The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-14

~ TTEN WdIVU. ITVII TITIL IIITIE III TTVVII
everything is pretty Guiet. except the trip
to the ~workhouse, which is sixty squares.
Then they liven up a little about 2 o'clock;
after that everything is rather peaceable
until about 5 in the afternoon; from then
until midnight the patrol wagon is kept
busy. About 6 o'clock all warrants are
served, and this adds greatly to the wagon
work. Also on holidays the wagon is kept
busy, owing TO the number of fights that
occur on such days. 1t is very noticeable
that during regular working hours every
thing is generally pretty quiet, but as soon
as the majority of day workers become idle
then the patrol wagon's work begins. Sat
fridays are looked upon with dread by the
wagon men.
SATURDAY A HARD DAY.
On this day. from noon until Monday
morning, the wagon is on the go the greater
part of the time. for more fights occur on
Saturday and Sunday than any other days
of the week. On Saturday night the men
think there is something wrong if the wag-
on does not have sixteen or eighteen runs.
1t is also another strange thing that Mon
days and Tuesdays are generally quiet days.
so far as fights are concerned. During
these two days the class OF people who fire.
quent saloons have no money 20 buy liquor.
As the general run of calls go. il is only the
saloon frequenters who cause the police
trouble, and. as one of the officers remarked
recently, nine-tenths of the men who were
brought I'm In the wagon are trunk.
There are five horses in the patrol service.
Kate and George are one team and Bill
and Frank are the other. The fifth horse
Is Tom. He is used as an extra and is
worked in everything from the captains
buggy 10 the spring wagon that is used by
the detectives. The horses in this work do
not last more than three years. They are
trained the same as a horse in the fire de-
partment. That is. when the gong rings
and the stall doors open hey go to their
places under the harness, which is sus-
pended from the ceiling similar to the way
the fire department hangs it's harness.
These horses develop character and odd
traits the same as any horses that are
closely associated with men. Kate and
Tom are the oldest horses in the service,
both having been in three years. George is
a new horse. having just been bought,
and he is as fine a specimen of horse flesh
as one would want to see. However, he
has not been in the service long enough to
take the newnesS off of him. For the pa
troll wagon the city has to buy horses
much above the average on account of the
nature of the work. for il takes a good
animal to stand the gait that they are put
through.
HORSES AND THEIR DRIVERS.
OF all the horses at the present time Tom
is the ~favorite, and he is known to every
body who visits the patrol barn. The
reason, no doubt, that he is such a favorite
is that he is independent and has a mind
decidedly of his own. William Wheeler,
one of the drivers, knows enough stories
about Tom TO fill a book and he hugely en-
joys telling them. Toms most recent ex-
plot was not long ago when Detectives
Lancaster and Kurtz found it necessary to
drive him to the buggy. They had a case
which took them a few miles out of the
city. There We're three detectives detailed
in the work, but a man who frequently
comes to the police station and who owns a
very fast pacing horse said he would take
the other man in his buggy with him.
Everything went along all right until
they started back and the man with the
pacing horse began to speed him a little.
Tom is a good horse coming toward the
barn. so he kept the gait pretty well, but
he soon began to get tired and commenced
to lag. Kurtz and Lancaster had some per-
sonal pride in the affair and did not wish
10 be OutdOne by the pacing horse, so they
took the whip TO Tom and then began their
trouble. Tom had an idea of about how
fast he should go, and when they began
to urge him he began to kick and he did
this so s~trenuously and with such vigor that
IT was necessary for the detectives to crawl
out the back OF the buggy. Since then
they have had no desire TO drive Tom,
especially when his pace is being set by a
pacing horse.
All Of the experiences that the men on the
patrol wagon have are not confined TO the
horses, for very often they have quite in
teresting times with prisoners whom they
are bringing to the station. This is eSpe-
cially true when they get hold of insane
people. Sometime ago an insane man was
arrested on Prospect street and he imag-
AhN0 nat uO1NOlo NtAC AAS CDli anu
were trying to kill him. The patrolman
who goes on the wagon had got him quite
subdued but the driver, not knowing his
vagary. thought he would say something to
4 put him at ease and of course said the
wrong thing. He told the insane man that
when he arrived at the police station he
would be treated all right and put under
the care of the doctor, and from then on
they both had a fight on their hands. that
lasted sometime and Gid not cease until the
insane man was chained in the bottom of
the wagon.
1t is a w~ell-knOwn fact that women cause
the wagon more trouble than men because
they fight and scream and cannot oe han
died as roughly as the men. Not long age
Gold Tooth Liz" a colored woman who is
we'll known in police circles, was arrested.
She is a cocaine fiend and the fight she put
up was vigorous and gave the men all they
could do to hold her.
The men on the wagon have all been on
n number of years. The one longest in
service is Joseph Stinruck. a driver. who
has been in the patrol service thirteen
years. Next TO him is George Barlow, a
wagOnman. who has been in the service
eight years, as has also William Wheeler,
the other driver. jeremiah Hollahan. the
other wagonman, has been in the service
seven years.
49, 49, -nV -.