The Wilmington morning star., 1947-11-02
BY BOB KLINE
Staff Writer

Staff Writer
u4,mington's underworld was
,.,ing low last week.
lsi Also last week, Judge Leo
o.nr was handing down prison
Vslt ooces and heavy fines to
sssavicted violators of North
Carolina law.
Tbe inactivity of the Grimm
and the activity of Superior
ais r+ was not a coincidence.
co., ror it is a well known fact
IN both legal and criminal
a inoIes that while the "big
e sa,rt" is in session, infractions
co4 .be law drop to a minimum.
o. ' situation was reflected last
LUX l,,J in the city police depart
vest the sheriff's office and
h hye- the ABC police.
m the city police depart
..snt,s daily summary, where
men, ne Trenorted violations of the
are recorded along with
law 'tornobile accidents and other
a lahans. the presence of the
cnnerior court could be read
S Sap nthe lines last week.
OV w contrast to the usual daily
orv last weeks included
suiiL auto accidents, minor
n naSays. lost billfolds and a few
All The absence of major
ulen,e was noticeably absent.
c'l And except for the reported
theft Of $40 from the Dixie rig
l,'4 the Carolina Beach road the
OIL opevious week, Sheriff Porter
panis was free of crime in his
n"',ntv. he said. That &c chose
' rU4''( Oct. % to make a raid on
laa' If the local fortune
. pJ cannot be construed to
u strs that the "mediums' were
r1nning rampant last week
only.
Rather. the raid can be iden-
t;fiad with the expose OF the
mediums" by the Wilmington
Na,us on the same day that one
- them was arrested for dong
%,ciness without a license.
The ABC police had a quiet
uepk too. The brewers OF lille.
"5' booze were staying clear OF
tbp law, for awhile, at least.
The "little court" or Record
or,. court is the most accurate
borometer of crime. APP
nrebended law-breakers are
brought here Immediately after
srrpst for trial or for a pre-
1iminarv hearing before they
are sent to Superior court:
County Solicitor Jimmy King
and Judge H. Winfield Smith
a are the first to realize that
their business is slow when
thew are rivaled by Superior
court, There are two reasons
for the definite corralary be
tween the activities of the
"big" and "little" courts.
Reason No. l is the group OF
criminal lawyers. When Su-
perior court is in session, their
time there is demanded first,
in favor Of Recorders court,
The Superior court cases are
usually more important than
those in Recorders court, and
the lawyers receive larger fees
for their legal counsel there.
So when a lawyer has sever
al cases to argue in Recorders
court at the same time SUI
perior court is in session, he
has the cases in the lower court
continued when possible, until
the upper court is adjourned.
Naturally this practice alone
tends to slow down Recorders
court activity when a Judge is
hearing Superior court cases.
But the more interesting and
probably more important rea-
son why Recorders court will
see but A relatively few cases
during the next two weeks, is
the criminals themselves.
While the "big" court is 60
ing on, the potential law-break-
ers lay low. The theory, which
is generally accepted in court
circles, is that the would-be
criminals are frightened by the
presence of the Superior court
Judge Cleo Carr can take the
credit for this during the Octo-
Der SESSION. and fear that if
they pull off a hold-up or a
shooting they will be speedily
brought to justice while the
higher court is still in session.
The theory continues that
persons who may be contem-
plating committing crimes read
OF the prison sentenced re-
celved by apprehended Grimm
ais, and realize that they too
may receive the same punish
ment. This brings some insight
On what goes on in a truly
criminal mind.
II a criminal abstains from
committing a crime while SUI
peSlor court is dealing with
0lner criminals, because he
5ears he too will be punished,
men that criminal must be ad-
uniting to himself when he