The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-24
Judge is Within Law in
Sending Boy Over ID
Years Old to the
Coal Mines
TALLAPOOSA CASE
HAS STIRRED STATE
AGAINST THE SYSTEM
Jasper Boys Who Rode Freight En-
tered Banner Mines for First
Time on Day of Explo-
sion
BY CHARLES II. MANDY

On August 10 an article appeared in The
Age-Herald under the heading Alabama S
Growing Shame"
Tt dealt with the case of Russell Head,
IA year old boy who was sentenced to
ak months at hard labor in the coal
mines for jumping court contract. The
facts in the case briefly are that the boy
was caught in Tallapoosa county stealing
a ride on a train. lie was tazen before
a court Of competent jurisdiction and a
money fine imposed.
Unable to pay the fine he was "farmed
out to a farmer" who confessed Judgment
and paid the fine for which the boy con-
tracted to perform a certain amount of
labor The boy ran away before the COM
pletion of his contract. was taken before
the judge who had imposed the fine, sem
fenced to six months in the coal mines
serve out his sentence,
Interest of Mr.. Rylance
That the article attracted some attention
is evidenced from the fact the L. S. Ry-
lance of Tallapoosa county addressed a
letter to the editor of The Age-Herald,
stating the article in question did the Of
ficials of that county an injustice in that
the suggestion was made that they had
profited by the fine and cost imposed
ON the boy. The Mobile Register in its
editorial columns took issue with the
writer on the grounds that the Judge of
the court who sentenced the boy to the
mines was at fault and not the laws of
the state. Later q letter came from D..
NJ Weakey, superintendent of the Ala
bama Boys Industrial school, calling at
tention to the fact that Alabama furnish
ed refuge for boys caught in the meshes
of the law like the case referred to.
The letters and editorial were courteous
and fair, in fact they were rather COM
plimentary, yet. the writer feels that in
no instance DO they refute the fact that
a 14-year-old boy was sent to the coal
mines for six months, not for the crime he
had committed, but because of his nabil-
ity to pay a fine. Mr.. Rylance stated
that the sheriff was not the prosecutor
of the boy, but the farmer who paid him
out and that the sheriff sympathized with
the boy and regretted his Imprisonment.
The writer OF the article had no inten-
tion OF attacking the Individual. but rather
the7 system wherein fees could be OBJ
tained by the selling into practical slav-
ery'' of human being. Mr.. Rylance said
the judge was appealed to not to send
the boy TO the mines, but did SO in order
that the farmer who had confessed judg-
ment might get his money. I leave it to
the reader whether such a procedure is
shame to Alabama or not.
Contention of Register Writer
The gifted writer of the editorial that
appeared in the Mobile Register took is
sue with the writer of The Age-Herald
article on the grounds that the state by
it's laws prohibits the sending of boys
under 16 years of age to the mines, and
calls attention to the fact that the Ala
bama Boys Industrial school is a haven
for just such cases. He states the county
judge who sentenced the boy was ignorant
of the law and that he should have been
the point of censure and not the laws of
the state. He also refers to the fact that
no mention was made in the article of the
Boys Industrial school and the splendid
work it has done and is doing. The omis-
sion was unwittingly made for the same
writer has on all occasions whenever op-
portunity offered paid such tributes to it's
worth and noble purpose as within the
power of his pen.
In regard to the law in the case which
the Mobile Register editorial writer so
positively asserts is thus and so. 1t might
be of interest to cite sections of the code
OF Alabama bearing on the case.
In reply to the Registers editorial I as
sert
/. That the section referred to does not
apply to county convicts, but to state
onvicts oEly
,. That under the laws of the state of