The record-union., 1892-03-23
SPECIMEN TOUGHS.
Samples of the Average Police Court
Defendants.
Tom keenan, and His Partner, John
Smith, Tell About That Satur-
day Night Racket.

Tom keenan, and John Smith were in
troduced in Judge Cravens' court yester-
day, with some reliable assurances from
! Officer Mclaughlin as to their identity
and department.
John Frates, a saloon-keeper at the cor
ner of Second and l. streets, also vouched
for them in certain terms.
! Thus introduced to the court, the gen.
| tlemen were familiarly questioned by
Attorney Hart and the Judge, and gen.
eral discussion of the entertainment at
Second and L streets late last Saturday
| night ensued. keenan, is voluble talker,
with sort of disreputable vocabulary,
and entertained his listeners for time.
Keenan, is quite tall and muscular, and
he has the peculiar twitch to his shoulders
frequently observed in pugilistic gentle
men. He is quick in his observations,
rapid in his remarks, and his eyes have
CLASSY, bottle-green kind of a gleam in
them. To sum Mr.. keenan, up in few
words, there are no flies on him." He
arose and assumed regulation attitude,
as he observed:
"Oh, yes, was in the s'loon at Second
and l.. The first thing / seen was
kpock-down, and l went down to see
what's up. Them two fellers there started
the racket, an If anyone swipes me along
side OF the ear amt going to sit down
an smoke. Dye see ~
City Attorney Hart-Mr. Keenan,, you
are from San Francisco, are you not ?
State your residence, principal place of
| business, whether you have any money,
and what you are doing, where you are
| going, and who you are. Are you good
! fighter?
II, l.
| an / don't make business of fightin'. /
have fought only two or three battles, but
l can lick half o. them that drums around.
| was going TO Woodland to hunt work,
and I've been on crutches year and a
half; hurt my foot. l had about forty
cents in my pocket when came here,
and / blowed that in. Only two of them
| boys came with me. / got acquainted
with them others here that night. L didn't
make no trouble-I tried to stop il.
II had to leave Stockton, and at Fresno
everything was at leisure. l could find
nothing to do there. I didn't like the
climate around Fresno and Los Angeles,
and walked all the way into Gait. There
was about dozen fellers folleIing, and
/ gave 'em the nod as l passed by.
when that feller made pass at me, l
got out of the way, and when / heard the
two shots fired l said, This won't do for
me- and / skipped up street.
w ell, III tell you. liked Los Ange-
| les all right, but | couldn't pick oranges
and make 81 week. | am going any
place to find work; see? 1t don't make
no difference what kind of work, any
thing | can get. / had a knife the other
night, but didn't know L had it until that
! feller wanted it, and | let him take it. l
never use a knife
City Attorney Hart asked if he had to
! pay a license for living in Los Angeles.
/ keenan, replied he did not, but didn't
! like the climate, and thought he would
| hunt for work.
| The first thing Smith knew of the fight
was when he looked around and saw one
| of the fellows make a smash at him.
| He went down street a ways and fired
! two or three shots. He was a bricklayer
| by trade; never knew keenan, until he
was introduced to him at Fresno; got
! here Saturday night and started out with
! keenan, for good time.
| The fight, he said, was nothing but
| sort of scrap. Some one made pass at
him and hit him alongside the ear, and
| there were few chairs and things thrown
around the saloon. He had last worked
/ picking oranges at Riverside; had laid no
! bricks lately, but he was not fighter by
! occupation.
| The court will render judgment and
/ append the moral to the tale this morn
| ing.