There's a story about...
Illustration
There's a story about Fiorello LaGuardia, who was mayor of New York City during the bleakest days of the Great Depression. He was a colorful character, who used to show up in unexpected places around the city.
One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court serving one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city. Exercising his mayoral privilege, LaGuardia directed the judge to let him take a turn at the bench and preside over some of the cases.
A tattered old woman was dragged before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She poured out before the mayor a tale of woe -- how she had been deserted by her husband, how her daughter was sick, how her two grandchildren were starving. The shopkeeper refused to drop the charges, insisting that other would-be thieves had to be taught a lesson.
Mayor LaGuardia sighed, and said to the woman, "I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions. Ten dollars or ten days in jail." Yet even as he said those words, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous fedora hat, saying, "Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents, for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant."
A total of $47.50 -- a princely sum, in those days -- was turned over to the poor woman that night. Fifty cents came from the grocery store owner himself. Seventy petty criminals, traffic violators, and New York City policemen contributed the rest. The courtroom rose of one accord, and gave the mayor a standing ovation.
