The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-19
NEW MAGISTRATES new PLAN.
BUTTS OVERTURNS THE POLICE
COURT PROCEDURE.
Complaints That His System. Where Each
case Is Heard Separately. Clogs Justice
Poor Have q Right % BE Heard, So
He sau-Llne OF Prisoners Abolished.

Poor Have . HlBnI 70 ne Heard, 30
He say Line OF Prisoners Abolished.
In the three days in which he has been
81 ting in the West Side police court Mag
istrate Arthur G. Butts has so overturned
The methods Of police court procedure and
unset traditions that a conference Of the
entire board has been called for this after
noon to see what is to be done about II.
Lawyers and others having business in the
Vest Side court bombarded Magistrate
Whitman, president Of the board. with
complaints on Monday and yesterday.
With Magistrate Harris President Whit
man visited the court yesterday morning.
The complaints continued to come in, and
after a conference with half a dozen OF his
colleagues he decided to call the Magistrates
together to-day to labor with Magistrate
Butts and also to make some pronounce
ment by the board. The city Charter pro-
vides that the board shall make rules as
10 the conduct of the courts, which shall
have the force and effect Of law.
The great trouble is over the issue Of
eummonsee. The code OF criminal pro-
,Cedure does not authorize them and they
lhave no legal standing in court matters.
They are simply polite requests to a per-
son to come to court because somebody
has made complaint against him and save
the police the u Of going after him,
and also to saw him the humiliation Of
being arrested. Magistrate Butts has re-
fused to issue these invitations to come to
court, On the bench yesterday, when he
was asked for one, he denounced the GUS
Iom as an outrage and said that the sum
monses had been used "for barter and sale"
end that in his court he proposed to stop il.
II has been the custom Of the Magistrates
50 issue hundreds of these summonses,
especially to the Health and Tenement
House Departments, for petty infractions
Of law, to the Board OF Education for
iruancy cases and to the s. P. C. A.
5or cruelty TO animals. In speaking Of
the matter yesterday Magistrate Whitman
eaid;
These summonsea are the most useful
things in our police court procedure. Their
object is TO save needless incarceration.
They are humane and are in the interest
of the people. | do not desire TO ~criticise
a colleague. but / nave had so many com-
plants that l ave deemed it wise to ask
the board to meet TO talk the matter over
in open meeting.
Il have no hesitation in saying that the
Rummonses are the best feature Of our
entire proceedings. 1t is true that the
criminal Code does not authorize them.
Neither does it prohibit them. There is no
law against asking a man to come 10 court
and thus save him the modification Of being
locked up. That is all it amounts to. Some
Of the cases. like blocking fire escapes,
violating the tenement house laws and
the like are 30 light in character that we
do not want TO make arrests for them. In
hundreds OF them a mere caution il all that
IL needed in the We of punishment. We
ought not TO lock up people, take their
pedigrees as criminals and all that in such
eases. We don't want to send a policeman.
for example, to arrest and lock up q mother
Tor not sending her boy TO school. IL we
should issue warrants in every complaint
II would a X scores more Oh poucemen
20 man the courts, ] feel that the Board
Of Magistrates should take cognlZance
Of the situation andGI hope Magistrate
Butts. finding himself in a minority. will |
see things in a different way"
Magistrate Cornell agreed with Magistrate
Whitman, and so did Magistrate Harris.
Other Magistrates ~telephoned To Magistrate
Whitman and the result was the call for
to-day's conference.
Magistrate Butts has banished an the
CLERKS Ssam behind the desk except the
chief clerk. KSonelly. who has to take the
fines and keep the records. He has made
The clerks go into a back room, the meeting
place Of the board, which has Just been reno
waited and which has been nearly wrecked
in three days. He keeps the prisoners back
IN the hallway to the cell corridor and he has
only one brought out at a time. He allows
the lawyers inside the gate. but keeps them
sitting on a bench. The reporters are not
allowed within earshot Of the cases. The
Magistrate banished babies from court on
Monday but yesterday he relaxed, and
women who had business there and had TO
bring their babies to court were allowed to
stay, provided the babies made no noise.
In the back roo where the clerks now
draw up the complaints there was great
confusion.
My child is sick at home. Hear my case"
shouted one. We are expecting a new baby
at our house. Hurry with mine" said an
other. There's nobody at home to look
after my baby said another. The result
was that it was a babel and the clerks were
distracted. Lawyers h called to see
papers were told that they must 60 to the
chief clerk back of the desk and they went
tlptoeing behind the Magistrate There
was no doubt about it, the court room was
orderly.
Hearing the cases in this way causes
great delay. A long line Of prisoners is
kept standing in a stuffy corridor for hours.
One case yesterday illustrated the delay.
W. L. Parker, a chauffeur, was arrested
on Saturday night by Policeman Guilty
ior overspeedinR. His house had been
robbed and he was hurrying to put his
machine ava 30 as TO get home. He
was locked up three hours on Saturday
night in the West Forty-seventh street
station before he got a bondsman. The
ease came before Magistrate Butts on
Sunday morning. He put il off until all
The prisoners cases had been disposed of,
II was adjourned at 2l5 P. NJ. until Monday
Rft ernoon.
On Monday when S O'Clock was reached
tho Magistrate was tired and said TO come
around the next afternoon. The case
was sent 10 Special Sessions and il was
not until I o'clock yesterday afternoon
that bond was taken in the case for a hear
ing downtown. The policeman, Parker
and his bondsman were kept in court parts
OF three days.
Another case was that OF Charles L.
scholes, said to nave been president Of the
chemical trust for some time. He was
arrested on Sunday for overspeeding and
was locked up in the court pen for three
hours while waiting for a bondsman. His
chauffeur finally got security and Mr..
Scholes was allowed TO 60. Another case
vas that Of a pedler who had not brought !
his license to court. The fine is usually !
81. The MAGISTRATE locked the man up