New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-04-10

Three tenants minute go through
the hopper of justice.
Five hundred eviction cases are
heard in less than three hours, while
the air is filled with shouting and the
human odor Of sitting courtroom,
while court officers struggle loudly but
vainly to bring order. while the crowds
stand on the benches, overflow the rail
and almost invade the bench itself
that is the speed to which New York's
municipal courts have been geared up
in the effort to keep their judicial
noses above the flood of landlord
tenant litigation.
The area Of high pressure shifts
from court to court daily. Yesterday
it was highest in the First District Of
the Bronx, known locally as the West
chester court. 1t is somewhere north
and east of West Farms, little red
brick church with chopped off steeplc,
which has been converted to the needs
OF justice. The gallery still stares
vacantly down from the rear of the
room. and the pews still carry the
numbers that marked the seats of the
devout.
The court is merely the storm CEN
ter. Around that vortex, on the little
lawn and overlooking into the street,
are knots of wrangling tenants and
landlords, mixed with babies. baby car
riages and dogs. Babel rises in the air
and can be heard from affair. But
above it comes the steady buzzing Of
the beehive inside the old church.
Continuous Rumble in Court
Pushing through the fog Of nvective
on the steps, one enters the rear of the
room and is confronted by a solid maAs
of backs and a torrent of noise. Deep
and steady is the rumble of whispered
argument among the three or four
hundred persons jammed into the little
room. Above it rises the staccato
yeping of the court officers: "Stop that
talking" No one stops. Under the
surface of the racket is the steady
shutting of six hundred or more feet
But dominating the whole is a sharp
barking sound, like that Of train an
nouncer trying to do his eight hours
work in thirty minutes. That is the
voice of justice.
"Landreddorty vershtentgooolstn
forntysevnwrumph, the voice goes on
"Smisst Fultpars."
There is a swirl down the middle of
the mass of humanity, and by counting
proaches the bar. Still the voice banks
en-. sharp and dominant. Finally, after
deep study, it becomes possible to in
terpret, though no Interpretation can
be guaranteed But this is what
seems to have been meant:
Landlord Doughcrty versus Tenant
Goldstein, 497 Southern Boulevard
Case dismissed. Faulty papers,
And the tenants and landlords, glar-
ing hatred, file past the source of the
barking and out a, rear door,
Justice Stern and Jovial
The barker's voice is the worst part
of. him. A round and rather rosy face
rises out of the flowing black robe;
there is straight line of red bristles
just above the bark, twinkling blue
eyes under bushy brows, and a pinkish
eXpanse on top, hedged on three sides.
This is Justice Peter A. She'll, who by
some miracle contrives to be at once
stern and jovial, magisterial and demo-
cratic.
Suddenly the barking and the process
sion Of litigants halt. Here is a case
that needs looking into. A sharp feat
ured landlady has rejected the justices
offer to compromise at the present rem
tai, without further increase, on some
fats that have already been raised
from s32 to SAB month far moro
than 25 per cent. It. appears she re-
Gently bought the fats and will lose