NEW YORK NIGHT COURT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 51, 23 November 1907, Page 10

NEW YORK NIGHT COURT.

A GLAMOUR OF ITS OWN

At "Jefferson Market," tho colloquially abbreviated nanio for the New York Police Court which is tho iiow Street of America, and the temple in which she has nodded blinkingly for upwards of a generation, justico,:Uow,sits, kept awake by the multifarious night life oi .the.city. From D each 1 evening til .3 in ...the. morning she tends her scales, for Now York has thoio established for hor the first; regular'night- court iu the world, us the nicgap'n6iio man will tell you when tho "rub-ber-neck .waggon" stops before the door. And if ybii .waiiaoi- in,, wondering why' there should be a night court, and wherein it differs from ■ its day-time prototype, you will find that night has cast a glamour ot its own over, the familiar, court room and the''scenes enacted there.

Superficially you discover nothing distinctive in the appearance r and conduct of the court, save that tho usual bustle and noise and clamour of tho day session are lacking. The evoning quiet .'of- tho city has crept into tho room,/ broken: at intervals with unusual effectiveness by a passing trolley caro, or the rush of an elevated train; or, in the succeeding hush) by the clanging gongs of the patrol waggons unloading their prisoners from'the various-polico precincts of Manhattan. Like-wise-the outer darkness, accentuated by the brilliant lights of the court room, furnishes that subtle'mystery which it always lends' to crime, and adds the dignity and seriousness which'it casts over even a petty tribunal. At first you may Jay the difference to the novelty of tho institution.' The court hold its first session on August 1, and its uniqueness still attracts visitors nioro or loss picturesque, _so that it is no ordinary police court audience that drifts in and out and finally dwindles away before dawn from the benches outside the railing. Curious citizens, of varying intelligence; sorious-faced foreigners straining their ears to understand this now American amplification of justice, men and women from somo pleasuring automobile, craning to seo something unusual —all mingle with the ordinary friends of the accused, and keep tho court room full well up to the re cess at midnight, when the judge and his staff rofresh themselves with luncheon

Human wrecks, mostly old women, vagrants from tho parks unci clsmvhorc tottor up to the bridge and are committed to flic Almshouse; "drunk and disorderlies," with or without, tho marks of conflict on their faces, offer timo-worn excuses and aro fined, discharged, or put on good behaviour to report to James Louris, the probation oflicer; wifobeators aro sent- to the island; push-cart men aro arraigned and pay tho price of their release—till it seems as if tbo phantasmagoria of misfortune will never cease passing. Tho- record of GO coses in 65 minutes, achieved by Magistrate- Whitman, tho father of tho Court, at its first session, during which be sat, is the customary speed. Owing to tho somewhat vindictive activity of tho police, who for several reasons did not'approve of the new order of things, moro than 300 arrests wore crowded into tlia tfirst session, but, as they were all properly arraigned and disposed -of the attempt to swamp tho new court was thwarted onco for all. Siuco then tho average is 125 cases nightly.— Robert Sloss, in "Harper's Weekly."