The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1903-08-27
Total for year passed.

To dispose of these cases thu
court was over six months in ac'
tual trials, leaving at the utmost
only six months to be devoted t.
the remaining five counties in til,
27th judicial district.
The extra term added, during
the last session of the General AS
sembly. went far towards relieving
the congestion Of business, though
coming in the heat and apathy o
summer and forcing upon an al
ready sufficiently occupied court al
additional duty.
At the termination of the May
term OF court, 1903, the docket
was practically cleared up, but
now, only 80 days later. there are
262 cases on the docket. Three
eases for every week day of the in,
tcrvening time.
Many of the cases docketed in
st. Francois county are small and
quickly disposed of, but n large
majority charge crime and these
are invariably long and strongly
contested.
To the already large docket in
st. Francois county, the garnish
ment law, enacted Mt the last ses-
sion of the Legislature, will mate,
rally increase the volume of bust :
ness brought before the court;
which, with the constantly increas-
ing population Of the county, the
construction of new railroads, and
the launching of new commercial
enterprises which naturally follow,
will tend to further increase the
business to be transacted at each
term.
AT present five other counties in
the State enjoy separate judicial
circuit. They are Buchanan, st.
Louis (city,) jackson, Jasper and
Otis. To these might be added
Cape Girardeau, it having n court
of Common Pleas.
The salary Of Circuit Judge,
which is So 900, and the expense,
in criminal cases, are paid out of
the State Treasury; therefore coun-
ties having separate judicial cir
cults are at no greater expense by
reason thereof.
There seems to be a concenseus
of opinion among local attorneys
that the present district is too
large. A representative Of The
TIMES interviewed a number OF
them and obtained the following
statements:
Senator Smith Of the firm of
Smith s. Anthony: THE present
work is too arduous for the pay a
circuit judge receives. Increase
the pay and it would be an incent-
i've to him to work harder"
Walter s. Hensley, ex.Prose-
cutting Attorney of st. Francois
The way business now
stands and has been for the past
four years would seem to justify a
separate judicial circuit for st.
Francois county"
A. j. Abernathy, ex- Prosecut.
ing Attorney st. Francois county:
This county should have a separ-
ate judicial circuit and Judge
constantly within its borders. The
amount of legal business justifies
it,"
,Iere s. Burks. Eyes, I think
n circuit Judge could find sufficient
work to do here; but as to whsth-
er you could convince the Legisla.
ture of that fact is hard question
to answer"
d. l.. Rivers Of Flat River:
There is no doubt in my mind
concerning the question. We
need it. The costs saved to liti-
igants would more than equal the
salary OF the circuit Judge, which
would be paid by the State. The
people in the Lead Belt would well
come it. 1t would do away with
long continuances."
Others thought that this county
and some one other contiguous
county. Madison or Ste. Genevieve
would be a better arrangement
than the present. or than having
st. Francois county a circnit TO-