The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-23
POLICE STARTING WAR ON MIGRANTS BOdeker Talks About Nests
 of Vice NEGRO OFFENDERS
OFFENDERS
NEGRO
Meat Markets and Grocery Stores on the South Side Have Been Mak- ing Attempts to Operate on Sundays

The week ending yesterday was one of the quietest in the history of the police department of Greater Birmingham. There was not a single disorder of note and even the minor offenders showed n falling off
 There were but two negro killings in the city, and so far as is known at the sher- | itl's cffice there was not single killing outside of Birmingham in Jefferson coun- l ty. A week with only two killings is such . rare thing in Jefferson county that considerable remark was occasioned among the officials.
 1 The negroes in the disorderly districts of the city have been unusually quiet for the past several weeks. It is believed that this is the result of the wholesale arrest and conviction of the vagrants that infest the alleys by the officers of the police department.
 A vigorous campaign is in progress against this class of negroes and Chief 1 Bodeker has impressed upon his men the fact that they must abate this nuisance. 1 Chief Bodeker spoke interestingly on the vagrant question yesterday to a repre- sentative of The Age-Herald. He said:
 "rhe negro vagrants and pool-roorn sharks of Birmingham must either go to work or get out of the city. l have in- structed my men to make haste slowly in the matter of arresting vagrants and have enough evidence to convict before they make the arrest As a result of this We have slowly but surely been wedding out the petty negro criminal and the loafers that hang arouhd Eighteenth street from First 10 Fifth avenues and in other DOT tions of the city, particularly of the 1 Southside.
 l "Of course, they are not entirely erad- eated, but within short time we hope to abate the nuisance considerably. Num- bers of arrests have been made and in nearly every case convictions secured.
 "The negro vagrants' cause more trouble in a city than all the other criminal class combined. They are harder to handle and more vicious, From this class are drawn the sneak thieves that operate in the residence sections, the purse snatcher and other petty criminals. The negro women have not been overlooked either and numbers of them have been arrested and fined These run the coke joints that are fre- lvquented by the men. In many cases the operators of the joints are negro | women.
 During my experience as d police officer l have found that the negro pool rooms are a trouble breeder. These | places are the headquarters of the negro riff-raff and vagrants. 1 Tba aff watch such places and the results of | the crusade against the. negro vagrart are already being seen.
 | Incidentally it might be stated that the white vagrants are also getting their share of attention" As a result of numerous arrests made on the Southside the places which have been operating on Sunday in vio- lation of the blue laws have practically been closed. About 10 arrests have been made during the past two weeks by Officers Tyler and Darnell South side scouts, and in the majority of cases convictions were secured The officers state that they found groceries and meat mark cts doing a rushing business on Sunday morning
 
 laws The places were warned that further violation of the law would nos be tolerated and instructed them to close their places on Sunday morning. | Many of the dealers disregarded the warning and were promptly placed un der bond by the officers. At present, state the officers, it is impossible 10 buy any groceries or food on the Southside on Sunday morning. | Those arrested were fined S25.