Sunday morning globe., 1901-12-01
THE Police court.
A Pen Picture Of This Temple Of
Justice.
is NO DREAM, NEITHER
What a Globe Scribe Saw, Heard and Concluded
from a Few Visits 10 the Scott and kimhaIl
Bear Gardens Some Historical Or ChTOnOlOg-
lcaI Information on the Buildings and few
Illustrative Cases from DOcketS Of the Judges

pbdI udIubN0 ouWb UolUllVdl VI gNVhVNb
iua Information on the Buildings and a few
Illustrative Cases from DOOketS Of the Judges
II the readers Of The Globe desire to
witness a play in which tragedy ana
comedy are combined they should visit
the Police Court in this city. The per-
formance is carried on without any in
termission-that is, from day to day,
except on Sunday, and the scenes are
pretty much the same except th', there
are different characters.
To those who are not posted on the
subject it may be well to state that
the Police Court building located at
the corner Of Sixth and d streets
northwest.
The structure was formerly a church
/ but about twenty-five years ago the.
| building was purchased by the United
States Government and changed so that
! it could be used for its present pur-
poses. There are, however, so many
evidences Of antiquity about the place
and nearly all its arrangements are so
much out Of date that the judges every
year ask that Congress- appropriate
money to build a new building,
l In this antiquaited affair two courts
meet each day The presiding judges
| are Messrs. G. +. Scott and 1. G.. Kim
/ ball. At the present time the former
presides over what is termed the Unit
/ ed States branch, where the more i'm
portant cases, such as assaults, lar
| ceny. etc. are heard and in some
/ cases finally determined and the lat
ter over the District branch, where are
| brought such persons as are charged
with being drunk on the street, using
profane language, violating the health
regulations, etc. The judges alternate
with their duties each year and II the
rule which was established last year be
followed as it is understood 1t will be-
Judge Scott will, commencing Janu-
ary /, 1902, take the District branch
which will meet on the first floor, and
Judge Kimball the United States
branch, whose sessions are held on the
second floor.
The hour set for the performance to
begin is $50 a. No., but long before
that hour policemen who have cases
to present to the attention Of the prose
cutting attorney Of the respective
courtbegin to arrive. If the visitor
will 90 into the court room on the first
floor before the hour named he will
be very apt to find from six to a dozen
police officers lounging about on the
benches-some smoking a pipe or a
cigar, while others, it is likely, will be
asleep It is proper to say that this
does not apply to the police officers as
signed to duty at the court, nor any
of the attaches-either clerks, bailins
or deputy marchals.
Arriving at the court building at
any time after 8 o'clock in the morn
ing and remaining there all day until
the "black Maria" starts on its way
with the last load to the Jail or work
house as the prisoner may be con-
signed. the visitor will be sure to meet
Policeman Mike Flynn, a big bodied
big hearted Irishman, who performs
his duties in a remarkably efficient
manner and with such tact that he gen
orally receives the appreciation even of
those whom he is compelled to tell to
move on" 1t is a source Of great re-
gret to Mr.. Flynn, as it is indeed to
many Of the other court officials, that
something cannot be done to break up
the practice which so many mCrbidly
curious people indulge in, of gather
ing about the van as it delivers its load
} of prisoners who have been locked up
for the greater part of the night, and
, gazing at the poor unfortunates as they
are being conducted to the cell room.
AS each one passes him Mr.. Flynn
b hands him or her a ticket which en-
titles the bearer to a sandwich and a
cup Of coffee, which is brought to the
! prisoner little later. The expense of
this is borne by the District, bnt the
J plan was inaugurated by the sugges-
b tion OF Mr.. Flynn and approval OF
Major Richard Sylvester superinten-
) dent Of police. Previous to the intro
duction OF this custom IL frequently
happened that prisoners were without
food or any thing to drink except
water, from the time they we're arrect-
ed until they got to the place they
\ were to serve their term, and this fire.
1uently amounted to 16 hours or
longer,
Connected with the District branch
} OF the police court is bailiff named
Sam Kendig Sam is a dog fancier,
and he has various accomplishments,
prominent among which is grinding
his teeth in a way that resembles that
made by a horse who is a "cribber"
gnawing at his feeding through. He
has often been told by his fellow-court
attaches that his practice is a nuisance
to all about him and he has been ask
ed time without number to break
himself OF the habit. but he has so far
persistently refused to do so. II would
grieve Sam to death for the impression
to get abroad that there was any one
who. is brought to the court for trial
whom he did not know and It is be-
lieved that the instances are not few
when men and even women have been
given longer sentences than otherwise
would have been the case had not Sam
by mistake OF otherwise stated that
the offender had been in court before
and sentenced on previous occasion.
To explain, the judge will sometimes
saw rMr Kendig. It seems to me that
b I have seen this man before. do you
remember him?" And the occasion is
very rare, indeed, when Sam does not
J reply: "Yes. Judge, he was here 80 long