The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-03
BesSemer Win Favor It If AL lowed a New $100,000
 Courthouse
JOB GOING DISCUSSES
 SENTIMENT IN COUNTY
Albert Stradford, for Many Years Chief Deputy, Favors Skyscraper and Opposes Moving Prisoners
 Away From Courts.

lHe matter or the erectlOn or new courthouse and jail is becoming a more live proposition every day, and I believe matters will be in shape so that the is- sue, if 1t may be called one, can be put before the voters of the county within the next 30 days,' said Job Going of the Board of Revenue yesterday.
 "The board is not ready to make any positive statement as to when an elec- tion will be called or whether one will be called at all, but the people seem to be taking hold of the proposition right along. and from all appearances the matter will be pushed to a vote at comparatively early date
 '"I have been down to Bessemer, and something of the old sentiment still pre- vails there. It will be recalled that Besse- mer voted heavily against the proposition of the erection of a new courthouse and jail about year ago when bond elec- tion was called for that purpose. At that time the new county was a live issue in Bessemer and they wanted a new court house down there, and these two propo- sitions accounted for the heavy vote against the bond issue.
 "The general sentiment at Bessemer now is that if Jefferson county will give her $100, 900 worth of bonds for the erec- tion of courthouse the citizens there will vote for the bond issue for the erection of new courthouse and jail in Brming- ham.
 "The Board of Revenue cannot commit itself either way on this proposition just at present, but 1t is not improbable that an election will be called at compara- lively early date'
 Albert Stradford, who was chief deputy sheriff under Andrew Burgin's adminis- tration as sheriff, is opposed to moving the jail away from the courthouse, but favors the erection of a skyscraper court house, and urges the erection of build ing large enough to serve for the next 50 years. The following interesting letter
 was received from MT. Stradford yester- day:
 | To the Editor of The Age-Herald: Being interested in the discussion of re-
 moving the "Carbuncle" from it's pres | ent location, I desire to express some | ideas that occurred to me during the sev- eral years service in the sheriffs office. In the first place, to remove the jail away from the courthouse would be a great mistake, costing the county untold sums in delays of the courts in sending for prisoners as witnesses, whose presence is not desired long enough in advance to have them handy. The matter of extra
 hailiffs in carrying prisoners to and fro
 would be quite an item, and added to this is the danger of escapes and the un- slightly parade through the streets two or four times day.
 | Mobile county had just such an exper- fence with jail remote from the court house and the county has only recently | completed new jail adjoining the court | house.
 | The "szyscraper" building has much to | recommend it to the public. It is the | cheapest form of durable architecture, | it economies all space, 1t can be carried
 any reasonable height, 1t can remove the
 prisoners so high that they are safe from
 escape through the walls or over the top,
 and cease to become a nuisance to the public.
 | quired for public use the ycould be grad enough for the next fifty years and this would necessarily leave much vacant | space, which could be rented to attorneys | for offices which would bring in quite
 nice sum toward defraying the interest on
 the bonds and as their space was re-
 quired for public us they could be grad ually eliminated.
 l The county could well afford to provide | its own water, lights, heat and power, l as is now done in the Title Guarantee | building. The water and light bill for the
 courthouse and jail is quite an item, and
 by erecting a suitable tank for water and
 boring well on the county property suf- | ficient pressure could be developed for all | practical purposes, and one competent
 engineer and one apprentice helper could
 attend to all the problems connected with
 all the machinery and plumbing of the
 county.
 | In the matter of renting offices the
 county would have decided advantage over all other buildings for attorneys. and the county being exempt from taxa ton could make even better rate for rents than any one else.
 | There can be no justice in removing a nuisance from one neighborhood to an- other. where 1t will be just as great a
 nuisance to others. The jail property
 really has prior claim in its present
 neighborhood. I am, of course, in favor
 of rendering 1t just as inoffensive as pos
 sible, but let it stay with the courthouse | by all means. Yours very truly | ALBERT STRADFORD, | Real Estate Transfers.