New-York tribune., 1901-03-27
ASKS FOR POOLS REMOVAL
LAWYER IN PETITION TO MAYOR AL
LEGES THAT MAGISTRATE is 1NCOM-
PETENT-REPIY OF THE LATTER.

William Macarthur. a lawyer of No. 80 Mas
sau-st yesterday afternoon sent to Mayor Van
Wyck a document charging City Magistrate
Pool with incOmpetenCy, and asking that the
Mayor at once begin proceedings before the
presiding justice of the Appellate Division of
the Supreme Court for the magistrates removal
The paper says that Magistrate Pool has fire.
quently discharged prisoners supposedly guilty
and has demonstrated conclusively that he is not
a fit person TO be a city magistrate Mr.. Nc
Arthur asserts that he has publicly insulted and
slandered attorneys who came before him. with
out occasion. and has held them up to public
ridicule The lawyer says that several other at
torneys make the same charges naming among
them Joseph II. Lavac, Max Franklin. Henry
J. Goldsmith II. Barnett. Benjamin Reass and
Max s. Adler.
Mr.. Macarthur says that the Board of City
Magistrates has adopted rules and regulations
one of which is that prisoners who have been
imprisoned overnight shall be tried first The
petitioner states that on January 3. 1901. In the
West Side Court. Magistrate Pool said:
Il am going TO take up adjourned hearings
and then summons cases"
Mr.. Macarthur asserts that a long examinatio
was held in an adjourned case which lasted un-
Ill 12:15 o'clock Several Of the overnight prison
ers became faint, and one. Sadie Dean. tainted
Magistrate Pool refused TO hear her case until
after o'clock in the afternoon
He is guilty of habituaI neglect. He is also
guilty of unreasonable absence. He also shows
carelessness, and violation and ignorance of the
rules Of law. l consider him wholly and en-
tirely inefficient" is the language of the docu-
ment
Following this statement are thirty-four
specific cases cited by the petitioner in which
he declares that the magistrate has violated
rules OF law and shown lack of Judgment and
insulting temper.
The charges close with a formal demand that
the Mayor remove the magistrate under Sec
tons Loot 1.J5S and 1853 of the Consolidation
by Mayor Strong
The Mayor place the charges in the hands
OF the Corporation Counsel II he decides that
there is ground for them an Assistant Corpora-
ton Counsel will take them before the Appelate
Division and ask for date TO be set for hear
ing. When this hearing is granted and the argu-
ments are heard, decision will be made which
will be final
Magistrate Pool seen at his home in the
Monticello. No. 26I West Seventy y-ninth-st last
night. He had been shown a copy of the
charges brought against him by William Nc
Arthur
Il deny them ALL collectively and separately
he said II understand there thirty four
specific instances where this Macarthur claims l
have erred. deny them ALL There is one
thing. however. that l will not deny. In his
Whereas he says that | unfit for the
position Of city magistrate. AS he has made
this assertion his own responsibility and
Judgment. / will not deny it, He probably
knows as we'll as do whether l am fit for the
position
Il am ready at all times to answer anv
charges that may be brought against me- In
fact think the real reason why these charges
have been brought Is that | am too persistent
in taking the side of some OF those poor wretches
who prisoners, against several of the men
who act as leeches around the various district
courts. / again deny emphatcally all tha
charges collectively and individuality