Evening star., 1911-05-27
Machinery of British Justice
Moves Without Friction.
A DAY IN BOW STREET
Rights of Accused Persons Carefully
Guarded by Judge.
CASES ARE NOT NUMEROUS
Intent of London Police Methods Is
Rather to Prevent Crime Than
to Make Arrests.
SPECIAL From a staff Correspondent.

SPECIAL From a staff Correspondent
LONDON. May 10. 1871
Surprises await the inquiring visitor tc
London at every turn. Many preconcep-
tions about this immense town are GER
tain to be dispeiled after few trips into
the places where humanity is In action.
For an instance, one would naturally
suppose that London police court would
furnish a great array Of interesting cases
any day. and that the large army Of the
constabulary SO much In evidence at all
points throughout the metropolis would
produce highly dramatic evidences OF
activity. On the contrary. the police are
not strong on the side Of making arrests.
and in consequence the police courts are
not especially entertaining to the sensa-
tion-seeking tourist. Yet q morning at
the Bow street court the other day. while
dull from one point Of view. gave one a
clear idea Of the workings of the metro
politan machinery of justice and con-
firmed the idea previously conveyed by a
Londoner. that prevention rather than
punishment is regarded as the function of
the police.
Bow street is internationally the best
known of the lesser courts Of London, for
here are heard all extradition cases. 1t
is located in the heart Of a densely popu-
lated section. with many slums within
Its jurisdiction. and hard class of people
as possible defendants at its bar. Still,
on the morning when / went there the
policemen at the door informed me In ad-
vance of the opening that there were only
eight overnight cases on the docket, and
about as many "remands," or cases post
posed from previous sittings of the court
Considering the population of the district
there would in corresponding court in
almost any American city have been at
least twice many new cases as the en-
tire Bow street docket included.
Three Bow Street Justices.
There are three justices who sit at Bow
street. One is the chief of the police
court bench. who sits at Bow street only
on certain occasions. The others alter
nate The justices are always spoken
of as Mr.. Smith, or Mr.. Marshall, -
| never as Judge Smith," or Judge Mar
shall" The day l was there the sitting
dispenser of justice was an elderly man
with the traditional white side whiskers
of John Bull" piercing, deep set eyes
and manner SO deliberate that it took
him all the morning to dispose OF the
cases before him. The other judge. l
was told, Is much smarter" working at
high speed and reaching his conclusions
with less deliberation. On the whole, 1
WdS sidd I'D see the WnecfS reVOlve more
slowly. for the acoustics in the courtroom
are so bad that 1t was very difficult to
understand the testimony. Indeed, after
| standing behind the public bar, where
room for about forty or fifty spectators
is provided, without seats Of any descrip-
ton. and striving almost in vain to catch
the drift of things. I was forced to go
outside and appeal to the policeman at
the door. who put me through side en-
trance into the witness and reserved
spaces. and later showed no compunction
whatever about receiving a silver offer
ing.
The beetle-browed magistrate on the
bench might well have frightened the
prisoners who were admitted from the
cells through q side door. But as events
proved. they had little reason to fear
him. unless their guilt was obvious. For
he gave everyone the benefit of any
reasonable doubt that arose in his mind.
He was fair almost to the point Of undue
leniency. Perhaps his smart colleague
evens up the average by bearing more
heavily upon the accused.