The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-08-21
date the matter seems in no way to be

date the matter seems in no way to be
settled.
The reason It Is impracticable, accord
ing to Judge Boyle, who as city jailor
for four years has a. great deal Of ex-
perience to speak from. Is because most
of the Migrants are arrested at night
by policemen and locked up in the city
JAIL Under the scheme of trying them
before justices the arresting officers,
after working all night. are required to
appear as witnesses the next day in the
justices courts. which are located in
Meaderville. Walkerville and South
Butte as we'll as Butte. This is ask
ing an impossibility of the officers.
Without prosecuting witnesses the
county prosecutor cannot convict the
Migrants. and they are necessarily
turned loose. So Judge Boyle explains.
This method was tried for a long while,
he says. and it failed: and the town be-
came so overrun with tramps that there
was talk Of a vigilance committee.
When it used to be the custom for the
various cOnstables to come to the city
Jail every morning and get the framps
and Migrants who We're scooped in every
night by the police and take them before
the justices for arraignment. the latter
used to lie In the county Jail for days
without trial. till County Attorney Con-
Motley Of those days orde. I'd that the
system be discontinued.
County Turns Vags Away.
Judge Boyle says that the county Jail
will not take the vagrssits arrested by
the police. They have to be lodged in
the city Jail and turned over TO the JUS
tees first. 1t looks reasonable, he says
that vagrant arrested by policeman
and lodged in the city jail should be
tried by the police judge. stnce the city,
which has had all the trouble and eX-
pense Of lodging them. is also the most
concerned in the matter of the peace,
order and security involved In suppress
ing vagrancy.
During the terms of some Of his pre-
lecessors such claims as those put in
by Judge Boyle have been paid by the
county commissioners without objec-
ton, and during the terms of some 9TH
ers they have not. Before Judge Tebo' 8
time they were not disputed. but the
latter had trouble with the commission
ers, and the commissioners contested
them and finally established the rule
not to pay them. During the terms of
Police Judge Terrell and Chief of Po-
lice Mulholland, Judge Boyle says, they
were paid for a period Of year and
ten months. during the terms OF Judge
Sullivan and Judge Turner, they were
not allowed. and those police judges
let the Migrants go up to the justices
for trial.
System Was a Nuisance.
Judge Boyle is authority for the
statement that under the system thuo
established the vagrancy nuisance
nearly drove the citizens of Butte to
distraction. The telephones were hot
all the time with calls for the police.
The justices courts failed altogether to
suppress the nuisance, and then was 1T
chat vigilance committee was thought
about
With the last claim turned into the
county by Judge Boyle he handed in.
also, an opinion, signed by County At
torney Breen, indorsing the legality of
the claim.
With the certainty of quick trial by
the police judge staring them in the
face, Judge Boyle says, Migrants are
comparatively sea l.. The fraternity
keeps informed as to the police protec-
ton of Butte and it's members steer
clear of the city while they feel IN
danger of 60 or 80 days in jail.