Evening star., 1912-11-24
SAYS American COURTS
SHOULD Be REMODELED
Cassidy Cook, Member OF New
York Bar, Would Cur
tail Procedure.
BY HERBERT COREY.

NEW YORK, November 21.-When
Francisco Ferrer. the anarchist. was put
on trial for his life in Barcelona. Spain.
Cassidy Cook. a member of the New
York bar. went to that city to watch
the proceedings. He was provided with
letters from Secretary of State Knox
and other persons of influence In the
United States. His aim was merely to
compare the Spanish legal methods with
those in force in the United States and
England.
Il sat through the first days trial.
said Mr.. Cook, land made many notes.
The next morning. all nicely shaved and
with my note book under my arm. ] ap-
peared at the door of the courtroom.
The official on duty put out his hand
upon my midriff.
"'Go away" said he. Please leave
Spain. You distress us
II learned that / had been formally
barred from the court. After many in
quiries, 1 found that a spy had reported
TO the authorities that at dinner on the
previous evening l had remarked to my
bile mate that the Spanish legal methods
were a disgrace to any civilized country,
and that the obvious intent was to SEN
tence Ferrer to death as speedily as pos
sible and without regard to the evidence.
was not expelled from Spain. but was
not again permitted to enter the court. y
Attends Other Big Trials.
Among the criminal trials Mr.. Cook has
attended was that of DR.. Crippen in Lon
don and Clarence V. T. Richeson In Bos-
ton. He carefully watched the trials OF
Harry Thaw and the McNamaras and
Henry Clay Beattie and a score ot others
of equal criminal note.
"I am satisfied said he, that If we
We're to remodel our court procedure
upon that of England we could save at
least three -fourths of the time now spent
in court; we could do away with two
thirds Of our criminal courts altogether;
we could save at least one-half of the
direct cost to the state of our present
judicial system, and perhaps two-thrds
of the cost to litigants. l do not think
/ am extra VACANT In saying that the saw
ing would amount to at least Sl,Uo,UJ
day: we could save money enough 70
build and equip superdreadnaught every
month by merely forcing our lawyers "
| throttle down their excess of words. NO
| one would be the worse for it. We would
| all be gamers
According to Mr.. Cook. justice is well
| last visit to England, said he. Il at
| tended forty or fifty criminal trials al
| Old Bailey. Only two or three of the
defendants stood trial. The others plead
| ed guilty, knowing that under the 1udlcla
system there they could not hope to evade
or wear out justice. Seven times as many
pleaded guilty in England as In the
| United States, in proportion to the num-
ber of indictments found. In the twenty.
| seven or twenty EIGHT murder trials
| witnessed there l do not remember hear.
ing witness make a statement that
seemed obviously untrue. An English
| Judge would see to the punishment of q
lying witness. We do not have to rack
| our memories to recall the recent cases In
New York when the testimony of wit
nesses was SO clearly perjured that judge
and jury and lawyers and spectators alike
laughed Therein is the difference. Here
we take our criminal trials test Of
the dexterity Of lawyers, and permit oul
lawyers to use any dishonorable means
to secure the release of their clients In
England a lawyer who would knowingly
place perjuring witness on the stand
would be disbarred.'