The Columbus weekly dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 1902-1905, 1906-08-09
|NOXUBEE CLEANED UP
JUDGE ROBT. COCHRANE MAKES
A REMARkABLE RECORD
ON BENCH-FOUR HUN
DRED INDICTMENTS.
Over Two Hundred Plead Guilty
and Are Fined-Preparing TO
Descend on Lowndes and
Especially Columbus.

ter returned TO COlumDu last Fri
day evening from Macon. When a
Dispatch reporter found him yester
day morning he was at his Office
surrounded by a crowd of attorneys
court officials and spectators, all in
terested in his recital of the events
which had transpired the day before
Mr.. Eggleston vouchsafed the infor-
nation that Judge Cochrane had an
nounced to him that no civil cases
would be tried at the September
| that the entire time of the court
would be taken up with the trial of
the criminal cases and the work
which the grand jury is expected to
turn in. He instructed the sheriff
| to get returns from all of the JUS
tices courts of the county at once
in all appealed cases, that the wit
nesses may be summoned and the
defendants may be present at the
opening of the court. This will nee
| essitate quite an amount of work
and the sheriff and clerk will at once
go to work on their task. He in
| structed the sheriff to secure him
| large force of trusted deputies and
bailiffs, so that witnesses could be
summoned promptly and arrests
made. He stated that this would
cost the county quite a sum, but that
he would see that it would not come
out of the county treasury. Sheriff
Eggleston stated that he was amazed
at Judge Cochrane's familiarity with
this county and it's affairs He seems
we'll posted as to conditions here and
knew things which 1.-The sheriff never
-dreamed any one knew
Mr.. Eggleston stated that he has
never seen larger crowd in town
than that which was present in Ma
con on Friday. The hotels and
streets We're crowded the courthouse
and yard were lined with people, the
fences were filed, and the building
was packed to suffocation. An inn
pressive scene occurred at the con-
clusion of the court. Judge Coch-
rane, in winding up the work of the
day. called for an expression of opin-
ion from those who endorsed his
course in wiping out crime in Nox-
ubee, and Sheriff Eggleston stated
that the people rose to man and
every hand went up. When the ne
groes were asked to support the law
and refrain from breaking it, they
broke out into a song which echoed
throughout the entire building.
Mr.. Eggleston stated that if every
fine imposed is collected the county
will receive fully fifty thousand dol
lars from this term of the court. The
fines ranged in amount, the poker
players being fined a hundred dol
lars and keepers of gambling rooms
being fined five hundred dollars each
with the felony feature OF their in
ton. Keepers of blind tigers were
given from one to five hundred dol
lars each. A fact worthy of note,
which is looked upon as an express
sion of the sentiment from the peo-
pie of that section, is that in many
instances lawyers refused to defend
cases of gambling and blind tiger
ing, the members of the bar joining
in the desire TO have these iniquities
broken up.
Last Friday was sentence day with
Judge Cochrane. For the occasion
the courthouse was crowded. the
largest number of people being in
Macon since the circus Every foot
of room in the building was occu-
pied, and the aisles and halls were
packed with people. Two hundred
and eighty sentences were imposed.
The keepers of gambling rooms were
fined five hundred dollars each. the
poker players We're fined five hun
dred dollars and given three months
on the farm, the farm sentence and
four hundred dollars of each sen
tence being held up pending good
behavior upon the part of the of
fender. This reduced the fine to one
hundred dollars. The crap shooters
were fined one hundred dollars and
given three months on the farm, the
fine being reduced to twenty five
dollars and the Jail sentence held up
upon good behavior. The
other offenders were punished ac-
cordingly. 1t is estimated that the
county will realize about fifteen
lContfnued on page fve.)