Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-04-20
BEFORE THE PEOPLES BAR
Emma eSutss Once here Lands In Her
Accustomed Place In Jail.
UNABLE TO RESIST THE TEMPER
Abruptly the Judge Breaks late
Her story with Those Omit
nouS words "Ninety
Days"


BInma Contee. a woman Of color and
aristPcratio mien. knows the way from
Ninth street and Capitol avenue to the city
jail and from there to the county institu-
ton. more Familiarity known In her set as
"the hin,'' better than the grizzled mariner
knows the paths Of the sea and tho stars
in the heavens by which he guides his craft.
She knows every bump and every hole In
the street and Just when 70 brace herself
In the patrol wagon to meet the Jar Of the
clumsy vehicle and Friday morning she
was given another lesson.
Among the fixed appointments Of the
room Of the peoples bar. Of the bull pen
adjoining and Of the cell room down be-
low" has grown to be the face and figure
of Emma Contee. but when the familiar
form passed through the portals and into
the august presence It occasioned sur
prise, for not much more than a week had
passed since his honor dispatched her to
the hatch on the hill for sOjOurn OF ninety
days In company with two others equally
blessed with color. for having been mixed
up In the heecing Of a granger Of his roll.
Emma Contee and one Of the others had
! made application to appeal their cases, but
Judge Crawford would not o. X. her bond,
but he did offer to take her straw bond IL
she would promise by ell she holds dear
in the burnt district or elsewhere to wipe
herself from the face OF the earth immedi-
ately. so far as the peoples bar and Omaha
is concerned. and she gave her word that
her disappearance should be speedy, COM
plete and everlasting.
But here she was She was the same old
figure, wore the same old dress and the
same old smile, and It was plain abe hadn't
even gone SO far as South Omaha But she
was there with the goods" Not the least
was she disturbed that she was back in
court because she had broken her word Of
honor. that most brittle of things in the
world. She could easily relate to the judge
how someone had knocked it out of her
hand and It fell to the floor and broke
with loud crash; how an explosion had
taken place next door and knocked 1t into
a thousand pieces before she had had time
to save it, or how the train had struck it
as she was about to carry out its pur-
pose. 1t would be an easy matter to give
an excuse. She was good at that and had
saved herself from many a tight place by
being quick with excuses. She'd tell him
any old thing and II one wouldn't work she
might change her plea and try another.
Nothing to It: nothing to
Ninety days"
From out the stiffness behind the bar
where he sat in apparently calm con-
7 temptation of the persistent one, whose
presence had become so frequent and op-
pressive. the words fioated sternly, and she
knew that the incident had come to an
abrupt end. Drawing her skirts about her
to save the floor as much as she could, she
I retraoed her steps and, in going she no
/ tced that the threshold had been worn
! down one-sixteenth of an inch since her
: last visit She was going back to familiar
| scenes and surroundings, where every OBJ
ject was as well known as her dress.
He admitted his name was Peter when
! Desk Sergeant Patsy Havey asked him
| Thursday night, and also admitted he was
very flip in his remarks. so he was booked
! as Peter Flip, charged with being drunk
/ and lying on the walk Patrol Conductor
Fahey had had a hard time waking Mr..
Flip from his sound slumber in the soft
I slushy snow he was using for a mattress
and the flipness Of Mr. Flip few up at
the oflcer's interference. However. this
was not made a part Of the report and
his honor saw no reason for not granting
the prisoners plea to be given his freedom,
promising never, never, to do 1t again.
Martin Callahan walked about the street
Thursday night wallowlng in the water and
slush. His feet were cold and there was a
pain in his stomach and nothing else. He
was very hungry He saw the people
seated at the long counter in a restaurant
on Farnam street getting filled up, and he
longed to be one of them. But he was dead
broke. 1t was then all the grievances
against the rich passed in review before
his mind and he determined he was going
to eat whether anyone paid for his meal
or not and three-quarters of an hour later
his appetite was more than appeased with
an inch-thick beefsteak. with all the good
things on the side his mind could conjure
up. In the words OF the comedian who
cared for expense when someone else paid
for It?
| He glanced with contempt at the slip of
paper giving the price of the repast and
started for the door. But Chris. who holds
sway at the money drawer, reminded him
gently that something had been forgotten
| Callahan lost no time in explaining that
he had no money with which to pay, and
Chris in turn lost no time in calling Ser
geant Sigwart, who sent the man to Jail
The restaurant people declined to appear
against Callahan in police court in the
morning and Judge Crawford sentenced him
to ninety days Imprisonment. But he had
had ono square meal just the same.
|