The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-04
CLOUD ON The POLICE COURTS.
APPELLATE DIVISION MAY YET
BE ASKED TO ACT.

and police court methods was cOntlned
largely to the financial operations of one Of
the Magistrates, it is likely that the Bar
Association inquiry, which the Magistrates
themselves have asked for, will TAX a
much larger scope. the Grand Jury
inquiry disclosed has not been made public.
IL is probable that the testimony will be
turned over TO the Bar Association. IL
that organization does not choose 70 take
the matter up the testimony will probably
be presented independently TO the Appel
late Division. IL is expected that at least
one Magistrate will be required to show
that he is not unfit for the bench.
The disclosures of the last few weeks
have made it plain that a state OF corrup-
ton has again arisen in the police courts
Of such a character al to bring them into
the d~isrepute they enjoyed more than a
decade ago. Ii has shown that the appoint
ments of recent years have been of a dis
tinctively lower type than during the Low
administration and that men have been
made Magistrates for political reasons
rather than for fitness. 1t has been shown
that the evils Of obtaining plumber through
certain bondsmen, through the c~onnivance
Of clerks and through favoritism to certain
members Of the bar still exist in an ag-
~gravated form. 1t has brought out that
the famous pickle trust of Essex Market
court is not dead. 1t has teen shown that
the police probation officers, with the ex-
ception of about three, are simply city Wallets
for the Magistrates, and that several Of
these officers are really -wardmen" for the
Magistrates.
The fact has been brought out that one
Magistrate borrowed money from lawyers
practising before him and that they have
had difficulty in getting their money back.
In some cases these lawyers did not try to
get their money. Some of them regarded
checks of a Magistrate marked no funds" at
a fine business asset when they were p~ractis-
ing in the police courts. This same Magis-
trate also borrowed money Of at least one
police court clerk and hat clerk was per-
picked how to get il back. One Of the
Magistrates, il has been shown, was ono
compelled by the Federal court to pay back
afee of 81, 200 in a bankruptcy case TO which
he was not entitled.
II has also been disclosed that another
Magistrate had several judgments filed
against him in the County Clerks Office,
and one result has been that he has fastened
to pay of some of them. 1t has been dis
closed that another of the Magistrates
once figured in bitter family litigation,
his mother declaring hat he cheated her
out Of real estate. But she lost her case.
IL has been made plain that two Of the
Magistrates are Tammany Hall district
leaders and have not been able to see the
impro priety Of a district leader sitting on
the bench. Another of the Magistrates
has admitted that he is "Murphy's man."
and that, with his experience as a Howe 4
Hummel graduate, has been his chief quail
fication for the bench. Another Magis-
trate has not been far removed in family
ties from a city official who. still holds his
job although convicted OF running a pool
room.
1t has been shown that certain Magis-
trates almost never hold prisoners arrested
for violating the liquor tax laws and that
others are very tender with the gamblers,
and that others still seem to regard certain
of the city ordinances as matters to be
disregarded entirely.
One political deal has been stopped.
For a long time there has been a job to
turn Che police out Of these courts and to
substitute in their places 70 ore than 100
court attendants. Ostensiblv these were
to be selected by the Civil Service Com
lnlHSlOn. OGEeFhl men WHO nave DHbstu
examinations for such places and can find
no vacancies to fill were urgent in having
the new system, but the most urgent was
Tammany Hall.
Certain members of the Board OF Magis-
rates denounced the scheme as a political
job in the interest Of Charles F. Murphy.
Three times the members of the Board OF
Magistrates who we're in on the deal tried
to jam 1t through. A majority Of the board
was required and each time the plan failed .
Mall sV-N kAEn-a tAA AAEat@nNaAna For
Supreme Court Justiceships were made
by Charles F. Murphy and the Hearst
coterie recently. what practically amounted
to q snap meeting of the Magistrates was
called. Il was convened within the shortest
possible legal notice The promoters OF
the court attendants scheme thought
they had control at last of the necessary
eight votes. They counted on Magistrate
Breen, a Democrat OF independent pro-
Clivities, to help them out and make the
necessary Ell yht. He remained away from
the meeting. and the next day made il plain
that he would have voted against it had he
been present
Before the meeting was called 10 order
the situation was so grave that Mayor
Mcclellan had to send word privately TO
several of the Magistrates that IL they took
their contemplated action he would per-
sonally present the board before the APP
pel'ate Division for creating offices for which
the Board of Estimate had made no pro-
v lotOhs ~ ANsOAhAAOh ny "hCh AItFr |
Offices were TO be created was worded
ingeniously. Ostensibly il called for a COM
mittee to consult with the Board OF Estimate
about the matter, but really that committee
was not to consult with the board until after
the ate had been appointed. IL is
known that one Of the Magistrates had the
promise from Murphy Of a Supreme Court
Justiceship nomination IL he jammed the
scheme through. II was practically TO he
the price Of the nomination. The Grand
Jury has since been making inquiries as TO
the fitness Of this same Magistrate to occupy
even the Magistrates bench. The political
deal in the scheme approached almost the
condition of a scandal and only the threat
of Mayor Mcclellan and the stand of Magis-
trate Breen prevented the nomination Of a
man whom his own colleagues regard as
unfit for his present place TO that Of the
bench Of the Supreme Court.
The court attendants scheme, II was
declared. would AVE reduced the police
courts to q state OF worse corruption than
has ever existed. These men could be
removed only by vote Of the Magistrates.
With "A corrupt bench their power for
plumber would have been limited only by /,
the number OF victims available. They
would not have been able to keep the order
in the police courts that the police keep.
IL is beyond question that some OF the
Kolrafnnn in thaaa ptar a ara rorrtInf hIIf ,