The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-11
SVEETSER'S BILL FOR CLOTHES
JUDGMENT AGAINST MAGISTRATE
rs TEN YEARS OLD.

A0CTe IL n Um OF LhllOTh III Juls NOWh
which IL puzzled TO know why q city Magts-
trate, whose salary by law is $1,000 a year.
cannot pay a balance Of tlS4.S6 on a judg-
ment for Sl59.35, obtained nearly ten years
ago. The tailor firm 10 ParsonS a Wal
lander Of $50 Fifth avenue. The Magis-
trate IL William A. Sweetser, h was
once before the police courts In connection
Will the charges OF extortion made by
Samuel e. Keller, growing out Of the Dean
bucket shop failure, and who also figured
oonsplcuously in certain phases OF the
DodGe-Morse scandal.
Magistrate Sweetser Is not the Magis-
trate whose l. o.. Us. and N. @. checks
are circulating freely about town, but
the tailoring firm to whom he owes money
for clothes are wishing that there was
some rule Of discipline adopted by the
Board Of Magistrates, such as exists in
the Police Department, whereby a city
employee may be made to pay his debts
or take the consequences.
The reason for this is that by a tangle
in procedure, growing out Of the unwill-
ingness of a city court Judge to proceed
against Sweetser, and the unwillingness
of a Supreme Court Justice to mandamus
the city court Justice to do his duty, the
Judgment has fallen by the wayside, 80 far
as ordinary attachment proceedings go
to collect the debt, and no course now seems
open except to hope that some day Magis-
trate Sweetser will settle Of his own accord
out of his $1,000 salary.
Sweetser used to be an assistant to the
Corporation Counsel and had many friends
in and about the County Court House.
On March o. 1897, Parsons & Wallander,
the firm being composed OF Truman Parsons.
James Scarlet and Adolph W. Wallander,
obtained Judgment in the City Court for q
bill for clothing amounting to sos. The
costs and incidentals brought the judg-
ment up to $3.50 IS, on which Sweetser in
the nine and one-half years that elapsed
has paid SIS,
When the Judgment creditors found that
they could not collect the Judgment against
Sweetser their lawyer, Stephen b. Brague,
got out an execution against his property.
The Sheriff returned the execution I'M
satisfied. reporting that he had found
nothing on which n levy could be made.
Sweetser at that time had an office at Al
Park row.
Following the execution Mr.. BraHue,
who was being assured by Sweetser in
correspondence that the matter would he
| attended to fully "a soon as possible,
applied to Robert A. Van Wyck. then Chief
Justice Of the City Court. for an order di-
recting Sweetser to appear for examination
in supplementary proceedings. The order
was granted and Sweetser did appear but
he pleaded for time, and the examination
was adjourned again and again, until at
last Bra1ue's patience was exhausted
| On one adjourned day, April 10, 1898, a year
and a month after the judgment had been
obtained, Sweetser did not appear and his
default was noted. Then Brsgue, who had
felt reluctant to drag into the public view
a brother LAWYERS failure to pay a tailor
bill, demanded from Sweetser an imme-
date settlement. Sweetser failed to pay,
and was told that he must meet the in
evitable consequences.
Brague ook no open action till after the
summer vacation. In October he went
before Justice w. NJ. K. Olcott in the City
Court and got an order directing William
A. Sweetser to appear and show cause why
an attachment should not issue against his
person because of his failure TO obey the
former order of the court directing him
to appear for examination in supplementary
proceedings. This order Of Justice Olcott's
was served on Sweetscr and was ignored.
On the return day Mr.. BraRuc had this
second default noted, and then drew up
the necessary papers for an attachment.
SwPetser's counsel pleaded to the court
that he had been unable 70 appear on the
return day because of illness. But as no
action was taken by Sweetser TO reopen
the default Mr.. Brague submitted his attach
ment papers To Chief Justice Fitzsimons.
II is the ordinary prectice for such papers
TO be signed as a matter Of course and
indorsed on the back by the Judge to whom
they are presented. Following this ordinary
procedure Justice Fitzsimons appended his
signature to the attachment papers, but
for some reason, POSSIBLY a rush of business
on that day. forgot to indorse them. The
next day Mr.. Bra que drew this to the Chief
Justices attention and asked him TO make
the usual Endorsement, directing the Sheriff
10 keep Sweetser in custody until he should
furnish 800 bail.
Justice Fit zsimons looked at the body
of the attachment when his attention was
called to the paper and was surprised to
see that it contained the name Of William
A. Sweetser. His face flushed r little and
he asked abruptly why the proceedings
had been delayed since the preceding
! April. Mr.. BragIe started to explain that
he had wanted to be AS lenient as possible
with Sweetser, and the Justice deliberately
drew his pen through Sweetser's name and
tossed the paper. which he had already
signed, back to Brague. Tn later pro-
tested. but Justice Fitzsimons declined to
listen TO him, declaring that he would sign
no paper that would bring Sweetser into
protested the angrier the Justice became,
and he finally ordered Brague away, telling
him that he might go to Justice Conlan
if he chose. Justice Conlan had noted the
Sweetser default.
Under the law Brague could not apply
to any other Justice for relief. because It
IL an essential part Of such applications
hat the applicant must affirm that no
similar application has been made previ-
ously to the Court. Brague thereupon was
compelled to make application to a Su-
preme Court Justice for a mandamus COM
polling Chief Justice Fitzsimons to issue
the attachment. It is a rare proceeding to
ask one Judge to order another to do his
duty. Bragle applied to Justice Leslie
W. Russell, from up the State and then
sitting in this division by designation of
the Governor. Friendly relations existed
between the two Justices, and Justice Rus
sell was reluctant to issue the mandamus.
He said il was most unusual. Justice Fitz-
simons, as a city Official, was represented
by Charles Blandy Of the Corporation Coun-
sells office, where Sweetser had been en-
ployed. The result was that Justice Rus
sell refused to issue the order. n Brague
and his clients were left high and dry and
without the usual remedies to enforce pay
ment on a judgment which had been
obtained nearly two years before.
The judgment still remains unsatisfed
but the court records show that Sweetser
paid SIS on il several years ago. His salary
7 H. Sa.Iz., koIsawA = .,n g.g.-NI Ill