The Miami times. [volume] (Miami, Fla.) 1923-current, 1952-01-19
Good Morning Judge
News and Views from Miami's Municipal Negro Court
JUDGE L. E. THOMAS, PRESIDING
BY ELLIOTT J. PIEZE, Times staff Writer


as yet been unable to ascertain
eases involving disturbances be-
tween husbands and wives, both
common law and legal, led by a
very wide margin among the SO
cases listed for trial in Judge L.
. E. Thomas Municipal Court Mon
day morning. Because of the large
number of cases of this type, the
session on Monday morning was
one of the longest in the history
of the court. The court was called
to order promptly at $50 am, and
. it was almost 1870 pm. that af-
ternoon before the last case was
disposed of. The court also did
not take recess that day.
Highlight cases or those which
captured the attention of the en-
tire over-capacity courtroom,
were so numerous that it was diff
ficult to single out any one as the
highlight case of the day. To give
you just an idea of how plentiful
they were and just how they ran,
TIL list only few in our high
light section. These were:
The case of Willie James Jack
son, who was charged with as
sault with a knife on Johnnie
Mae Wilcox, of 337B NV 10th
st. Jackson was also charged with
escaping from the city Jail after
being arrested.
Testimony in the case revealed
the fact that Jackson and Miss
Wilcox had Ibeen keeping comp
any for some time. Recently Miss
Wilcox broke off from Jackson
because of several previous al
tercations between them. But
jackson would not stand any
quitting. He went back and de-
manded her attention. When she
refused he is alleged to have
drawn a knife on her and threat
ened her life. Miss Wilcox said
she had to run for her life.
The officers were called by
Miss Wilcox's' sister, who is the
landlady at the home where she
lived, and where Jackson also
lived before the breakup.
While Jackson was being book
ed on the charges at the Police
Precinct, he suddenly broke and
ran out of the station, and almost
got away from the several Off
GERS who pursued him down the
street. Officer B. J. Guilford ran
him down, caught him and re-
turned him to the precinct.
When questioned about the
charges against him, Jackson told
the court that he did not intend
to hurt Miss Wilcox, he only
wanted to scare her into coming
back to him, as he suspected an
other mans getting her atten-
tion. About the attempted Jail
break, he explained that he was
working and wanted to go back
to his job. But his explanations
did no good, because Judge
Thomas fined Jackson $25 or 10
days on the two charges COM
bined.
The case of Robert Taylor, w.
r. Palmer and Alfonzo E. Curly"
Burk, also comes in for it's place
among the days highlights. All
three of the defendants were
charged with disorderly conduct
creating disturbances at NV 69th
ST. and 18th ave. Burk was also
charged with resisting arrest
Testimony in the case disclosed
that the three men had been very
friendly with each other until an
alteration occurred between
Burke and Palmer Saturday af-
ternoon. Taylor charged that he
called the police after the other
two had begun a fight. Officer
Augustus Matthews, who made
the arrest and presented the case
against the defendants, said that
upon his arrival at the scene,
Palmer was bleeding from his
face and all three of the men
were creating disturbances in a
manner resembling the after
math of a free-for-all fight. He
also explained that Burke refuS-
cd to obey his order when he
placed the trio under arrest. Both
Taylor and Palmer agreed in
their testimony that Burke was
the aggreSSor, and had struck
Paimer on the head resulting in
the blood running from his face.
The whole case was a very I'M
fortunate one, as well as one that