The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-10
ST. LOUISS REFORMING JUDGE
POLLARDS WAY or HANDLING
CASES or DRUNKENNESS.

A ( Inc That Means q Month or 1--WE In the
WOrkhOuse or Take the Pledge for .
Year, the Alternative lie Onera 5000
Results for the system 30 Far. He says.
William Jefferson Pollard. the st. Louis
Police Magistrate who has a record OF
reforming hundreds Of drunkards by oom-
polling them TO sign temperance pledges
and who gained fame out in Missouri a.
the Judge who made a mule the star wit
ness in a complaint brought before him,
liz at the Breslin. He is on a vacation and
will probably GO TO Europe before return
ing to Sc. Louis.
Judge Pollard's methods Of administer
ing Missouri's whiskey cure are character
istio. When the drunkard who Ia not a
confirmed inebriate is brought before him
the Judge imposes a heavy fine, which
means forty or sixty days in the work.
house breaking stone. This sentence. how
ever, IL stayed II the offender will g
a pledge, which the Court has framed, TO
abstain from drink for one year.
when / was appointed Police Magistrate
by Mayor Rolla Wells for the Second dis
trIct OF the city Of st. Louis three years
aeo nv docket day after day was hlled
with the names of defendants who we're
charged with intoxication and petty
crimes they had committed while under
the influence OF liquor" says Judge Pol,
lard. sOf what use was il for me to send
these men to PRISON. VINO would suffer-
Their wives and children. Now az long,
IA the germ OF good il not dead 1 believe
IL il the duty. of the court to save drunkards
from themselves and for their families.
So the method l adopted was to call the
offender to the bar n have a heart 20
heart ak with him. WELL 1 generally
wind up, You can do one Of four Things.
you can Ale a bon on appeal to the higher
court, or you can pay your me, o. YOU can
90 70 the workhouse and break rock, or
else you can sign this pledge not TO drink
for a year and go back and lake care OF
your family
In order that he may rave supervision
Judge Pollard makes as q condition OF tne
stay Of execution hat the defendant re-
port to the Judges house every night tor
a stated interval.
Az Judge Pollard ia q bachelor n lives
alone, this arrangement is possible, ma
he nightly received the visits OF dozens
Of men who are on probation.
ain three wears more than four hundred
| drunk ards nave taken the pledge in my
court and less than a dozen OF these nave
broken il.
Il try TO do the best l can for the de-
PENDANT and the city. Back OF the man
is his family, whose interests must De
taken into consideration in fixing his pun
ishment. To send a mar to the work
house while his family faces starvation
IL a pretty serious thing to do. l would
rather send a man back to his family ano
keep him sober. q,
~Of course, a confirmed topper il not al,
lowed to take the pledge. That would
cheaper il. But where the moral stAmina
has not been destroyed l believe in thu
essential soundness OF the human. heart
And | believe it is the duty Of Judges tc
develop the germ Of goodness
Judge Pollard's friends are fond OF tell
ing the mule story. 1t Is this: "A ma
had been arrested by the humane society
for working an animal with a sore shoulder
A veterinary surgeon, testifying for the
defendant, said that, though the shoulder
was sore, the collar was such an excellent
fit that the animal did not suffer.
S.Judge Pollard had the mule brought e
the court house. He found a great raw
place on its shoulder, which he touched
with his cane. The mule WINGED: The
Judge again touched IL. The mule kicked
and SHE'D. Then all returned to the cour1
room.
sThat mule is more eloquent in its silen
hinohinG than all the volubility OF you mel
here" said Judge Pollard, and the man wa
fined $50.