Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-08-20
OBJECTIONABLE CHARACTERS.
why SO Many of Them Infest Large
Cities.

There is good deal of complaint in
police circles in every large city about
the difficulty which is experienced in
securing conviction for vagrancy among
the clover" class. A gentleman who
has studied the matter said yesterday !:
"The ordinary 'vag,' who is brought be-
fore q justice, bearing the marks of his
mode of life in his ragged attire and
boozy countenance, who employs no
lawyer and does not demand a jury
trial. is readily disposed OF by fine and
committal to the county jail. The
mac is quite different person and
not to be captured by any such primitive
process. According to the popular
notion, all that is necessary to be done
in the case of an infraction of the law is
that the offender should be arrested. No
phrase is more common among people
who know very little about the operation
of the police courts, but who have large
ideas as to how things ought to be dcne,
than the expression: why don't the
police look into the matter and
have the man arrested?' Ar
rested, and what then? In the
case of gamblers and macereaux, allowed
to go free again. 1t is motto in every
we'll managed police force in the country
that one conviction is better than fifty
arrests. There is very little apology for
an arrest where there is no certainty that
a conviction can be secured. The num-
ber and influence of the lover class is not
appreciated by the average respectable
citizen who las never had occasion to
come in contact with them. It goes
without saying that a man who would
live by the earnings of an abandoned
woman must occupy unique position in
the social scale. They are the lowest of
the low. In a community of thieves and
beggars they would be half-caste. Yet
their influence is great for the reason that
they are not actual criminals and are
usually supplied with money enough to
admit of their associating with the more
respectable classes. AS regards their
number the disreputable streets in every
city swarm with Them"
"The macs are not quite as thick here
now," said member of the police force
when interrogated on this subject, "as
they we're last winter for time, never
theless they are altogether too numerous
for the city's good. 1t seems impossible to
clear them out for the reason that we
can't manage to get convictions when
they demand jury trial and employ
lawyers to defend them. If we could nail
a few of the ring-leaders the others would
become frightened and either leave town
or else be little less obstreperous. AS
it is, the police are inclined to give up all
efforts to do anything with them, and the
macs appreciate that fact, and fairly
boast of it to US. Within the last month
or two there have been dozen trials of
the most notorious characters of this class
that there are in town, and in almost
every case the jury disagreed or brought
in a verdict of acquittal. We did man
age to cinch Reilly last week with q
jury of three, but that was great sur
prise, and his lawyers claim they will get
him off yet. Where does the trouble lie
Certainly not with the police. We do
not arrest man until we have what ap-
pears to US complete case, bringing the
man under the statute for vagrancy. We
give our testimony, and then they fetch
in a string of people who will swear any
thing they are ordered to, who
will prove that the arrest is mere
ly from spite and desire on
the part of the police to be doing some
thing. There is nothing that takes bet
ter with theaverage jury than the state
ment that an officer is actuated bv spite
in prosecuting man for vagrancy. A
great many men on the force are so tired
Of having this insinuation thrown at
them that if they err at all in the matter
of vagrants it is through excessive leni-
ency."
"Where does the trouble lie? ?" said a
Deputy District Attorney. "It lies
partly with the law which will admit all
sorts Of cooked up evidence in defence of
the vagrant, and also more particularly
with the juries which are usually i'm
paneled to try such cases. The prose-
cutting witnesses testify that on such q
date and for the required space of time
before that date they had seen the man
out of work, frequenting disorderly
houses and keeping bad company. How
ever complete the case may be, witnesses
will not be lacking for the defense to
prove that the man tried to get work
but could not secure any, and that his
character is all that could be desired.
Perhaps they will throw in the
fact that the police are down on
him for some reason. But everything
depends on the jury, for twelve sensible
men and respectable citizens could un-