The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-01
AcTs 40 ASSIGNEE

iegaiiy and the court attendants make
sure that the reporters pay particular at
eention to the case. An air Of great soIem-
nifty takes possession Of the noisy court and
for the time being wen the rabbIe Is hushed
into silence by the officials Of the court.
The Magistrate dwells upon the importance
OF the legal points. asks for briefs and in .
few days hands down a learned decision.
IT lawyers on each side usually take q
copy OF the decision, the losers often re-
luctantly because they have to pay a heavy
fee to the court stenographer for 1t, but
all hands usually compliment the learned
Judge on his wise and far reaching decision.
The Magistrate naturally Ia grateful for
the com~nendation, looks into the future.
and there are those who say he sees that
Supreme Court nomination coming nearer
and nearer all the time. The reporters
always get copies Of these decisions, con-
trary to the rule for the attorneys in the
case, gratis.
An instance Of the way the political game
has had its effect upon the procedure Of
Magistrate Wahle's police court methods
occurred on September 10 last. Mayor
Mcclellan had returned from Europe and
- Q ~ NAAah ~ SOiAlAAlAbbAOhCA rSO 90
M. Walgrove Of The Bronx had become
active perniciously, in the Mayors estims-
ton, in politics, and summarily removed
him. Walgrove is a Haffen worker and &c
is Wahle. Although the law requires a
Magistrate to open court at o A.. NJ. so
concerned was Magistrate Wahle with GER
tain interests on that day that he did not
take his seat In court until o:5S. He was
ttxnal m 30 hsa uuArL - that H. ~. So
Sun reporters. He sat until II A. M. just
one o and five minutes. when he left
the bench until 1880. Then he returned
and sat until 1915. The customary recess
is from IL to 2. Il was 2:65 o'clock
when Magistrate Wahle found time to at
tend again to the routine business OF open
court and after answering half a dozen
telephone calls, each requiring from two
to Ave minutes, he closed court at 4O6 p. M
There was not a time during the sessions OF
the cour when there were not either pris-
oners waiting to be arraigned before him or
persons waiting to present other business
for his consideration.
Il IL a matter Of common knowledge in
court that Magistrate Wahle has a large
correspondence Frequently he gets from
ten to twenty letters a day. and the police
often complain because they have TO wait
for him to read his letters. and more than
one attorney has growled because the
Magistrate has been considering his mail
while a oase is being heard.
As to Magistrate Walsh's political activity,
are heard openly that excise
cases are almost invariably thrown out
of his court. He was made q district leader
by Charles F. Murphy early in the fall by q
rump meeting OF the old district
and while he was on the bench.
accepted the place and made a brisk
primary campaign. In the campaign he
made a bitter political speech from the bench.
the police with working against
and declaring that they were grating
poolrooms. He never made any
Official charges against the police. He il
as an able mar and has served
as an Assistant District Attorney in two
administrations He has also beer elected
to Congress, but no one has ever known him
to refuse to do a favor for Tammany Hall
the police bench that he could possibly
do. His district captains in many cases
are saloon keepers and the police AVE
practically ceased to bring excise cases
him.
And so the aspirations OF the Tammany
run. Moss, il is known, thinks
that some day he will be elevated TO the
General Sessions bench. Sweetser has also
aspirations. Breen, with an Irish
mans love OF quaint humor and homely
methods OF dispensing Justice, hopes he will
get the Murphy attention focused on his
Mayo, Southern gentleman
amenable to no influences except those
Of politics, and sometimes not then, hopes
for preferment, and ever Finelite, a new APP
pointment INC with only a short time to /
serve, has confessed TO a hope that his
record might lead TO an election to higher
All through the police court work OF
the Tammany Judges appear the outorop-
pings OF their ambitions for nominations
higher judicial places. So marked is this
that at the recent monthly Magistrates
in the West Side court a suggestion
made that a trifiing matter before the
court should 90 over TO the NEXT monthly
meeting. Magistrate Wahle, who is presi-
lent Of the board, said:
There won't be any regular meeting
next time"
sHow do you know" innocently asked
Magistrate Mayo, who had not formed any
plans Of going to the Buffalo convention.
well, there won be any quorum, y said
Magistrate Wahle, FOR a large number OF us
ire going to the party, conventions. which
meant that most of the Tammany Judges
we're going to Buffalo. as they did. No
Republican Magistrates attended the Sara
,oga convention. 1t was largely the politi-
,al conditions that obtain in the magis-
,erial courts which inspired the Rev. Dud-
ey O. Osterheld OF the Methodist Episcopal
Church 70 say in his pulpit in Ozone Park
THE political bias OF our police Magis-
rates il a great encouragement to crime.
The murderer, the thief, the liar gets a
before some Magistrates quicker
han a respectable and worthy citizen.
must be something back OF the oon-
luct Of our Magistrates I'M just what it is
to be discovered and exposed. 1t
SENS as II the only duty OF certain Magis-
rates was to protect criminals Of a certain
Woman In Trousers Suspected Of Arson.
GREENWICH, Conn, Sept. SO.-The Green