Evening star., 1955-04-10
Character and Ability Mark
Career Of Judge Woodward
BY G. O. HERNDON

1uIcc years dSOs % uc pic"
sided over the impaneling of q
county grand jury, Chief Judge
Charles w. Woodward of Mont
gomery County Circuit Court
criticized the reluctance Of some
citizens to serve on juries. He
said:
I'VE don't want q bunch Of
loafers. We have to have men
Of character and ability. The
very strength of democracy Is to
see that justice is DONE"
When, on Thursday, Judge
Woodward leaves his walnut
desk and the Office in the court
house at Rockville where he
served % years as circuit court
Judge, he will be remembered as
a man Of character and abil-
ity" who saw to 1t that justice
was done.
Strain ON His Health
Last week, the tall-six-foot-
four-jurist mailed his letter Of
resignation to Maryland's Gov.
McKeldin. The Judge was so on
February 81 and he gave as rea-
son for his retirement the strain
on his health Of the lever.
increasing" work Of the court
From 1928 to 1882. he was the
only police court Judge in the
county. Continuous duty on the
circuit bench began in 1882 and
in 1945 he became the chief
Judge of Maryland's Sixth Judi
cial Circuit.
AS hundreds Of defendants.
attorneys and police officers can
testify, Judge Woodward adj
ministered justice with firm
hand. In fact. the sternness he
displayed in giving jail terms to
gamblers and thieves was the
basis for q recent remark by
county lawyer who said the
Judge seemed awful free with
other peoples time"
In q characteristic blast at
gamblers, the Judge in 1947 told
q professional bookmaker that
gambling "leads to corruption.
evilness and crookedness.
the only way I can stop you is to
put you away"
He also had a particular dis
like for the small loan business
in Maryland. declaring 1t should
be "outlawed." He once said in
court: when people are down
on their luck and get in the
clutches of them (the small
money-lenders) rs)-whom I con-
slider nothing but bloodsuckers-
they have q hard time ever
escaping them"
Taught History, Math
A former history and mathe-
mates teacher at the Brierley
Hall Military Academy in
Poolesville before he became a
lawyer, the judge was a star
performer on baseball and
basketball teams at the school.
which is no longer in existence.
Before coming to the county
to teach in 1915, he had studied
for two years toward an ABB.
degree at the University of Geor-
gia. He was born and raised
in Jackson. Ga, and it was
there, at the age of IL, that he
realized he wanted to be a
lawyer.
Across the street from the
Woodward home in Jackson, a
lawyer named Charles L. Red
man had his Office and the 12-
year-old boy carried the law
yer's books and listened to his
courtroom speeches.
Attorney Redman, the Judge
recalled the other day, was vic
torious in damage suits brought
against utility companies by ma
laria victims in Georgia some
As years ago. The plaintiffs
were upheld in their claim that |
the fever came from malaria
carrying mosquitoes that thrived
in an artificial lake behind a
utility company dam.
Dice Set Sentence |
Early in his tenure as q police
court Judge, Judge Woodward
showed his feelings for under
privileged and defenseless peo-
ple-even gamblers-in an un-
usual way. A group of colored
men were convicted of shooting
dice for small sums. Aware that