Philadelphia Inquirer, May 28, 1899View transcription
A JUDGE AND POLICY
Justice Garrison Tells How a "Gig" Was Once Left Under His Door
AND THE LAWYERS SMILED
Lawyer Crandall Will Have the Game Explained to the Court the Next Time
Supreme Court Justice Charles Garrison yesterday denied the soft impeachment presented by Lawyer John J. Crandall that he knew all about that low-down form of gambling styled policy. It happened this wise. Lawyer Crandall, probably the most unique and original personality of the Camden bar, was trying to get Randolph Pollard, colored, free by habeas corpus proceedings. Pollard had been committed to the county jail on a charge of policy writing on complaint of Police Captain Stanley. The lawyer warmly argued that his client should be released at once because he had not been given a hearing. It was not right, he said, to commit a man to jail merely on the oath of some one.
"Now, your Honor is acquainted with the intricacies of policy," confidently remarked Lawyer Crandall.
"Oh, no, I'm not," good-humoredly replied Judge Garrison. "I don't know a thing about the game, but I lived in a house once numbered 444, and one day somebody left a slip in the door, I think they called it the 'policy gig,' but why left it in my door I can't tell, unless it was on account of the seductiveness of the number."
The lawyers present smiled, and Mr. Crandall forgot to go on with his line of argument. The case went over until next Wednesday, when Lawyer Crandall will have witnesses present to tell Judge Garrison all about policy.
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 28, 1899 — page 2
Justice Garrison Tells How a "Gig" Was Once Left Under His Door — And the Lawyers Smiled — Lawyer Crandall Will Have the Game Explained to the Court the Next Time
Supreme Court Justice Charles Garrison yesterday denied the soft impeachment presented by Lawyer John J. Crandall that he knew all about that low-down form of gambling styled policy. It happened this wise. Lawyer Crandall, probably the most unique and original personality of the Camden bar, was trying to get Randolph Pollard, colored, free by habeas corpus proceedings. Pollard had been committed to the county jail on a charge of policy writing on complaint of Police Captain Stanley. The lawyer warmly argued that his client should be released at once because he had not been given a hearing. It was not right, he said, to commit a man to jail merely on the oath of some one.
"Now, your Honor is acquainted with the intricacies of policy," confidently remarked Lawyer Crandall.
"Oh, no, I'm not," good-humoredly replied Judge Garrison. "I don't know a thing about the game, but I lived in a house once numbered 444, and one day somebody left a slip in the door, I think they called it the 'policy gig,' but why left it in my door I can't tell, unless it was on account of the seductiveness of the number."
The lawyers present smiled, and Mr. Crandall forgot to go on with his line of argument. The case went over until next Wednesday, when Lawyer Crandall will have witnesses present to tell Judge Garrison all about policy.
