The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-25
BOTH ENCH ANDBAR
ATTORNEYS N"GOOD STANDING
SHARE THE PROSTITUTES WAGE,
Police. wa 700 Many Jucg es Asserting. Sec
That Collections Are Made-NO MAJ or
Woman with a Dollar sure Of Escaping
y Win d our Of Police Court Tran.

Woman with a Dollar sure OF Escaping
with o. out Of Police Court Trap,
An Indicate q OF what can be done in clean
ing up the poh pe courts OF the town 10 to be
had at present in the West Side court, Only
two weeks ago Police Commissioners Bing-
ham dismissed the entire court squad there
because II was sh own that the police ran
the court to the financial profit OF the
McManus clan. For several days the clan
practically disappeared from the court
Occasionally some of them have come back
since, but now their attorneys and bonds
men take their chances in getting cases
and are no longer recipients Of special favor.
The policemen who were assigned to the
West Side court about two years ago were
sent there by the continuance Of the
McManus faction. They know why they
were put on duty in the court and they saw
70 10 that certain attorneys got the gases and
certain bondsmen were accnpted by the
Court. Good Magistrates and bad Magis-
trates alike were IN their grasp, 80 far as
the routine Of the court was concerned.
The police went so far as to admit the
McManus lawyers IN the cells in the morn
ing before the MagLStrate arrived and to
refuse to allow other attorneys a similar
privilege. BY cooperu1in ing with the clerks
and by inducing fellow policemen 10 have
bad memories when the proper considcra-
ton had been produced the police squad
excepting about three mem saw TO it
that the McMams clan was enriched and
that they themselves did not lack for extra
spending money.
II was a clear case of the demoras ization
of a police court in the interest of politics.
The system in vogue in other courts whereby
ATTORNEYS stand in with the policemen for
securing them clients and divide the fee
did NOT prevail in the West Side court. The
system was refined to a further degree,
through politics, OF securing the cream for
the followers Of a political district leader.
The police had soft jobs in court and got
some OF the cream, and they were always
dligent in behalf Of their real bossss.
The responsibility Of the Magistrates for
these conditions in court is Indirect. Where
aMagistrate Is also a political leader he finds
10 difficult to see anything wrong in secur-
ing favors for politicians. Who're he has
been appointed solely for political reasons
he is likewise obtuse. Where he iB a high
minded Judge he finds himself tied up, by
reason Of the fact that he cannot SOC or
hear all that is going on in his court and
has as much as he can attend to in hearing
the cases Immediately before him. II the
klhuc OIA bl uClACC hdS OSNhA AAAN
through coIlusioh it is almost impossible
for him to detect il. If certain lawyers get
the privileges of the court TO the exclusion
Of Others he can only conjecture it by the
fact that certain lawyers get certain cases
all the time.
And yet when certain Magistrates sit
there is always a lean time for police court
Magistrates Barlow or Whitman or Cornell
say to a poor woman, for example, who has
applied TO the court for q warrant or sum
mons to force a bad husband TO support
her and her family:
MADAM, it isn't necessary for you TO
hire a lawyer. 1t is the Courts business
20 look out for your interests. Don't pay
out. money that you need for the neces-
saries Of lfe."-
In this way the profits Of the attorneys
and police who pluck the unfortunate are
reduced when these Magistrates are sitting
N court. One almost never hears a political
Magistrate make any such suggestion.
A typical case. will show the length TO
which this system Of plucking the unfor-
tInate has extended. Two weeks ago
there came before. one of the Magistrates
a case where the Magistrate was to decide
whether g laborer shoul pay his wife 81
of So a week for her support. He earned
about $40 a week. There was no surprise
manifested in court by either Magistrate
or that each side had a lawyer.
How could such people pay for attorneys?
The husband was asked to pay so for
4 lawyer, and an intimation was given
him that II he didn't he certainly would
and had about 50 in his pockets. The
lawyer finally reduced his price to $40,
md the man borrowed the extra money
he needed from a relative who had a couple
OF dollars with him.
The woman was forlon, emaciated and 4
~ clothed and seemed almost on the verge !
o. starvation. She testified that certain
acquaintance had given her her meals
and ahaffnr tnnannYn-iN, Nk0<N AiI che |
get money to hire a lawyer? She testified
that she was without a cent. The absence
a. a wedding ring from her finger was the
answer to that question.
Neither husband nor wife should have
been compelled TO hire a lawyer. The
one expended In that way was required
Tor the actual necessaries Of life. A Magis-
rate with the proper appreciation of his
DUTY. would see to it that no such taxation
should be placed on the administration OF q
sifnple case in his court.
To mention Magistrate Cornell again,
y H. distinctly noticeable. that when no
sits In court the proceedings are not pro-
longed beyond reasonable limits by the
tnterminable eloquence OF some attorney
trying to convince his client that II the
awe had not been engaged the culprit
would probably have gone to States prison
for life. The lawyers are afraid to triie
With the time of a Magistrate who has no
patience with huInbug, especially the crude
ht1mbug that certain lawyers Use.
Still, the lawyers are on the Job every
minute and in all the leading courts. Any
. person wearing good clothes Is approached,
cajoled, threatened, frightened, il neces-
sary, into hiring them. Raids on dis
orderly houses. where there is little prospecs
that those arrested will be held, are especi-
ally productive Of profit. Small gamblers,
women OF the street and even well known
plckpockets also furnish grist TO the mill.
These are always arrested when. certain
MaSistrates are sitting in a court where
these offenders will be arraigned. The
arrests are made to furnish cases for
lawyers and TO provide graft for bonds
men and policemen.
The police keep track Of the places where
the MAGISTRATES st and govern their actions
accordingly. An upright, Judge. with
real kindness in his heart toward the
unfortunate, can always shoe a lot OF these
men from his court. For example now
That certain Magistrates are sending street
women 10 the workhouse when the case
against them is proved the police cease 10
Arrest these women. They do not want the
women sent 10 the workhouae; tney want
them on the street, earning money for
lawyers, bondsEnel and police.
II q Magistrate sends as many a. A dozen
of these women 10 the WnrkhnuAa tho 1aIs-o