The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-10-29
FISHERS BAD WORK
The Wretched Condition of
the Books in His office
Offers Every Chance
for Fraud.
ADMITS HIS RECORDS ARE BEHIND
But Claims 1t Is Due To a
Temporary Rush, Although
Lawyers Have Been
Complaining for
Months.
DANGER TO THE PUBLIC
All Sorts of Business and Property
interests Affected By Neglect
in Keeping the Books
Up TO Date.
DANGER TO THE PUBLIC

The demand made by the lawyers of
Hudson county TO County Clerk Fisher
that he shall employ competent force
to keep his work up to date and which
demand appeared exclusively in last
nights News made a great sensation
in the city last night
The News showed last night that by
the cheeseparing economy of the County
Clerk the work of the Office is all Behind.
That is bad enough but let any person
go to that office and look at the records
he will find them in a horrible condition.
1t is not too much 10 say that such a
state of things as is found in this office
does not exist in any Office of its kind
in the country.
THE News" last night also pointed out
the difficulty lawyers, or for that mat
ter any citizen. experienced in hunting
up the status of any particular case and
the danger OF pigeon-holing unlndexed
papers of the greatest Importance Be
sides this. by the County Clerks present
mode of doing business, any one could
easily steal a paper from the bundles in
case in which ne was interested and
work nice mischief
For instance, as a well known lawyer
pointed out to a News" representative
yesterday: suit under the statute must
be commenced within two years after the
cause of action. Supposing the suit was
begun on the last day of the time al
lowed and the defendant steals the papers
from the County Clerks office, as he
easily could, there would be nothing to
"a fl7z emit 4
the time having expired in which he
must bring the suit the plaintiff couldn't
recover. Then, again, building contracts
could be purloined from the office and
their absence would entail mechanics lien
suits.
Another source of grave danger arising
out of the neglect in indexing papers
promptly by the County Clerk is that
pertaining to judgments. When a judg-
Ensnt is entered, either by default or after
she trial of the cause. it is the duty of
the attorney in whose favor the judg-
mert is entered to enter the rule for
Judgment on the minutes of court There
is a book kept for that very purpose.
After the rule is entered on the minute
book it is the duty of the clerk to go
over the minutes and index the judgment
entered in the judgment record book.
The clerk in the County Clerks office
Is behind with his work, and the result
as that if a lawyer seeks to know. in
searching for particular piece of prop
erty, what judgments are entered against
it he has to hunt through the minute
book. because of the clerks neglect in
keeping up the record.
DO you know said a prominent law
yer to the writer, ''that this a matter
for which 1 think the County Clerk is
very much to blame and it is a serious
thing for the interests of the public
There is what is called in Mr. Fishers
Office a recognizance book. That CON
tains records of bonds given in the Grim
inal court for the appearance for trial
of men under Indictment. When a man
is tried, or acquitted, or the indictment
is nolle pressed, or the case is otherwise
disposed of, the way Mr.. Fishers clerk
disposes of the recognizance on the record
is to run a line through it; cross it out
with lead pencil. You can easily see
how dangerous that is. Why, anyone
could go through that book, cross a recog-
nizance and that would be the end of it."
Returning to the indexes in the County
Clerks office, these are not contained, as
they should be, in one large book and
kept up to date but the County Clerk has
several of them. The large index book is
indexed under the Lusk system by which
1t is easy to find, If it were kept UP, what
lawyer or citizen requires to know. bq,t
the small indexes are used, and in these
the names are not classified with eucb
care as in the larger book The result is
that to find anything in the small books
is waste of time, and many lawyers i'm
hunting through these small books use
language which wouldn't look well in
hymn, for instance.
Contrast the wretched state of affairs
in the County Clerks office with the meth
Cd, precision and machine-like regularity
with which the work in the Offices of
Register G. B. Fielder and Surrogate j.
H. ONeil is done. The lawyers yesterday
IN their petition to the County Clerk paid
these two gentlemen a compliment when
they said to the County Clerk
The undersigned members of the Rar
Of Hudson County, New Jersey hereby
respectfully request taat you 50 Increase
the clerical force in your Office a. 10 Ta We
5noexed n pie1tfrs at the end of each day
me various papers filed IN your office as
Is now done so satisfactorily il rs9osf IF
not all. of the other Offices at the Court
House"
Taking first Mr. Fielder's ofice, any
one can GO IN there and ask for a paper
or ssek information touching any instru-
ment filed in the office since 1882, the date
when Hudson county was set Off from
Bergen county, and he who seeks that
Information can find a record of such in
formation within five minutes from the
time Of making the inquiry, and without
any material assistance from any Of Mr..