Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-08-02
A DAY IN COURT
English Language Moi Heard in
 a Majority of inc Cases.

During the past few years the char acter of the business in the city court has changed remarkably. Nowadays it is the exception if the English lan- guage prevails in the many cases that are heard every morning. There Is such diversity of tongues spoken in court that several men make good many dollars for interpreting. Some times the Italian language prevails of morning, sometimes It Is Polish, and sometimes again 1t is Lithuanian. These three languages are so fre- quently heard in the cases that come before the court very little attention Is paid to matters in which English is the language used. This is so be- cause they are rattled off with the greatest speed possible. especially if interpreters are to be used in the cases that are to follow.
 This state of affairs has thrown new duty upon the broad shoulders of Doorman Terrence Lynch. When Supt. Beach came into office he creat- ed job for Doorman Lynch. It was to help prisoners from the dock to the witness stand and help them back again, for the average prisoner, no matter how often he has "been there before," seems to prefer to tell his unfortunate story from the shelter of the dock rather than in the glare of the witness stand. But this is not the order of things, hence Doorman Lynchs' usefulness.
 For instance, prisoner begins to declare his innocence from the dock and Doorman Lynch interrupts him thus:
 Take the stand Jun. Step this way"
 So "Jimv takes the stand and he is still talking when the court has made up his mind about the case and again Doorman Lynch. always awake to his duty, interrupts "Jim's" story thus:
 Come and sit down there,' indi- eating seat in the pen.
 No matter what the nationality is Doorman Lynch knows every one if he has ever had the misfortune to be in court before. And that is where his great usefulness comes in. His knowledge of the prisoners saves lots of time.
 When a prisoner of non-Englisn speaking nationality Is brought in his name is not put on the blotter until he is good and sober" next morn ing. Considerable trouble is exper- fenced with people from eastern Eu- rope. Italian names sound phonetical- ly and they are written as they are pronounced. It Is the accent that bothers. But the names of those who come from eastern Europe give trou- ble to court officials and court repor- ters. the police and Doorman Lynch. It is the doorman's work to distin- guish the prisoners, to tell the Lith- uanian from the Pole and the Prus- sian and the Russian. which means that the ear must be acute to catch the sound of the name. Frequently Prosecutor Meigs dlls out Frank Smith. you are charged with breach of the peace"
 Not move in the dock where Frank Smith" is supposed to be. Then 1t is that Doorman Lynch comes in.
 Hello. Frank" he says. and some- times there is not move among the bunch" But he persists in his Hello, Frank" and finally he deter mines upon an individual and says:
 "Aln't you Frank?" and the man generally responds.
 The other morning man respond cd to the name Frank Wood" and il turned out after he was sentenced that he was not Frank Wood but that he was anxious to have his case over and know his fate. Frank Wood 1t turned out, did not know his name until Doorman Lynch told it to him. He was a Lithuanian and every name in English sounded the same to him.
 And so 1t is almost every morning nowadays, during the past few years.