Evening star., 1900-08-18
But OFFENDERS RARELY THINK so
"coIIatera|" is a Stumbling Block
to Many.
OF TWO TRAMPS

relentless hand, and that to be arrested
by policeman means, except in rare in
stances. either the payment of hne by
the person taken into custody or impr1son-
ment in the jail or workhouse.
Nothing could be further from the truth
than that there is a desire on the part or
any of the officials connected with this
court to do any one an injustice Tho
Police Court is divided into two branches
the United States branch, to which are sent
such crimes as require an investigation as
to whether there is sufficient evidence
against the accused as to need the at
tention Of the grand jury. while In very
many classes 1t is really a court OF oyer
and terminer. Among the first mentioned
are such crimes as grand larceny EN-,
bezzlement, highway robbery, &c, ana
among the other are petty larceny, carry
ing Of concealed weapons and many others.
Over the United States branch OF the
court Ivory G. Kimball is the presiding
Judge, or in his absence his place Is taken
by Justice Anson S. Taylor. The prose-
cutting attorney is Mr.. Alexander K Null
taken by either Assistant Attorney Alex
ander r. Semmes or Acting Prosecuting
Attorney Ralph Given.
The District Branch.
Judge Charles F. Scott presides over the
District branch and the prosecuting officer
is Special District Attorney James L. Pugh,
jr., but when from any cause the latter is
unable to be present he is represented In
the person of Mr.. A. Leftwtch Sinclair one
of the assistants in the Office Of the attor-
ney for the district, Mr.. A. B. Duvall. TO
this court are brought those arrested Tor
what may he termed minor offenses. such
as being drunk on the street, profanity
tramps, &c.
When a person is arrested there is filed
by the officer who takes him into custody
what is called an Information. This is laid
before Mr.. Mullowny. or Mr.. Pugh, or his
representative, according to whether the
United States or District branch of the
court has Jurisdiction in the matter. and
there the evidence, which. it must be ad-
mitted, is of necessity quite often exparte In
Its character, is carefully heard and con-
sidered. If upon presentation Of the gov
ernment or Districts side, as the case may
be, Of the case. the official who has made
the investigation thinks he would be justi
fed in doing 50, he signs the information
and 1t is sent before the proper tribunal for
such disposition as may be decided by the
judge. The wisdom of this course Is to be
seen In the fact that 1t is perhaps unfortu-
nately too true that the great majority Of
police officers are disposed to and do make
arrests for onenses which are similar TO
those they themselves commit, without ap-
parently being aware that they them
selves equally amenable to the law. This is
notably the case with hundreds of arrests for
profanity. when there have been scores of
occasions when the officer who made the
arrest made use Of far worse expressions,
even before he had got outside of the
shadow of the Police Court building, than
had the person whom he had arrested and
charged with the crime
The Humorous Side.
1t is very amusing to hear some off,
GERS tell how they had advised an al
legged drunkard to pursue different course
OF life and that he had exhausted all his
powers of persuasion to induce the man or
woman to stop using liquor, when the same
officer in many instances had to In the
course of a few weeks stand investigation
before Trial Officer Pugh for being under
the influence of liquor while on duty
There is probably no one misdemeanor for
use of profane language What profane lam
guage consists of Is a subject upon which
there is a wide difference of opinion among
certain police officers.
Did he use the name of the Deity" the
court or Mr. Pugh will ask.
Yes" the officer answers.
We'll. what did he say" Mr.. Pugh in
s!sts knowing. And when the police
man finally tells what was said by the
man, 1t is some expression In which the
name of God was not used, and the con-
clusion is irresistible that the policeman
who made the charge has not the first
idea OF who the Deity Is or who Is referred
to by that term.
Not long ago there was a case in the
Police Court where one old colored woman
living in Anacostia charged her neighbor,
another old woman, and neither being ap-
less than seventy-five years old,
with using "nfiamed" language (she meant
profane) toward her. The complainant was
sworn by Mr.. Lum Harper, the clerk, to
tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth. The old woman took the
stand and Mr.. Pugh said:
Now, auntie, tell the court what the
prisoner said to you"
Indeed. jedge. your honor (Mr. Pugh is
often referred to by one or the other and
sometimes both titles. the witness mean
while looking straight at the prosecuting
attorney and not at the COURT, it was 40
bad that do not like to tell you
But the court must KNOW" Mr.. Rugh
insisted.
Well. II must tell, suppose must"
said the witness with sigh.
Tell the Judge, them" Mr. Pugh again
urged the old lady. at the same time point
Ing to Judge Scott.
The witness got as CLOSE as she could to
the ear of the court and then In a hoarse
whisper said why, she called me an old
black bear"
OF course. the case was instantly dismissed
by Judge Scott, but from the expression on
the old womans face as she left the court
room she created the impression In the mind
of more than one person in the audience
that the prosecutrix felt that she had NOT
succeeded in her case as she had antici-
pated.
Sort of q Test Word,
OF all the words in the Police Court vo-
there is no one that is 60 often
as the word Collateral
OF course. almost every one knows that
the offense must be serious If the person
arrested cannot secure liberty until the fol-
lowing morning. when he must appear at
court. by depositing at the station house
where the arrest is recorded a sufficient
amount Of collateral
A few days ago d welf!ldressed man ap-
preached Mr.. Mullowny while he was at
tending to his duties in the court room and
when there was an opportunity said: II
want an explanation. l don't understand
this thing at all. Yesterday had a man
arrested for assaufting me, and when I
came down here to testify against him they
told me that he had forfeited his mulatto.'
and don't know what that means.'
Mr.. Mullowny explained the status of af-
fairs to the complainant telling him that
as the accused man did not come to court.
as he had been notified to do, the money
which he had deposited was forfeited to the
government, and that ended the case. The
man who had been assaulted turned sadly
away: he had learned the difference be-
tween "mulatto" and collateral" but he