The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-11-30


 protested against the indignity and called for the jaiier. My calls and ex- postuiations were greeted with jeers' The mock sheriff and three deputies overpowered me and 1 was the reel pient of ten weil-directed blows. l was told that unless yielded up the two dollars I would be tried again. and that the next sentence would probably be twenty strokes of the paddie--a vii- lainous instrument made from bed slat. surrendered and addressed "a note to the jaiier. telling him to take two dollars from my roll and apply t to the account of the Kangaroo court. The more I learned of the Kangaroo court, its officers, its power and its au- thority, the more certain was that l acted wisely. .Is z .r
 Having paid my two dollars, l be- came a member of the court ana was entitled to all the perquisites and ad- vantages appertaining thereto could sit on the jury, act as attorney, or could vote for court officers, eiec- tons being held monthly, with occa- sionally special elections to All vacan.- cies caused by the release of prisoners on bond or after trial. was also en, titled to my share of the fines collected that Is, was allowed to consume some of the tobacco the funds supplied The jailer was the custodian Of the funds, and acted as treasurer and pur- chasing agent for the members or the Kangaroo court. '..''..,
 "In conversation with other prison- CTS who had been In jail some time I learned that prisoners were always tried on entering the jail. If they had any money they were expected ana were usually compelled to pay the fine, which was always two dollars. This was a sort of initiation fee. and us payment made the new prisoner member of the court. If the prisoner actually had no money he was allowed to work out the fine at the rate or hve cents a day. This took forty days, at the end of which time the fine was worked out and the prisoner became member of the court in as good stand ing as if he had paid the two dollars on entering.
 q became so popular during my stay in the jail that was elected judge Of the Kangaroo court. During my term, which lasted month, gave prisoners the choice of paying the fine or work ing 1t out at five cents day. very frequently some poor fellow was locked up who had but a few dollars and I really did not have the heart to make him pay out the money If he pre- ferred to work 1t out, cleaning spit toons, sweeping the corridors and car rying slops. My leniency in this mat ter did not suit the rest Of the prison CTS. and at the next election the issue was made on the question Of making all prisoners who had the. cash put up, and I was defeated for reelection. afterward served a term as prosecu- ting attorney. '..I
 After I had been in jail a. short time became convinced that the Kan garoo court was good institution. Very many of the prisoners were dirty when they were locked up. When a new prisoner refused to take bath and then keep himself reasonably clean the prosecuting attorney would lodge a complaint against him, charging him with maintaining nuisance, refusing to take a bath or some such misde- mearior. He would. be tried and. con victed, of course, and sentenced to take a bath. If he refused to comply with the sentence of the court, he would be tried again and sentence of | paddling imposed. A few strokes of the bed slat, when yielded by the sheriff, usually brought the delinquent to taw. As a means of keeping the jail in a reasonably decent condition as far as cleanliness was concerned, the Kangaroo court was decided suc- cess.
 | "In a few cases the prisoner refused to submit to the paddlings and actu- ally made 1t dangerous for the sheriff or his deputies to impose the punish ment. In such instances the jailer was appealed to and the facts explained to him. He then went to see the obstrep- erous prisoner and told Lim' plainly that he must submit to the dictates of the Kangaroo court and its officers or he would be locked up in the solitary and given diet of bread and water. As soon as he found that the jailer en- dorsed the court he would succumb.
 "Prisoners were continually coming and going in the jail, but the Kanga- roo court went on forever. It was al- wavs ready for business"