Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-12-24


much art IN the police court. Every.
! thing seems TO be hard and unlovely
There are no cushions on the benches
ana no elegantly carved ceilings OF
| richly decorated frescoes. The chan
| deliers are usually heavy and Of for.
! bidding aspect. | do not know why
| there should be the absence Of art.
| should think a picture or two and a
few artistic colors on the walls would
not interfere with the administration
OF justice and might be blessing to
many a man who has been In some
sense, perhaps criminaIzed BY the
things hard and uniovely about him.
BETTER HEADQUARTERS.
II have the opinion that the au-
thoriues Of this city might do a good
thlng, al least for the reputation Of
the city, by improving the room In
which Justice Is daily dispensed by the
city Judge. IN fact. believe a move
ment ought TO be set on foot soon
for better and more elaborate police
headquarters. have not heard any
citizen pointing with pride lately TO
the building I'm which the police head
quarters are located. Lately | have
spent several hours in the morning
police court Of the city. There is not
much expensive furniture In the court
room The benches are hard and
sun and the seats uncushioned. A
feneed enclosure holds two or three
tables, chairs and sort Of terraced
box IN which group OF officers OF the
law SIT. In front, upon a platform. Is
a high desk, behind which the Judge
sits. AZ his left Is a witness chair
Police reporters, clerks, attorneys
prisoners and interested parties oc-
cupy the space within the enclosure.
INTERESTING PROCEEDINGS.
THE proceedings are full Of in
terest The hard bench Is crowded with
the men 20 be arraigned, who have
been picked up for divers offenses.
What is back Of each man? Bring
the Imagination into play. Go back to
q happy home scene. Thirty years be-
fore a mother sung a lullaby TO the
bonnie blue-eyed lad on her bosom.
She watched him In the after days
and after years and wrought for him
and prayed for him. The serpent
came and tempta ton and sin. The lad
was drawn by evil companions away
from that which was good and true.
He did not have the stuff in him which
1t Is that same lad IN the police
court today. or. perhahps, the picture
Is made up OF different color. The lads
surroundings were hard and unlovely.
lie may have had a drunken father or
parents who cared nothing for his de-
velopment, who simply let him do as he
pleased, when he was out, and who
'cussed' him when he was within. He
Is here In the police court. The clerk
reads the names of two OF them.
Stand up. You are charged In this
complaint with vagrancy. Are you
guilty or not guilty?' Usually there is
but the one answer to case of this
kind. You are not supposed to sleep
In the saloons. n you get drunk you
may go home and exhibit your beastly
self to wife or TO children. II had the
power ! would change that law so that
the proprietor of the saloon who made
another man drunk should be Obliged
to furnish the man bed and board until
he sobered up. The sentence OF the
court Is that you pay fine of $40 or In
lieu thereof be confined in the city Jail
for 10 days
John Blank reads the clerk. You
are charged in this complaint with be-
ing drunk and disorderly' John listens
TO the complaint His head is bowed,
his cap twirls on his finger For a mo-
ment he seems absorbed in reverle. He
is awakened by the voice Of the Judge,
Are you guilty or not guilty7'
at do not know he replies. L feel
as though had been drunk
TYPES OF CASES.
"He looked as though he felt that he
had been drunk, and he looked as
though he had been drunk, too. Per-
haps he did not know Just what he
said and he wondered why everybody
laughed when he said It. Some rare
flashes of wit are often heard In the
police court. An old man was hauled
before a magistrate for stealing chick
ems and the latter said sternly to him.
You are charged with robbing hen
roosts. Have you any witnesses2 The
veteran smiled calmly as he replied.
No, sir, In my country we don't rob
hen roosts before witnesses.
Again the clerk stands to read. Mrs |
-- is charged with creating a disturb
,nce The officer says she has been |
here before and Is an old offender. The /
circumstances to drug
habit. She pleaded to be let go this |
time, and got as her answer Thirty |
lays In the city Jail, so you can get /
medical treatment The next charge Is !
against a man OF raising a disturb |
lnce. He Is on the verge Of dellrium /
.remens. or was. and stands up TO plead 4
not guilty He seems to be familiar /
with court procedure and | make In
luiries about him, only TO find he has
,bility and skill. and was once n lead
ng attorney I'm the SOUTH then a Judge 4
IN the district bench and later poll
ician of power. Now he Is wreck
N the verge of delirium tremens. His
rame IL bent and the lines in his coun-
enance are deep ana ugly. Dissipation
$ stamped on his whole being and dis
,ase has fastened upon him. induced
W his convivial habits. Pity seizes
me as he looks upon him. There are
lot so many years between this man
m the bench and the common bum at
he bar Of the police court, The descent
las been rapid and the life fast. Tho
,enalty is sure. Stunned by friends,
Ie Is desplsed by those who know him,
tanned by the society which once ac-
his abilities
"The moral of Il all. The wages Of
In is death The Bible says t. Dante
h his Inferno Christopher Marlowe IN
Dr. Faustus;' Milton In Paradise
,ost:' Byron in his Cain George Eliot
n 'Romola, and Hall Game IN the
Nanxman' all say Il. Experience and
lie prove II. The lost shrek II forth,
nd in its law the universe thunders II
81, i1rl,a tga COS Of ain II danth hut tho