The herald., 1893-10-02
THE SQUEAKING CHAIRS.
HOW THEY BETRAY THE SIT
TERS' PERSONAL TRAITS.
A Chance for the Employment OF Many
Assistant Janitors = Some Law
yers Whose Peculiarities
We're Noted.

Abulbtuut JhniIOra some Law
yers Whose Peculiarities
We're Noted.
Attention was called in the HERALD
day or two ago to the necessity for oil in
the joints OF the county court house
chairs. The squeak OF one chair would
not call for much notice, but when it
comes to several hundred, sufficient
noise is developed to call for q re-
monstrance. Trivial as the subject ap-
pears, it has brought to light curious
fact in the construction OF the chairs
bought for the court house. They are
very nice chairs to look at and cost con-
siderable money. But just how they
are to be kept from interfering with the
public business in courts and elsewhere
is a problem. An examination of the
chairs SHOWS that they have steel balls
in the joints which rest on iron bearers
and have iron bearers above, 30 that the
steel working on the iron causes q fric-
tion that produces the noise complained
about. To keep the several hundred
chairs in proper subsection the force OF
janitors will have to be largely increased
and the chairs oiled every day, or every
other day.
No one who has not experienced the
annoyance OF the producing chairs
OF tho court houee can realize how ag-
gravating it is. The supervisors should
at once employs force OF about 25 oilers
and place them on the pay roll Of the
county. There might be enough among
thoee on the INDECENT pay roll who
could do light work sufficient to reduce
the chair to proper subsection. 1t is all
right when hesvy-weights like l. s.
Chapman, M. E. G. Munday and Waldo
M. York sink solidly into their chairs.
They don't awitch around much but
when nervous men like J, L. Murphey,
Moye Wicks, Calvin Egerton, Hugh
Crawford and Ed Meserve fdget about
they make moro noise than basket OF
monkeys.
It's curious what lot of variety there
is in the way the attorneys whom one
sees about the court house sit down in
these se.fsame chairs.
One would not think that in such
simple thing as sitting down in chair
any,great amount of character would be
shown; but the legal lights of the bar
would be aetonished to know how much
it does reveal SOME OF their traits.
Take Anson Bruneon for instance.
He has a non-committal kind of walk
when he enters a court room. He comes
in very quietly and seems to observe
nothing. When he reaches the chair
he proposes to take be glides into it and
does not fdget. NEe 1890 qaiet, in fact,
that itl givea one an uncomfortable
sensation. aud he swsys back in the
chair 1ittle, and by the gentle motion
al Il Isx..t, L.
to proponnd a MAchiavellian query TO q
witness. Hesets up just as easily as
he sits down.
Col. G.. Wiley Wells comes into court
almost invariably. n, little late; just
enough not to be too late. He takes
quick little steps, and when he reaches
vacant chair he drops his armfull OF
books on the table and plumps down
with jerk that stirs up all the friction
ia the joiats. After the frst plump
and the colonel gets his bearings, every
time he asks q leading question there is
a preliminary jegele OF The chair.
Bat one ougiit to zee Geo. II Smith
to darive clear idea of how speaking q
court house chairs motions become on
occasion. As he comes slowly into
court room and with a dignited tread
approaches the bench twirling his in
evitable eye glasses the chairs seem to
be exgectant and invite him to be
seated. They do not give out stsrtled
little protesting squeaks as they do when
j. Marion Brooks jerks them about, but
with grave and digAifed sounds pro-
claim that man of parts has some.
One can see by premUnitory motion
slightly forward and back but no swing
ing of the corners that the colonel ia
about to spesk. When he 10 seated
again the chair back leans way back and
does go without g groan.
And go it goes, one after another, the
lawyers betray little traits of character
which are an amusing study, and they
are only emphasized by the present con-
dition OF the court house chairs.
There 10 Assistant District Attorney
Dupuy. 1t is continual popping when
he examines a witness. His chair jumps
and jiggles and gets 40 rest until the
victim is turned ever to the opposing
counsel. Then the chair gives one long
tei-satsfied grunt and stops as If the
friction was overcome.
But perhaps the court house chairs
show more intricate developments with
q. o. Stephens than with other attor.
ncys. He comes in very quickly and
settles himeelf down as if he was going
to stay all day. From the moment OF
contact with @. @. his chair does execu-
tion. 1t is thoroughly businsss-like.
There is volley OF cbiurgatory sounds
that have no intermlttance. Every
equeak is irasclble, or sarcastic, or quer-
ulous, or vehement. They are short,
sharp and earnest, and as the joints
creak, the back moves to and fro, and
the chair actually gives forth a fiendsh
shrek on occasions.
The chair that Henry Gage eitH down
in has a very different motion. It
doesn't go by jerke, but has an undula-
tory motion which makes an observer
know that the occupant is enjoying
joke Of some sort, either one of Eis own
conception or q bon mot OF some one
else. Even the gritty sounds of the
chair are mellowed. And the curious
thing is that these motions occur at all
Horts OF times, when all the other chair
backs are still as we'll as when they are
in motion. A very independent chair
that OF Henry Gage.
If the court nouse chairs are not
patched up in some way, it won't be
long before they will give away all the
professional secrets,oi the occupants.
Mrs. William Murdaf. 197 hitd sire Ell. Al
sbauys n. x, Rlves IL The meeiaaf praise as fol-
lows: ~ have used DR.. Bulps Cough Syrup
anq nnd ittas noequaL No 10 mi iy should be