The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-17
DISPENSING JUSTICE m QUIET
BUTTS, THE NEW MAGISTRATE,
HAS MS OWN WAYS.

The Bridge OF the west Side Court Reserved
Exclusively for Those Having business
There-SOIIcItIng by Lawyers stopped
Hut Business Proceeded very slowly.
Lawyers. runners. policemen. clerks.
sightseeing visitors and every one else
in the West Side police court yesterday
morning got the surprise e. their lives
when Magistrate Arthur C. E0tts, recently
! appointed. took the bench for tn first time.
The West Side court has always been
! considered the quietest in the city, but on
Saturday. when Magistrate Butts sat along
side Of Magistrate Harris to get ideas,
he formed the opinion that there existed
a state of pandemonium.
Just wait until | get up here and | will
fix all this" said the Magistrate to himself.
Yesterday lie did.
Lieut.. Meehan. who is in charge of the
court squad. was instructed to have the
space inside the rail cleared and TO see
that no lawyers got inside unless they
had a case ready for immediate trial. Tie
space was cleared.
The lawyers who had had the privilege
Of coming inside looked at one another.
then at the lieutenant, There was nothing
doing.
Presently there was a knock on the door,
a knock that told of the coming Of the
Magistrate, and his Honor in his long black
silk gown swept in and too his seat. He
adjusted his glasses with the air Of a SUI
preme Court Justice, cleared his throat
and settled himself in his chair. The silence
that followed was like that OF the cata-
combs.
The Court then announced that certain
rules would be observed as long as he sat.
and the Court proceeded to let the rules
be known.
No more should there be a long line Of
prisoners and policemen in the court room
awaiting opportunity to g ct before the court;
no more should there be a mob of men
pushing and j~ostling on the bridge and on
the steps leading up TO the de SIX where
the clerks we're wont to take com plants
or refuse to take them: no more should
lawyers speak with prospective clients.
The bridge was to remain sacred TO the
occupancy of the bridge policeman, the
policeman or the citizen making. the COM
plant, the lawyer. if there should be one,
and TO one witness at the time. When
complaints were to be taken the policeman
and the prisoner were to retire TO the room
heretofore set aside for the deliberations
OF the Board OF City Magistrates, where
they would find clerks awaiting them.
After the complaints had been made the
prisoners were TO be taken again into the
corridor leading from the prison and there
to remain until the case was called.
On the left OF the Magistrate was a big
horseshoe la OF daisies, sweet peas
and red and white roses.
1T may be good luck for him. but il means
hell for us" whispered one lawyer to an
other. He was right, for during the entire
DAYS session. and il was a long one. lasting
until far in the afternoon, there was only
one lawyer on the bridge at one time.
Ordinarily on Sundays, with a hundred
or so prisoners. the business OF the court
is finished by II ~ A. NJ. In the West Side
OF yesterday there were less than a hun
dred prisoners, but il was 1855 2 NJ. when
the doors were closed.
Policemen who had come into court al
So hoping at the latest to get away by noon
were hungry and sore, and after il was all
over the janitor looked at the mess the
cigar ashes and matches had made of the
Board OF Magistrates room, which last
week was overhauled at considerable eN-
pense, and wondered what Magistrate
Whitman would think Of him as a ~jahitor.
1t was admitted yesterday that there
was less noise in the West Side court than
there had ever been, also the lawyers adj
mitted that they had made less money than
on any day in their lives West Side law
yers have sold their yachts and automo-
biles within the last few months since
Capts. O'Brien, DAILY and Grant have closed
things so tightly in what was at one time
called the New Tenderloin, but now they
are wondering il they won't nave to give
up their apartments and go to live in tene-
ment houses.