The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-23
JUDGE FREDERICK
 BLOMAN
Bar Paid Respects to Judge of Ford Republic, for Boys Rise of a Dirty, Swear ing, ,Tobacco-Chewing Imp Impressive Funeral of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy.
WINTHROP D. LANE.

WINTHROP D. LANE. Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau)
 The news coming several weeks ago from Detroit, Mich., that Judge Fred erick Bloman had died, fell upon an ignorant and at first unresponsive public. Who was Judge Frederick Bloman? Three days later thousands
 knew his life story.
 Frederick Bloman, thirteen years old, illiterate, red-headed and undersized, rescued waif and an ex-incorrigible, was judge of the Citizens Court or the Ford Republic for boys at Detroit. Four years ago he was cOnsorting with hoboes and begging food for them. He was a dirty, swearing, to- baccO-chewing imp, with no recollec- tion of a home, or a mother, and with no respect for any living thing. Yet
 at his death a judge of Michigan's s
 Supreme Court travelled one hundred
 miles to attend the funeral, the Pro-
 bate Court of Wayne county adjourned
 over two days in his honor, leaders of
 bar and bench held a meeting to pro-
 nounce his euiogies, and men and wo-
 men of distinction gathered round his
 bier in the nave of St. PauPs Ca
 thedral
 
 of which is Homer T. Lane, is a
 home for wayward boys. It is great
 ly similar in it's principles of reforma-
 tion to the better known George Jun
 for Republic. For a time after Fred
 Bloman was brought there the hab-
 it's of his former life made him one
 of the most unmanageable boys in the
 republic. He had been taken by the
 police from a band of gypsies and is
 said to have been one of the most foul-mouthed youngsters whom the
 authorities had ever' discovered.
 To cause self-respect, proper re-
 gard for others, to grow in such a young Bloman's reformation, after he came to the republic. though gradual,
 was sure. He was slow to show the
 qualities that were in him. A strong,
 almost grotesque sense of humor.
 which strangely enough smacked of none of the vulgarity of his former habits of mind. won him ultimate popularity. After three years resi- dence the boys elected him judge of their Citizens Court for a term of six months. At the end of that period he was reelected. No one had ever administered justice in the little re- public with such firmness, fairness, and goodwill. When Fred's second term was drawing to close his fel- low-citizens had no thought but to re-elect him. But Fred lay in the hospital with fatal illness. Realiz- ing that he could not serve them again, yet unwilling that another should wear his title, the citizens created the position of associate judge and to that office elected one of their number.
 On the bench young Bloman dis played ingenuity, tact, and ability in handling his fellow citizens. A lad charged with punching another in the kitchen" defended himself by say ing he had punched the other, not in the kitchen, but in the stomach. h. was his kitchen because he kept his chuck there. Later he de- cIared that he would put stop to the punching in the kitchen" and "kick- ing in the basement that had been going on recently. His resourceful- ness in the face of dilemmas was mark ed. A convicted culprit was once ment at the hands of Superintendent Lane. It was contrary to the super notion of things to chastise his boys. So he begged off on some l protext. The little judge faced a | crisis in his administration. To al- | low the guilty lad to go unpunished would weaken his influence among the unruly element Both his size and | official dignity barred him from per forming the task, and there was no public executioner or whipping post. So Judge Bloman created new thing, -an executive board. Like most ex-1 ecutfves this board was commission sd to act. It's members united in ad- fair publishment, and the courts ruling and dignity were up held.
 While trying an alleged thief, Fred once asked the accused, 'Then you're [ willing to be known as crook?" The defendant made no objection. and Fred .uled: "Well, you are 8 crook" La er he was brought before the su- ,reme court, for applying the word .rook to the accused. In defending himself Fred evolved a definition that las since become classic in the re- public: "A crook is a fellow who is willing to be called crook"
 Heart disease caused his death. In m eulogy in the probate court one of he attorneys said: t"The life of this ad calls again to my mind sentence # Booker T. Washington: Tt is not he height to which a man attains hat measures his greatness, but thei distance which he travels in getting an estimate the greatness of thirteen -ear-old Fred Bloman? He was one f the most efficient aides this court yer had in it's juvenile work"
 His fellow citizens attended his fu- leral. As the throng which had gath red round his bier moved out into he open air, an awed urchin was leard to whisper: Gee, lot of folks anne to see Fred buried, didn't hey?"
 FOLEY KIDNEY PILLS