The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-03-18
TEN MONTHS FOR BAD WORDS.
JUSTICE kEADY'S SENTENCE
RECKONED VERY SEVERE.
The words Used BY the Two women whom
He Sentenced were Offensive, u
Asserted, Not Only on Account OF Pro-
family. but Also on Account OF Ni'eness


ue sentenced were offensive, II Is
Asserted, Not Only on Account OF Pro-
family. but Also on Account OF Viieness
II YOU don't want to be sent to the peni-
Tertiary for ten months or a year you
better not get arrested in Brooklyn Tor
using profane or obscene language on the
street. II you should happen TO get hauled
up on such q charge in that borough you d
be tried In the Court OF Special Sessions.
Second Division, and the fate OF Maggie
Morris and Lizzie Heyser who were SEN
fenced by Justice Ready OF that court on
Monday to ten months in the penitentiary
for cussing each other and calling each
other yilenames may be yours. II wasn't
Justice Keady's fault that the women didn
get a year apiece. He wanted to give them
. year, but his colleagues, Justices Fleming
and Fitzgerald, wouldn't consent, and so
a compromise on ten months was agreed to.
The detectives who arrested the women
up in Eastern Parkway swore that they
were not what might be called real ladies
and that the vileness Of their epithets dis
turbed the pe ace of the neighborhood. The
Morris woman pleaded guilty. thinking to
get OF with a nominal sentence. The
Heyser woman stood trial. took the stand
in her own defence and said she might have
called Mrs. Morris some Of the names spt ci-
fed In the complaint but Mrs. Morris used
the names first and that so angered Mrs.
Heyser that she quite forgot heref. Where
upon Justice Kt ady sentenced both women
to the penite ntiary term agreed % by him
and his ass ociates.
Some reports have It that Mrs. Heyser
fa,p see
any fits, but some Of the lawyers In the
court room came near having apoplexy
when they realized the severity OF the sen-
tence So far as many old Brooklyn law
yers could recall yesterday, such a sentence
Tor such an offence was never handed out
In Kings county before. One lawyer, a
high county official, remarked
IF that is the punishment to be lifted
to that sort OF crime, know good many
persons, accounted highly respectable who,
into q temper would spend good part Of
the time in the pentientiary.
Justice Ready was asked last evening
how the sentence happened to be so So
we're. He said II you could see the
complaint and see the names these women
wouldn't ask the question. IL wasn't
for the profanity. but for the vile langiag &c
they used that they were sentenced. Every
passerby was shocked The peace oil the
neighbOrhOOd was Olstm Deu. ~ HlSn
time that the ears Of decent people should
not be offended by vile language on the
street. Do We want q Tenderloin over
here in BROOKLYN think not What
are we to do then' Make an example of
offenders of this class. But we didn't give
these women the limit. We might have
given them a year and $500 fine, each 20
stand committed until the fine was paid
But we didn't do that. We gave them only
ten months apiece.
There is no provision in the Penal Code
dealing specifically with profanity or OBJ
scene language. There Is. however, in
Section SIS, relating to disorderly con-
duct on public conveyances, a sort OF omni-
bus clause, which provides that "a person
who wilfully and wrongfully commits any
ect which seriously Injuries the person or
property of another. or which seriously
disturbs or endangers the public peace OF
health. or. which openly outra9es public
decency. for which no other punishment
Is expressly prescribed by this code. Is
guilty Of misdemeanor.' This clause
gives pretty wide discretion to Magistrate
and il was probably under this section oil
the code that the women were sentenced.