Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2021 - 26

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occurred one Friday a month, at the close
. . . 90 Years
andTurning
Countingin Law Library
	 Topping out at 275 feet, our current
courthouse is the only " skyscraper and art
deco style temple of justice in the U.S. " It
was completed in 1932 at a total cost of
about $2 million. What did we get for $2
million? The stone, wood and metal came
from foreign countries; the outside walls
are domestic granite including Indiana
limestone, and the foundation was built
with three million bricks.

	 It was dedicated on December 2,
1932. Judges from all over Pennsylvania
participated in the dedication. John
Mast, the court crier opened court in the
beginning in the administrative courtroom
as he had done in the second courthouse
for more than 30 years.
A booming voice: " All Rise, " (with
three bangs on the gavel)

	 Opened in 1763 on Penn Square
at Fifth and Penn Streets, the two-story
building was 40 feet by 50 feet in size. The
first floor consisted of a bench, jury box,
and the bar, all separated from the public
by a semicircle railing. The floor was laid
with brick and; limited public seating was
permitted on elevated benches.
	 The courthouse steeple contained
both a functioning bell and clock. The bell
was custom-made in England in 1763.
Though not nearly as famous, it is actually
12 years older than the Liberty Bell in
Philadelphia! It weighed 200 pounds
and was 2 feet in diameter at the rim.
According to a photo, also displayed in
Courtroom 9, it continued to hang in the
first two courthouses for 160 years. The
clock was a 30 hour clock also imported
from England in 1755.

. . . The Second Courthouse

	 The second courthouse location was
Sixth and Court Streets. It stood where
the current courthouse stands. It was
constructed in 1840 and had two additions
constructed in its 90 year history. It was
62 feet wide and 118 feet long and three
stories high with a goddess on the roof.
It cost $63,000 to construct. Numerous
photos are displayed in both Courtroom 9
and, of course, outside J.D.'s office on the
second floor of the courthouse.

26 | Berks Barrister

	 " Oyez, Oyez, Oyez . . "

" All Manner of person who stand
bound or under recognizance who
would prosecute, sue, or plea, draw
neigh. Give your attention and
ye shall be heard. God save the
Commonwealth and this honorable
court. Court is now in session. "

Gentleman Jim

	 Judge James W. Bertolet joined our
16th floor community, when he became
a senior judge, in 1976. He had been a
part of a Republican landslide in 1963,
along with District Attorney W. Richard
Eshelman and Reading Mayor Eugene
Shirk. He upset C. Wilson Austin, who
was appointed to the bench in August
1962 to fill the vacancy created by Ralph
C. Body's appointment to the Federal
Court. Judge Bertolet went to bed
convinced he had lost and awoke the next
morning a winner. He served one 10 year
term and 2½ years of his second term until
he turned 70 in August 1976 and moved
in with us.

	 Gentleman Jim was a wonderful
influence on me, representing the way life
should be.12 For instance, he was famous
for his special adult drink which he served
in his sterling silver punch bowl at court
Christmas parties. He also founded and
presided over the secret " Legal Spirits
Committee Meetings " which typically

of court. It would include all of us on
the 16th floor in court administration.
He was a very smart man; you may have
guessed by now, " legal " represented we,
who worked in and for the court. " Spirits "
represented, well, something that by
definition speaks for itself; it flowed
like water from the heavens throughout
the courthouse on those occasions that
merited celebration.13

Endlich, What's Endlich?

In early 1976, Margaret was contacted
by a well-known lawyer requesting
someone to give a speech at an Endlich
Law Club dinner meeting to explain to
these gentlemen what in the world court
administration is and what the people
who work there do. I remember diligently,
naively preparing my remarks for this
formal presentation, which immediately
became unhinged when that well known
character,14 whom we shall call Norm,
introduced me at the Wyomissing Club
at Fifth and Walnut Streets as Margaret
Freeman's son. It went downhill from
there, as the deadly combination (for
the speaker) of no presiding judge to
keep lawyers in order, no court reporter
to account for who said what and, of
course, no one to control the alcohol. This
combined with my prepared too-long
and too-formal speech just enticed the
piranhas and made my experience one that
I should soon have forgotten but never
will. To this day, I'm not sure what I said
or didn't say.15

The Criminal Trial Term

	 Perhaps, since the telephone was
invented and, for certain into the 1980s,
the staff of the elected row office, Clerk
of Courts - Criminal Division, would
answer the phone, " Quarter Sessions. "
The reason for this is that the trial term
consisted of two successive weeks, only
four times per year, or quarterly: March,
June, September, and December. During
the two week session one of the trial
judges was assigned to Courtroom 5A, the
administrative courtroom, to " run " the trial
list which consisted of all the active cases
not disposed of since the last term.16 By
1975, court sessions had expanded because
of Pa.R.Cr.P. 1100 enforcing the speedy
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