| Summary: | Floating Court Starts Circuit. SEWARD, Alaska, May 22. (/P) —The coast guard cutter Haida was en route to Kodiak today on the first leg of a cruise with Alaska's unique "floating federal Time was in the pioneer United States when judges rode circuit horseback, but for 37 years judges of Alaska's Third judicial district have periodically carried justice "to the Westward" in revenue, coast guard and similar craft. Judge Simon Hellenthal's schedule this year calls for approximately 3500 miles of cruising in a 30-day court term for the rocky little islands of the Aleutian chain. Court dates are advertised 30 days ahead and last year's floating court made every port of call on schedule despite the stormy seas. From the time when former Judge James Wickersham made the first floating court voyage to the scattered settlements in 1900 until last year it was strictly a men-only affair. This year, for the second consecutive time women are permitted to accompany the court, and they include Mrs. Hellenthal and daughter, Mary Claire; Peggy Johnson, court reporter, and Anna Mae Thomas, deputy clerk.
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