The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-07-13

Peculiar Law About to be Enfor'
ced In st. Louis.

Peculiar Law About to be Enfor-
ced In st. Louis.
The life of a vagrant is not always
such an easy one as it is generally rep
resented to be. 1t appears that one
State in the Union, at least, has laws
which are sometimes enforced, much
to the confusion of the man who would
live off another mans income. The
Washington Star quotes a dispatch
from ST. Louis to the New York Sun,
recently, which says that: Hubert
Hauling, until recently a resident at
1916 Pattison avenue, will probably be
sold to the highest bidder for term of
six months. There is only one way to
escape this fate, and that is to furnish
enough cash to support his family for
that time. Hauling says this is i'm
possible If the action begun this morn
ing in Justice Harmon's cougt stands
the test, Hauling will be taken by the
Sheriff or Constable to the place desig-
mated and auctioned off as dealers did
their slaves before the war. A man
thus sold under the law will be COM
fully and conscientiously as he would
an employer
In her bill of complaint Mrs. Kaul-
ing says she was married to Hauling in
st. Louis on January 2, 1888, and that
she has always been a true wife. Three
children were the fruit of the union
Two are dead. Clara, the youngest, is
with her mother. On September B.
1896, the petition says, Hauling will
fully deserted his family and refused to
contribute for their support, nor has
he since then done anything for them.
She asks the Court that he be declared
a yagrant under the provisions Of chap
ter 1863, section S,S46, of the Revised
Statutes of 1889, and that under sec
ton S,S49 of the same chapter his time
be sold, and that she obtain relief after
the charges and costs of the suit have
been paid. The section first quoted Of
chapter 169 says:
Every able-bodied man who shall be
found lettering about without visible
means of support and maintenance, and
who does not apply himself to labor or
some other honest calling to procure
livelihood and all able-bodied persons
who are found begging or who quit
their houses and leave their wives and
children without visible means of sub
sistence, shall be deemed and treated
as vagrant."
Section S.4S9, that provides for the
sale of such convicted vagrant's time,
reads:
eff upon examination, it shall appear
that such person is a vagrant, the fact
of vagrancy having been established by
jury summoned and sworn to inquire
whether the person be vagrant or not,
the Justice shall make ont a warrant
directing the Sheriff or Constable to
keep such person in his custody until
three days notice can be given by adj
yertisement, set up in the most public
places in the county, of the hiring of
such vagrant at the court house door of
said county for the term of six months,
to the highest bidder for cash in hand"
Another section provides that in all
places where the word county appears
it shall be changed to city if appertain-
ing to the city of st. Louis.
Judge Harmon will issue a warrant
Monday for Hauling, charging him
with vagrancy. He will be held for
three days and then tried by a sworn
jury. If his vagrancy be established,
the Court will order the Constable to
dispose of the defendants services to
the highest bidder. The costs of the
suit will be paid and the residue turned
over to the wife for the support Of her
self and child.