Evening star., 1923-01-28

swcr to his name, court official on
the outside shouts the name three
times. II the violation is minor
one and sufficient collateral has been
posted at the station house, the judge
orders the cash forfeited and the
money goes, eventually. into the
Treasury of the United States, for in
the District of Columbia all money
received must be turned back to the
government If. however, the offense
is one that, in the opinion of the
Judge, calls for the presence OF the
accused one, then a summons is is
sued and the alleged law violator is
brought into court just as soon as
the authorities can lay their hands
upon him.
The second individual is accused of
having Gavin" in his possession. He
has been tried and found guilty once
before, and he does not want to take
a second chance with the Judge, so
his lawyer demands jury trial. Bond
is demanded, and as soon as an ac-
ceptable bondsman has appeared and
complied with the necessary formali'
ties, the accused leaves the courtroom
with his counsel.
The next victim comes inside of the
rail, is ordered to stand to one side,
and the complaining witness takes the
stand. The accused presents rather
remarkable appearance. His head Is
swathed in bandages, his right optic
is badly dfscolored and he bends over
to one side as he walks. He is sug-
gestive of a case that might be treat
cd by the druggist from Nancy.
Tho complaining witness. after look
at the work she has accomplished,
begins to show signs of regret that
she had invoked the law, evidently
appreciating the fact that the ap-
pearance Of the prisoner at the bar
is wonderful demonstration of her
prcweSs as a fighter. She endeavors
to tell the judge that the whole mat
ter resulted from her man being
overly jealous and that they had a
slight misunderstanding. 1t is the
prisoners first appearance in the
court and the judge, Influenced, no
doubt. by the spirit Of romance that
cloaks the affair. admonishes both to
settle their differences in a manner
that will not be an infraction of the
law and dismisses the case.
The next actor on this stage is a
typical hobo, one of the gentry that
make for the south in the winter. He
happened to be little short of ready
funds and commenced to panhandle
(beg). He happened to strike a plain
clothes man and the tone that he
used suggested to the officer that he
was a regular. So he took him to
the station house, where a search dis
closed the fact that in addition to a
pair Of brass knuckles he had two
razors. Three months was the por-
tion of justice that was meted out to
him.
Then came two families-fathers
mothers. cousins, uncles and aunts,
to say nothing OF numerous small
members of the families. All of them
wanted to tell the story to the
Judge and they all wanted to tell il
at the same time. 1t required the
combined efforts Of all the court at
taches to restore even a semblance Of
order. After about half an hour Of
Solomon-like interrogations on the
part Of his honor enough facts were
brought to light to show that 1t
really was a civil case and that some
one had been stretching his imag-
nation in a talk with the district
attorneys office.
Again, two fighters appeared. Both
of them showed unmistakable sign
Of vigorous combat and each declar-
ed that the other was the aggressor.
IT looked as II here was a puzxle for