The age-herald., 1897-09-16
A BUSY DAY IN
 THE INFERIOR COURT

Residents of Birmingham who would | like to be amused without expenses should attend the daily show at the in- ferior criminal court, but they must be careful to go in the character of spec.a- | tors or they are likely to find them selves unwilling contributors to ihe maintenance fund of Feagin's Funny 1 Fellows.
 The inferior court is perfumed by the city market on the north, and a ham merlng aceompanisment is furnished by a furniture warehouse on the south in lieu of an orchestra. Judge N. B. Fea- gin is the star actor, and th= cast is fill ed out by policemen as occasional at.or- ney at law, attorneys that are other l wise, and hapless n.sd sme anaHts. The audience is in the main of the negro persuasion. Th= average Magic City 1 negro would Fai,her sit and sweat in that inferior court than go fishing, and so sits and watches Judge Feagin and his supes grind out justice with an ap- 1 proving gin and the air of a. proprie- | tor, each negro generally having some 1 time or another been assessed for his share of the expenses of manag ement. | As nearly every policeman seems 10 be | of the opinion that advising Judge Fea- | gin is one of his duties, and makes a | break for the judges ear whenever he se:s fit, there is constant life on the stage of the kaleidoscopic order
 Spare the fine and spoil the accused" is evidently the motto of the judge, who is an intellectual man with a temper somewhat quickened by rheumatism. Last Tuesday morning a ''barkeep" l ra o1 by w. D. Richardson, at No. 221 N. Twenty-firs,t street, was arra1gned on a charge of vagrancy. Offer John Mo Donald swore that King had been loaf ing on his beat for the past two months,
 but it turned out that he had been in
 Atlanta since the middle of July, and had only returned to Birmingham three days before his arrest. Of course, even | the inferior court could not be superior to that testimony, and it appeared that l the destined victim would escape when | Officers Gus Ellard and George Kirlkley | gallantly jumpsd into the breach and
 said that in June last, particular date
 forgotten, they had seen King enter a house of i'll fame. He denied it, but his
 case had consumed fifteen minutes of | the shows time so he was assessed | So. 4NON ltS deSlTeS lO hHOW HOW TluCn he would be fined if Feagin's Funny | Fellows knew that when barely three years of age he struck his twin brother | and Tied to his parents about it.
 | Yesterday morning the show opened | with standing room only. The W.red-in box reserved for invited gus sts was well | filled.
 Does anyone want to plead guilty?" rxyoc If,do TT cast and audience. Only one, J. w Will son, white man who had regret and re- | pentance stamped on his countenance, | responded in the affirmative. He was | let down with 8 fine of $5 for disordsr rly5 1 conduct.
 Then colored Sallie Austin, charged with false swearing, walked to the foot lights with her witnesses, but her act was postponed because Attorney & L.
 Weaver had drawn the insorma tfon in- correctly. Weaver retired to write an- l other information and SalIie took | back seat.
 Lulu Craig, a negro girl as broad as | she is long, was fined $5 for giving D. Koplan, an Italian, a love tap with a | shoe sole. She begged the court to fine | Koplan also, but she went down." mutt hOu, WAiCiVdpOn SIlS went QOWn, nut terng tits a shame ter fine 'spectable cullud folks and let dirty Dagoes go." | John Jackson, color:d, was vaccinalted soma weeks since unsuccassfully. Be- cause the vaccine had not raised a scab
 on John, he WAS obliged Ito raise $5 to- wards court expenses.
 Then Sallie Austin was again called to the front, but Attorney Weaver's infor- | nation WI oy,5 +,
 go away with a blank and a frown to | do some mons writing.
 Two sons of sunny Italy, D. Piano and Joe Dispasquarle, next had to face co., ored Henry Huckerby, who accused them of reckless driving. They testified that Henry was on the wrong side of the strset and tried to squeeze buggy be- | tween their wagon and street car, and l despite Henry's assertion that them 1 Dagoes ilain't spoke muffin what's true,' they were dismissed. Judge Feagin looked very much inclined to assess Henry for being on the wrong side of the street, but did not, which rather sur prised the police supes.
 J. T. Quinn, who keeps a grocery and beer saloon at the corner of Twsnty- first street and Avenue c, was next charged with slandering J. c. Raper, an empIoye of the Birmingham wire ard iron works, by accusing him of being an ex-convict. It transpired that because l Quinn had refused to sed beer to Raper on long credit, that worthy had induced Joe Farrell, Quinns "barl1eep," to sell
 him glass of beer last Sunday morn
 ing and had promptly informed the po-
 Nice. That cost Quinn $2O on Tuesday
 morning, after which he met Raper and
 told him that he looked like an ex-con-
 vict. Raper is far from beautiful, but
 Judge Feagin did not think Quinn justi-
 fled in drawing conclusions from his physiognomy and so depleted his bank
 account $5 more.
 Sallie Austin and Attorney Weaver re- appeared, but for the third time the legal
 luminary had taken liberalities with
 I.indley Murray and had to go and write