Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1895-03-09
THE POLICE COURT.
Where "Justice J:hn" 7rasides.
THE OFFICERS WHO ATTFND ITS
SESSIONS.
The UnrOrtunates Gather There.


We present our readers this week
with fine cut of the Police Court of
this city, Police Justice John Crutch
field presiding, as il appeared in the
Old Odd Fellows Building, Corner
Mayo and Franklin streets
Here indeed has been heard many "a
tale of woe, and many have been
made to rejoice by a discharge which
they had hardly dared TO anticipate.
In the centre is the Justice with his
classic features, pausing in a case to
allow roaming photographer 20 take
the view of his courtroom The pitch
er is between him and the military
/ looking Sergeant Thomas
The song " The Old Turnkey" might
we'll have been dedicated to him for he
knows nothing but duty, and never
hesitates TO obey orders and execute
the law ON the other side of the JUS
tice is the popular clerk, + White,
who is as prompt as clock-work, and
an official ever faithful to the duties
assigned him
over 10y the stove are the spectators
There too may been seen Squire Jones,
better known as Sugar Bottom" Jones
and Bailin Gibbons.
TIRE coLoRED LAWYERS.
Behind the bar is Colonel NJ l..
Spottswood. then Commonwealths' At
, torney He is looking towards, the
colored bald-headed lawyer and hu-
morist, GILES Is Jackson, while h A.
, Randolph. Esq, with arm in a position
as though he is about 20 rise and ad-
dress the court looks at the Justice.
Back of the second railing and in the
front of the picture is the witness box.
To the extreme left where the wiring
may be seen is the ~pen in which the
, prisoners were confined
One of them in fit of desperation
one morning jumped over it and escap-
ed from the courtroom. Justice
6 Crutchheld is peculiar character. Al
, times he is stern, and would be pre-
sumed TO be hard hearted but under
that brusque exterior, he has a heart n,
I tender as a woman's. 1t is only TO un
derstand him. He keeps the court
room-crowd indulging in outbursts o
o OF laughter, which is immediatel.
stiiied when the stentorian voice o
Sergeant Thomas is heard, crying: Isl
lence Silence in Court"
AN OBNOXIOUS EXPRESSION
There is nothing however that S
much mars the proceedings in tn
l- mind of the average cOlored man a
the frequent use of the word "nigger
during the proceedings and TO man
= | unaccustomed To its use on the outsid
: and who happens to . drop into court
= by accident it is the source of raspin
annoyance.
And yet the Justice has staunc
friends among the colored people, VIII
have learned to realize that in the us
of these expressions, he means moth
1. ing.
GOOD TIMES NO MORE.
This is the court in which Giles
Jackson was at one time in the zenit
n of his glory and made money "hand
r over fist But it would seem that
ID this court the light for him and Otht
at lawyers caused by democratic han
1t times had gone out for twenty years
en come. 1t has been said that Pole
ol Justice Crutchfield has more absolui
es power than any other official in Il
II, 4 city government
He is an uncOmpromising demOcr
he and if there is>any portion of the part
ld machinery with which he is not a
a quainted it must have been made al
a put into position since we wrote tn
re article.
US He is a close observing student
RS human nature and an adept at readir
ret the human cOuntenance There
is hardly a case of any Importance wi
m which he is not acquainted before
ex ascends the bench.
ra Lawyers can not ''befoggle visi
in by any speciOus pleading He h
on summed up the case before they ha
in said a word and is not at
m, backward in telling them so
he He knows every nook and corner
in the town, and hardly anything occu
up either public or private, informati
concerning which has not be
brought to him long before the part
concerned realized that it has pass
outside of the limits of the block
which they live.