The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-12-05
LAST OF JHE OLD BAILEY.

London's most famous criminal court,
the Old Bailey, is doomed and the great
Central Criminal Court of the city and
county OF London will in future be held at
the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand.
The building itself is wretchedIy plain
and monstrousy ugly and so far as the
appointm hts of the interior are con-
cerned it is safe to say that there is not a
Justices Court in the whole OF the United
States that could not compare more tnan
favorably with this, the chief criminal
court of the greatest city in the world.
Badly ventilated, badly lighted and I'M
utterably misera bic in every way, one can
imagine what terrible damper must be
put on the prisoner in the dock by his
wretched surroundings and almost forgive
the rather frequent attacks OF choler and
spleen with which the Judges are afflicted.
Let us take peep at tie court on the
day of great trial. Having procured the
necessary passes from the Sheriff. or
anointed the itching palm of the bobby"
on duty at the door with some golden oil,
you pass through the doors of the court
and find yourself standing on the edge of
what appears TO be a deep we'll, the sides
OF which are terraced with seats. At the
bottom of the well is a long table for
members of the bar, smaller table in
front OF the long one for Queens counsel,
or barristers who have taken silk" and
in front of and dominating the bar and
the dock is the bench, on which kind OF
Il throne Is built, its only ornament
being a huge sword of justice, which is
suspended just over the Judges head. At
the back of the bar and facing the Judge
is The prisoners dock, which is connected
by an underground passage with the an
cient prison OF Newgate, where prisoners
awaiting trial are detained.
At about half-past in the morning the
court begins to fill, and despite the vigil
lance Of police and ushers a motley crowd
finds its way into the seats OF this dread
iul theater, where the curtain has been
rung down at the end of hundreds of hor-
rible tragedies The public in this court
is unlike any other public. Workmen out
of work, loose women, haunters of taverns
and bells, thieves at the commencement
or close OF their career. convicts Just re-
leased from prison, the lazy, the good-for-
nothing and the good for thing-else
squeeze their way to the foot of the stair
case which leads to the best seats No
sooner is the staircase wicket opened than
they rush down. They press each other.
they elbow, they iostle, they stand on tip
toes ami look from a distance like black
living mass, which sends forth rude ex-
clamations, stltied cries, coarse Jokes and
brutal hubbub of offended decency.
angry oaths and strange slang. The
swindler and the assassin have come here
TO learn how witness may be thrown
out, how question may be evadeu, how
an aiibi may be invented, how fact may
be distorted and how the criminal code
may be interpreted. Another man comes
in there from mere curiosity, and goes out
with the tenn ptation of crime in his heart.
a fruitful though tainted seed. The mania
OF imitation drives more people into
crime than all the machinery of the law
and the terrors of puni.hment can deter
from 1t. The Central Criminal Court is a
detestable school OF i'm orality.
BY 10 O'Clock the barristers IN wigs and
gowns have fled in to their places at the
bar, their clerks carrying brief bags and
legal volumes. which they deposit on the
table. The clerk of arraigns takes his
seat Immediately beneath the Judges
bench, and the ushers, in stertorian
tones, call tor ''order IN the court"
Having quieted the din, the ushers pro-
ceed TO open wide the door through which
the Judge passes 10 take his seat on the
bench. and the head usher orders every
body in court to stand up as the Judge
enters the court, at the same time calling
out the Judges title and dignity in the
following manner: "Sjr Forrest Fulton.
Knight, one of her Majesty's counsel,
Common Sergeant of the City of London.
and Judge of this present Court of AS
sze!" AS soon as the Judge is seated,
following an ancient custom, a small
bowl OF flowers is placed before him. This
custom j. relic of the period when New
gate and the Old Bailey were without any
sanitary system, and the whole district
was constantly afflicted with the dreaded
jail fever-typhus. The rosemary and
thyme, which were then placed on the
Judges desk, were supposed to have the
power OF keeping the disease away from
him.