The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-12-07
'OLICE SEE HUMAN
SOULS LAID BARE
Zoe and Occasional Joy Por-
trayed by Most Natural
Actors in World.
!lLLAlNS AND HEROlNES
ANY PLOTS COME TO STATION
SOONER OR LATER.

49,
81 Once, or maybe twice in lifetime, the
n erage man has occasion to visit the
own sandstone building Of woes over
81 East First South street.-The police
Is alton. When this epoch of his life oc-
rs he is usually a-quiver with excite
mt furiously angry or trembling
s. tn fear, and, altogether, unable to see
understand the happenings about
m. After he reaches the cool outer
81 he dimiy remembers q brass graf
8 g, which looks something like the
shier's window in a bank, and blue
3 lated individual Of whom others spoke
81 the desk sergeant. There his recol-
81 elton ends. He has seen a strange
Nv species of humanity. something
81 Mich appeared to be in rather raw
@ad primitive state. and he returns to
home as ignorant and unconcerned
IN ever about the sorting place of hu-
~ IN heartaches and villainy.
III He does not know that a police SER
.s( ant settles family rows, finds lost
n iildren, advises panicky strangers and
81 7nerally keeps his finger on the pulse
E life i'm Salt Lake. Neither does he
q low that the helpless and hopeless, the
q oebegone miscreants of a pitiful
~ pc find kindness in the desk ser
ants office when it exists nowhere
Sc He does not know that in one
= CHIT the average desk sergeant sees
cry side of human emotion, every
"a pc of human smaliness, selfishness,
"a wardice, bravery and self-sacrifice.
81 lere are other things besides these
~ at he does not know, but these serve
explain in a way how dimly he ap-
s. eciates the hUmaneness Of the official
CINE of the law i'm this city-the
81 lice station machinery.
II is Saturday night i'm the police sta
q ln. Last Saturday night, to be exact
End in the desk seTgeant's office, for
I his is the mill into which the human
ssbtSam and jetsam is first drawn. 1t
q about S o'clock, for this is the hour
q hen the real work of the early night
aitTol begins ON this night in partic-
II ar the police reporter of The Herald
81 epubhcan gathered the little stories
81 II real news stOries-but after all, the
n ggest stories in the lives of the per-
3 ms interested.
One Night With Police.
Desk Sergeant A. A. Spears is at the
telephone desk chatting with Lieuten-
ant r. L. Shannon, the latter in charge
,f the shift. Big Denny Sullivan, patrol
diver, is arguing with Detective How
ellis back of the railing that separates
the sergeant's office from the rear Of
the building. PatTOlman Mike Conyers
is also on office duty. The police re
porter is perched on a stool near the
sergeants desk.
At s O'Clock the telephone rang in
, TvOus staccatO, which may mean that
. 1me one is drunk. some one has been
1 .urdered. some wife has been beaten by
drunken husband, or that a fire is
ping out a section of the city. One
Of the joys of answering that telephone
is that you never know until you have
been told whether its ring means loss
of life or the prOsaic "Cassady-aU
right, which is the outside patrolman's
method of notifying his superior that
is still on the job.
:. The bell rang. Sergeant Spears an
4 vered it.
4 whats happened over there?"
froned his voice, dryly uninterested
Fever varying in its tone, whether the
tarsOn at the other end is telling of a
dlOOting or a drunken man raising a
ow.
q Been fighting over there, you say?
j 1876 West South Temple, I'll send a
ian.
s "Griffin, go over and put the kibosh
! n that row i'm South Temple street"
4 Obedient to order, Policeman Griffin
q rolls leisurely from the station. He
d no more interested than the sergeant,
pr he knows that the disturbers Of the
B sace will doubtless have disappeared
s efore he can arrive.
s Just as Policeman Griffin leaves the
8 alton, there comes, drifting in out of
ie snow and chilling wind, two youth
y Il dcrelicts of fortune.
s. kin we git place ter stay all
81 ght?' timidly asks one, as he shoves
q peaked, wistful face through the graf
g.
.s"Ever been back there?" asks the
q argeant
q No: we just blew inter town to-
8 ght"
e Hey, Wilkinson" calls the desk ser
q ant, "show these fellows to their
4 oms. What's your names?"
a 1T. r Eaton and Harry Dodges."
q The names are registered. Each gives
q : age as l9 years. Mere boys, farther
rom home perhaps than ever before
cifters i'm the night-homeless wan
/ ereTs. and vet neither bears the mark
81 vice on his face.
Grim Humor Of JaiIer.
f There's no feather beds down there"
avs Jaiier Wilkinson. not unzindly. but
rimly facetiOUs as he thinks of the
{ ard cement floor upon which the two
I cary wayfarers are presently to
d reich themselves, sheltered from the
/ bid and no more.
! we didn't expect feathers" said one
4 the youths. And there are no feath-
g. They spend the night on a cement
Mrs. WinsIow's Soothing Syrup.