The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

he has relaxed in his efforts to break
up this form of crime, because under
the criticisms made against him 1t was
charged that these arrests were made
purely for fees, and we find that the
fees are charged against the criminals
and not against the law abiding citi-
zens and taxpayers of the county.
another great cause of vagrancy in
this county is that while the law re-
quires that convict lessees shall return
the convict to the county from which
he came, upon the expiration of his
sentence, this is not done, and he re-
mains in Jefferson county where he has
been discharged and almost invariably
becomes a vagrant and a criminal. We
recommend that steps be taken to en-
force the law which requires the con-
Wet lesses to return the discharged
convict to the county whence he came.
Wherever 1t was possible to procure
the evidence we have indicted every
vagrant, and we trust that when these
people are brought before your honor,
you will, If they are convicted, since
they will not work for themselves, re-
quire them to work for the county.
MANY of the localities In Birming-
ham are filled with vagrants, men and
women, white and colored, and except
through the work of Judge Abernethy,
aided by two police officers assigned
by the city commission, it appears that
break up this most prolific source of
crime. However, we are glad to note
that the city commission of Birming-
ham, through its police department has
begun a vigorous campaign, which
promises, If continued, to greatly de-
crease If not eradicate, this particular
offense. and we earnestly recommend
the continuance of this plan of action
Gambling
1--WE have inquired into the gambling
situation in Jefferson county and beg
to report that as result of our in
vestigation that gambling in all of its
forms is very nearly openly practiced
In the city of Birmingham, as we'll as
in some of the outlying towns. and we
are inclined to believe that until the
beginning of the fall term of this court
there was no vigorous nor determined
effort to suppress it; we have inquired
into this question diligently and have
returned large number of true bills,
both against gamblers and keepers of
gambling houses, and we believe that IL
convictions follow these indictments
and these lawless and dangerous char
acters are put on the public works of
the county it will have tendency to
effectually prohibit this sort of crime.
However, we note with considerable
pride that under the vigorous handling
of this matter by Capt. Martin Eagan
and his corps of men that most, If not
all, of the known gambling houses In
Birmingham are today closed.
eve have been advised and believe
that the hourly visits and the continued
presence of police officers In these
haunts of vice have pretty effe&tualiy
closed them, at least for the time being,
and we further believe IL this line of
action is continued within a short time
gambling houses in Birmingham will
be a thing of the past. From the per-
sonal examination of a large number
of gambling houses in Birmingham. a
committee of your grand jury found
that the entrance to all of these places
was barred by from two to seven doors,
and these doors were of heavy ma
terial, many of them being made of
cured by from two to six bolts and
bars. all of which could only be oper-
ated from the inside. They were fur
ther protected by electrical devices.
such as bells, buzzes and push buttons,
so that warning was given from the
outside Into the gambling houses when
a police officer other person un-
known to the watcher, who was on duty
on the outside of these places.
Upon further investigation on the
inside of these places we found that the
doors and windows leading to the fire
escapes and Railways from these houses
were screened with heavy wire screens,
in some instances three -eighths of an
inch In size, which prevented egress to
the fire escapes and Railways and
made these buildings absolutely danger