The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-26
AN EMPTY JAIL IN TEXAS.
BURROs BRoDsE AMOUR TIE COURT
HOUSE CORRIDORS.
Tho shcriT Has Nothing to DO but Collect Taxes
Judge Draws Ray Tor AdJourniuE Court
No CrIme In tho County ae
the Mexican uaiIen-..R ntIe' Is n Dance,

Barstow is the county seat OF Ward county,
Tex, but 1t has a total population OF not over
fifty inhabitants. The principal building Is the
Court House, which stands out on the open plain
with practically nothing around II. There 10
nothing in its appearance. however, to suggest
the frontier or the wild West. 1t is built Of
brown sandstone OF the same grade as that EN-.
ploycd in constructing tho magnificent Court
House AT San Antonio. 1t is not a large build.
ing. but 1t is n gem OF architectural beauty In
construction and design. 1t cost tho county
$4,000 and would have cost much moro had 10
not been that the building stone used was quar-
ricd within n mile OF its site. As tho voting
strength OF the entire county, as polledl In the
election oflnst November. is Just 273. it will be
readily seen that the structure is on a magnih.
cent scale, when the present needs of the county
are considered.
1t seems that ! was not tho first visitor who
ever expressed Amusement at the war that 10
waved on the hu ros to Keep them out OF the
,vnlpic o! suslIvC. y rev ut!s before my arrlvaL
Two prospectors had started over from the depot
to look through il, when one of them, happen
ing 20 glance w. shouted in ininazencnt:
Look! There's II Jacknss in the Court
That's nothing" replied his companion, in.
scCn that happen many Il time boc East.
And The worst OF it is that it is not always
as closing the Court House door. The first Of
neal mat ] was introduced To when / entered
the building was the Sheriff. He was n very
polite, mild.mannercu gentleman. but looked
very unlike Nh"; one would expect the Shortly
u u lTOUlltT county III lcNAS 10 DC. W hen L
asked him to give me some OF tho adventurous
incidents that | fcl, sure must have attended
his official career he smiled quietly and shook
No he replied, - have about as little op-
r~ortunity for Wild adventures here as anywhere
You coulIi think of. Fact is. about, the mosb
disagrecahic feature ahou; my work here is its
nonotonousness Ia mighty near welcome a
little shooting scrape, once III a while lust for
the sake OF variety. haven't made an arrest
In almost a year, You see our little jail out
doors open. That's Because there's nobody in
IT.. The last folks in there was the Grand Jury
at the last term Of court. They wcnj in 10 inves.
tigntc It's condition. whiCh the law makes il their
duty 70 do. They said thcy found 4, all right.
lately myself. The las; time a prisoner was in
there wns about six months ago. A tramp was
put of a freight train a, this place. and as he
had a bottle Of whiskcy. with him ne proceeded
to paint the town red. You see, NC don't allow
we ain't responsible for what q fellow buys some
where else and brings here; ! guess this fellow
make no diFercnrc' bur " W we foo ed him mo n rim
We put him in jai! for a breach OF the peace and
kept him there TIL he got sober. Then we asked
him out, lie SAID he would, and he kept his
word That's about III, most desperate adven.
" How does i happen that You have made SO
few arrests! T. | asked. with some interest.
There WASH; but 273 votes po!led at the Ias5
election. and they arc neary all cowboys or
more people ! suppose ,i.ere'd DO more crime.
over here in Reeves county, for instance. Just
Der, and the sheriff over here has is' to Ho orress
some fellow every once in awhile. In Winkler
votes, and in Loving only seven. In those coan.
ties they do not even keep UP the form of a
and are attached TO Reeves county for purposes
1T seems to me that this county might about
ms well ne unorGanlZed, for all the good II does"
/ suggested. What's the use OF having q
sheriff at all if he never arrests anybody ~
We'll. he can al least collect taxes" was the
good .nstured reply. out here. you know, We
combine the office OF sheriff with that OF col
lcctor. The criminal feature Of my Office is al
most a sinecure, but the collecting is pretty
heavy work. Moreover. l have TO perform q
Texas does not really make incumbent upon
the Sheriffs Office. For instance, ] acted as an
adjudisalor in a matrimonial difficulty only
Yesterday. 1t seems that a Mexican man and
woman had been living together in this co nty
the marriage ceremony Everything went on
smoothly enough until one day another schor
whichever you please to call her-better than aid
No. !. The lady accordingly ran off with him.
No.; ! "Gsn. 70 have taken ms 5000 naturedly.
followed The escaping couple. and on overtak-
ing them was impolite enough to threaten TO do
dire things with his knife in case matters were
not speedily settled in way thnt suited him
After some discussion of the matter 1t was
agreed 10 call me in 10 settle things. The first
question l asked when l arrived was which one
Of the men the woman was rca!iy married 10.
only straight thing to do in the matter was TO
let her choose which one OF, the two she really
told them ;hnt In order 10 avoid The posi-
biIity of any misunderstanding in the future
the c "tnr = house "s "S and 'o' he mem mar rio cong The 70
seemed 70 think my decision was something
t uRSg o S"sSa IL ineff Th ~@' were n% n mHTr?cd 1 ST ,s SO
county Judge, and the former husband made
i hss marx ns a Wines to ne Ceremony, Hs
have seen his face light up when he foupd hat
nis S@Gsss tT !h T.y Ii.en had ,n ,G = Ge{ fd s. ;b for r9 his mi.
ing OF the ceremony. think all three part!cs
considered this cNpcnditur" mere in he Light Of
a Tine than any Other, way. ! don't suppose
sc!',| mHtr rnni}Sy 4 ,q,TG rem Is do o. hey acy}sn,. ena
Office.
After a few minutes I was introduced to
Judge Anderson. who is not only County Judge,
hut Z ounty S,upcrinlCndcr o. Schools as we'll.
court each year, n. The law directs, but as
there frequently isn't anything to try. il some
and six teachers IN his county. with n school
GGgnl"tioG Of 80 sItlarcn, WIZ ,o,ni! avs
to be wondered at that some % them seem
to an Eas,crner to DO rTn,h"r on a scale OF
for instance. extends clear INTO The New Mexico
line. In one instance, it Is seventy miles from
district. In some countries % rents might COM
plain. nj having to send their children to school
principally for the reason that nobody lives In
the extreme edge Of the district, or anywhcr
n'HT IL. INC enumeration Tor nhn0llnK INT
county school funds and supervising tho
county schools amounts. in this instance. to
about $40 per annnm. The cmolumcnts OF the
County Judges office arc several times that
much. but still not enough TO make the position
a bonanza.
Il suppose when a follow has only 273 voters
to clectionccr with he can generally tell pretty
well in advance whether or not he's going to DO
elected. can't he. Iudgcr'I inquired.
The Judge shook his head.
by no means" he replied. politics are
Just ms uncertain as they are anywhere, Over
half our voters here are MoNirans, and you never
know how a Mcxican's going 10 vote until his
votes cast and counted. II n follow buys their
votes, even, he never can tell hut that maybe
some other fellow will come along an hour later
and huy them tho other way. We manage to
get along with them very nicely in this county.
for tho most part, but in some Of these western
counties the political mclhods employed are q
caution. For instance, the bale is n great in
%stitution In n great many places around here
This word is pronounced :" bilcy.' but invcsti-
CATION shows that n is spelled halle"
You know what n nnilc is. don't you r. con.
tinucd Judge Anderson. "Well. II is simply q
big MEXICAN dance. These McNicans beat any
people in the world when II comes 10 t%onincss
for dancing. Not inrrcnucntly they get to-