Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-08
FIND LEGAL HOLIDAY
MOST TEDIOUS TIME
COURTHOUSE HABITUES MISS
THEIR AMUSEMENT
Habit of Attending Trials Is Easily
Acquired, and Murder and Divorce
suits Prove Most At
tractlve

"I think we can prove to the salts
, faction of your honor that by COM
parison of the heads of these two per-
sons marked similarity in their for
nation will be noted, and" argued the
attorney in a divorce suit in the SUI
perior court.
The remarks evidently started vein
of thought in the mind of the bailiff.
"Id be willing to wager something that
! If good phrenologist should wander
around among the crowd of persons In
| the spectators rows he would find
some marked sfinilarities that would
give his science a boost. 1 don't know
exactly where the bump of curiosity
| is located. but there must be collec-
tion of protuberances in that crowd as
thick as warts on toad"
Whether the bumps are there or not
1t is a fact that a large number of
persons have the court house habit. In
the minds of these persons Sunday is
day of unrest. while a holiday is
filled with gloom. Many of them were
disappointed yesterday when they ar
rived at the county building to find the
doors closed against them owing to
the observance of Labor day. The joys
of watching baseball game and other
sports or of attending the prize fight
were lost upon them.
The court house habit is easily ac-
quired. Its inception is had in the Sec
ond hearing of testimony in trial,
preferably a divorce suit or murder
case. The latter always brings forth
the largest number of spectators, but
listening to the former can always be
found, besides the friends of the prin-
cipals, a certain pumber, varying only
slightly who make their appearance
fifteen minutes before the opening OF
court in order to obtain good van
tage point and remain until the ad-
journment.
"Do you see that old man near the
railing?" asked the bailiff. "Well, he
came from the east last year, just be-
fore the Corwell murder case began.
He had a friend in the department
where the case was tried and visited
him the first day of the trial. Since
then he hasn't missed day, and ap-
parently takes as great an interest IN
the proceedings as II ne was TeaIly d
party to them.
'There's another old fellow sitting
right behind him. His sight is affected.
1 believe. He closes one eye and with
his hand doubled up in the shape or a
telescope watches the witnesses
through his partly closed fingers. l
think he has a glass of some KIND.
Great Mems Doubles
throughout the gathering can be
seen faces that would give physiog-
nomist a storehouse of information. NO
body. for instance, would expect to see
Gen. U. S. Grant sitting idly in a court
room, listening to the domestic troubles
of those with whom he has no ac-
ouaintance. Yet there he s1ts-or,
rather, his counterpart In the next
,V-1f hot
miss a single word of the testimony.
sits the prototype of Julias Caesar, ana
a few seats rearward is the furroWeo
countenance of Abraham Lincoln.
New interest is taken in a case When
the features of Mayor Harper are seen
among a half hundred others, but
closer study proves that an entirely
natural mistake has been made: Inc
names of those made famous oy herolc
deeds and contributions TO arr anu
science. or of others the memory OF
whom is linked with crime, are recalled
when one glances over this gathering.
The pleasure they obtain from the
satiating of their curiosity is snort.
lived, like the superficial reading OF
manv stories, new ones croWding out
the memory of the old. With unknoW-
ing glance they pass on the street per
sons who have related the secrets OF d
disrupted nome hdlL ioul 49,
court room is their matinee. The plays
are of a serio-comic variety. They do
not know the actors, nor do they care
to know them. They appreciate with
applauding smiles, but there are no en-
cores-the curtain is always up and
the performance is continuous.
"I get tired of it myself said the
bailiff, "but it is this publicity that
keeps things straight. Even at tnaI