Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-14
SUNRISE COURT IS POPULAR
Plan Of Chief Donahue to Deal with
DRINKS Commended.
PRAISED BY MANY KINDS OF MEN
chief f. Encouraged In Hts Eater
prise and Proposes TO Garry ~
Go = Successful Frui-
ton.

Chief Of Police Donahue is receiving
many encouraging words from men in all
walks Of life on his proposed sunrise
court and he Is determined to institute
such a court in Omaha II possible. The
matter was not brought to the stten-
ton of the Board Of Fire and Police Com
missioners Monday night on account of the
light attendance, but at the next meeting
the chief expects to present II and hopes to
get his new court established before the
Ak-Ssr-Ben festival.
Last year 2,4s9 plain drunks were ar
rested. and the chief says he will wager
that 1000 Of these were honest laboring
men who experienced bitter hardship by
reason Of the arrest. Most Of the arrests
for drunkenness are made on Saturday
night and during the early hours Of Sun
day. following the paying off Of the labor
ing men Saturday afternoon. Unless the
men arrested can give bond they must re-
main in Jail all day Sunday, deprived of
their rest and families at home, and appear
in police court Monday morning. Court
opens at 9 o'clock. two hours after the
average laborer must be at work. As a
result many of them lose their positions.
Novel Remedy Proposed.
To remedy this condition Chief Donahue
proposes to keep a separate ledger for
those arrested for simple drunkenness or
sleeping on sidewalks, when no other Of
Tense is committed. He says that no crime
is committed by a man when he takes a
few drinks too many, unless he Injuries
someone. When the officer making the ar
rest reports that the man arrested was
taken up simply for being drunk, the chief
propose to hold him only until he has
1 uNAa-.A 80, 1891 A. IN -. - l. -
where he lives and then to release him and
send him home upon his signing a waiver
promising not to get drunk again. BY this
way the man can spend his Sunday with
his family and rest up and be In shape
to work on Monday.
II fail to see how any man can blame
the poor laborer who works hard from
morning until night all week long for go
ing into a saloon on Saturday night and
taking a drink and visiting with his
friends" says the chief. He has not the
time or opportunity to mingle with his
friends during the week and Saturday night
is the only time he can visit with them
Possibly he takes two or three drinks toe
many and sits down on a doorstep and
goes to sleep until the officer nabs him
and takes him to jail.
Hardship on Family.
IF he can not give BOND to appear in
court Monday morning, and very few can,
he must lay in jail all day Sunday. This
not only works a hardship to himself, but
to his family and to his employer as we'll
His wife and children at home alone worry
about the husband and father and when
Monday morning arrives the contractor
finds he is short one or two men. The en-
ployer is handicapped and II a rush OF
work is on a serious loss results, unless
another man can be secured to take the
place of the one in jail. In that event the
man arrested simply for taking an extra
glass Of beer loses his job and in many
cases sours on society and becomes an
anarchist, He is out OF work. his revenue
ceases, his family suffers from hunger,
and much wrong and hardship results.
This can all be remedied by allowing the
man arrested for being drunk to go on his
W recognizsnce after signing the waiver
not to get drunk again. and l think that II
would be found that the great majority
will keep their word. This waiver PROPOSE
ton would not apply to the hobo and
habitual saloon hanger on. but the officers
can tell an honest laboring man from a
hobo any time"
Met in County jail.
The chief believes that much more good
can be done through kindness than through
punishment and deprecates the jail sen.
fences which under the present system
must be given young boys and others ar.
rested for being drunk when they can moi
pay the s. or 80 fine assessed. He recalls
the murder OF -Nels Lausten. the Cunning
street saloon keeper, in the fall of 1895
Each OF the four boys who committed the
crime, O'HeaIn, Warren, Nelson anC
Angus, told the chief that they wert
strangers to one another until they met
in the county jan. They were sentenced
to Jail for thirty days for being drunk
and while there planned to murder and rot
the Cunning street saloon keeper. Warner
was sentenced to sixteen years in the
state p~enitentiary and the other three boys
were sent up for life.