaum carried on the bust
ness on a colossal scale for years before
the police nterfered.
Sometimes there is a general round up
of pawnbrokers in court, and then there
are some amusing scenes. Some time ago
there was a series of robberies of clothing
stores by an organized gang of thieves.
Inspector Brynes threw out his drag net
and the result was the appearance in court
of some twenty or more pawnbrokers, who
had loaned money on portions of the stol-
en- goods, some of them at least in good
faith.
Recorder Smyth had rare fun that day,
and before he was through with it the
court looked like a wholesale clothing store
the recorder himself looking somewhat
queer as he sal upon the bench fianked by
piles of coats, trousers and the like
An even more amusing incident occur
red more recently. Ii was the occasion of
the trial of the thief Diamond Dick"
That gentleman had robbed Simpson, the
Park Row pawnbroker. and had distributed
the goods among upward of twenty other
pawnbrokerS. They were all in court on
the same day and there was witnessed the
spectacle of the pawnbroker who was rob
bed, sitting aloft in the witness chair at
Recorder Smyth'S side and of a score OF
other "uncleS' pouring diamonds. rings,
watches and the like into his hands for
Identification.
A sad score OF men they We're, but the
man in the chair was happy. and so was
Recorder Smyth. SO cheerful was he
that he allowed the spectators in the court
room to grow plainly and a trifle loudly
mirthful without threatening TO hang
draw or quarter any of them-and Record
er Smyth is very cheerful when he goes
that far.
OF course it would not be fair TO assume
that all pawnbrokers who appear in court
in the manner here described are dishon-
est or are knowingly receivers of stolen
goods. But some of them are, and when
Recorder Smyth meets one of these the
encounter is worth going some distance to
see