The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27
WALKER PERCY VIGOROUS
 IN DENOUNCING SYSTEM s
 USED BY SHERIFF M M'ADORY
Thinks Outrage That Sheriff Should Pay Men Dollar Each for Swearing Out Warrants Against Their Neighbors
 for Trivial Misdemeanors

Jefferson county2 What Is probably the character of a man. not public official who will undertake to make his living by swearing out warrants for the arrest of his neishbors, for trivial msdemeanors, at dollar per swear? If you were on the jury and the sole witness against the de- fendant was a man who made his living in this manner, how much credit would you give his testimony? Is the sheriff of Jefferson county a conservator of the peace or a persecutor of the poor? Is q hribe to be offered. reward to be paid for the instigation of frivolous prosecu- tons?
 Army of Deputies
 'The sheriff of Jefferson county has on his staff an army of deputies. Cannot they fill the county jail without paying men charged with no official responsibili- ty tB swear out warrants? One of our judges said 10 me today, in discussing this matter. that if the white people of this county were harassed and oppressed by the fee system. and by the so-caled conservators of the peace, as our friend less and helpless negroes are, that the jail and courthouse would be torn down. and I believe that statement to be liter ally true. It has been charged against previous sheriffs that when business was dull and the sheriff's boarding house was empty. that negro employees or the sher- frs office were paid to go out to the min ing camps of the district and start crap games which were afterward raded by the sheriff and his trusted deputies. don't know whether that rlimor was true or not but believe that Walter K Me- Adory's latest admitted practice is near ly as bad, and believe if is calculated, if not ernphatically condemned. to lead to much perjury and to many arrests of in nocent people.
 'fWhy does the sheriff of Jefferson coun- ty pay s1 for each warrant sworn out Under the law, the sheriff receives g for each arrest in misdemeanor cases. sl for each bond returned to court. and if the person arrested is so friendless and poor that he cannot make bond. then the sheriff receives another fee of g for guarding the prisoner. of course. there are innum- erable other fees received by the sheriff in each case. for subpoenaing witnesses and similar services. and in addition the sheriff Is paid by the state 3o cents per day for each prisoner he boards. l have been advised by an exceedingly well in- formed public official that the sheriff of this county clears at least sf000 month on the board of his prisoners.
 Condemned By Dr. Oates
 How would you like a few days in that boarding house? It has been condemned by pr. Oates, state prison inspector and one of our most energetic and useful pub lie officials. as being unfit for human habtation, but the sheriff tries to keep it full just the same. Dr. Oates says it is an ideal breeding place for tuberculo- sis. You may not care anything about the friendless negro who is arrested for some trivial nisdemeanor on a warrant sworn out by a paid informer, but if he had been allowed to go on and work he would have earned dollar and a half day that would have found it's way into the channels of commerce and tend ed to swell the wealth of the community. When he is lying in McAdory's boarding house, that dollar and a half day is lost Moreover. the state has spent a cents g day for his board, and when his case has been finally thrown out of court , with the emphatic condemnation of a inst indge as was done by Judge Cana iar i-, the Dewi'ins case. it is quite prob able that another tubercular has been sens a0rth to spread the germs of dis | errs snd death anong the people of the county and to become for life a burden anon the charity of the community.
 T understand from the state prison in spector that knives and forks and spoons are not furnished to McAdory's hoarders, but that they take thcil co-.se fac oet