CHAPTER XXV
SCENES IN OUR POLICE COURTS
As is well known, the Police Court is the sorting Criminal Bureau of the city, where the murderer, highwayman, thief and burglar come to be classified. It is here that the criminal is confronted with the visible forms of law, and where the evidences of his guilt become so convincing as to be conclusive. All over the five Boroughs of Greater New York, the Magistrates sit in rotation in the various courts.
Every morning the police gather their prisoners into the court “pens,” where the Magistrate presides. After this, the prisoner is placed at the bar, where he is compelled to answer the question whether he is guilty or not guilty? In all of these courts, the wheels of justice move swiftly against wrongdoers, and frequently so fast that the innocent has a chance of being locked up for several days, without redress.
No one can be a spectator of what transpires in these petty courts during a morning session, without being deeply impressed, not only with the character of the business done, but the variety of the persons that come before the court. That the proceedings are genuinely realistic goes without saying. The work done in the Tombs Police Court may be taken as a fair example of what is done elsewhere, although it usually does twice as much business as is done in any other court in Greater New York.
The Magistrate’s Courts are supposed to be open for business as early as nine a. m. and continue in session till four p. m. Sundays and holidays are excepted, when there is only a morning session. Through the earnest work of Judge Whitman, a Night Court has been established in Manhattan, for the purpose of putting the professional bondsman out of business!
Lawyers are not necessary on either side in the Police Court, as the dignity of His Honor can be maintained and the interests of both sides conserved without a paid attorney. In some courts, a big crook with a crowd of ward politicians around him, has a splendid chance of getting clear, while the innocent moneyless unfortunate gets scarcely any consideration.
Powerful moneyed interests and political gamblers when brought to court and backed by an array of counsel known to the judge are sure to get some consideration. But this is what might be expected, and often strange things take place in the Police Court.
“The law condemns the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the Common;
But lets the greater felon loose,