The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-20

COURT ATTENDANTS CAN'T UN-
DERSTANn HOW HE WAS FOOLED.

Impossible. It Seems to Them. for . stran-
Ger TO Get 10 the Magistrates :
and Hand Him q PM Sup. PRESUME
ably stolen From one or the Clerks.
Diligent efforts to learn the identity of
the man who, Magistrate Sweetser says,
fooled him into signing on election day the
release OF a prisoner sent to the workhouse
the day before by Magistrate Cornell, have
failed to bring any results.
No m in or around the Yorkville police
court can remember seeing any man who
got behind the desk, stood beside the Magis-
trate, the most conspicuous place il. the
court, and pslmed of on the Magistrate
a pink slip, all Allied out. bringing up the
prisoner, who had already been COM
mitted and making the Magistrate think
it was a new case.
It was a matter of much speculation in
the police courts yesterday how a stranger
could have found his way in behind the
Magistrates bench and how any one who
planned to cheat a Magistrate would be
sufficiently brazen. The police courts are
all manned by policemen. There is a man
at every gate and NJ one gets in or out of
the enclosure without being identified.
II is clear that the stranger who fooled
Magistrate Sweetser did not reach the
Magistrates side from in front of the bench.
He might get by the gate on the plea
hat he was a lawyer, but to reach the Mag
istrate's side he would either lave to vault
over the desk or enter a side door leading
to the inner hearing room Of the court
and then pass by a winding passage to the
Magistrates room, directly behind the
desk, 1. m which there is entrance to the
back OF the Magistrates desk and to all
the desks OF the clerks. Any stranger
venturing in there, where the records and
the money from fines are kept, would be
seen at once and would be called to account
There is one other way that n stranger
could get access to the space behind the
Magistrate. He could come in the pack
door three stories below, winding in and
out of a labyrinth Of passages which only
those who know the way can find, and then
reach the Magistrates private room. Then
again in stepping up TO the Magistrate he
would be just as conspicuous as if he had
stolen in through the front way. Every
person familiar with police court affairs
declared yesterday that it would be i'm
possible for a stranger to spprosc Oh the
Magistrate, as Msgistrete Sweetser scys
must have been lone in this case. Behind
the desk with the Magistrate are no less
than ak men. In the court squad Of police
there are six men. Then there is the MGgis-
trate's probation officer. All these keep
their yes on the Magistrate.
Men in the Yorkville court laughed YES
terday at Magistrst e Sweetser's assertion
that he hea ri a voice beside him, did not
look up. and when he was told that il was
e case which Magistrate Cornell hsd already
considered declined 10 look into il further.
There was also some mirth over the Me gis-
trate's assertion that about three minutes
later another request YVES made TO reopen
the case. which he denied without looking
up. The fact that the man who made
the request stood beside him would be
sufficient, IL wds Sid. 10 make any Me- ris-
trate sit up end take notice.
Nor could any one in the court under
stand how il would he possible for a stra niger
TO get one of the pink slip % pers without
running the risk OF detection. The clerks
alone have custody OF these slips and they
alone are supposed to be Is milisr with
filing up the blanks.
Magistrate Sweetser says he signed the
slip perfunctorily, as he always does when
a clerk places one before him, being COM
PEELED to trust the clerk for its accuracy.
1t is asserted that the slip which Magistrate
Sweetser signed was filed up by some one
who was not a clerk, for the handwriting
on il was not that Of any Of the clerks.
No one in the Yorkville court can under
stand how Magistrate Sweetser could
have imagined IL was a new case, as he con-
tends, in view of the fact that he called I'D
Policeman Bachman. who was the com
planning witness before Magistrate Cornell,
and questioned him about what had taken
place the day before, when Magistrate
Sweetser knew Magistrate Cornell sat in
that court.
The old timers simply shook their heads
and smiled when asked to help throw light
on the mystery. One Of them said:
at might have been; it might have been:
When all the police in a our are stricken
with blindness and when all the clerks 20
70 sleep at their desks on the busiest day
Of the year, election day, n when the
Magistrate is so dazed by the fact that he
has to do all the work himself and can not
even look up to see who Is talking to him
such a thing might occur The man who
dared to do that would dare put on the robe
OF an assistant at a church altar and 90
Though with part OF the services 70 that
he might steal the communion service.
He would hardly be more conspicuous. He
would be holder than any person ever
heard Of before in this city. I can think
OF no one who would dare to be so bold "
Practically the only way that the pink
slip which Magistrate Sweetser signed could
ave been placed before him was by a clerk
or the connivance of a clerk. II a clerk
had anything to do with il he must have
instructed the other man how to fill out the
slip after having given such a slip to him.
In that case there was a conspiracy to
free a prisoner. Of which the Magistrate
was a victim. None OF the clerks will
admit any knowledge OF the matter. They
all say they did not fll out the slip and the
handwriting seems to beGr them out. One
of the things which the Board of Magistrates
will be called upon to investigate Is how a
stranger could get such a slip and if any
clerk was in COlIusion with the culprit.
DONT'S FOR THEATRE GOERS.
In TOulOn They Mustn't Hiss or Disturb