Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-06-23
Miseellantuus Rsading.
JUSTICE IN VERA CRUZ
How American Methods are Being
Applied to Greasers.

How American Methods are Being
Applied to Greasers.
The ordinary citizen, writes Jack
London in Golfers for June Goth, in
any city at home may pursue his rou-
tine of life for days, weeks and months
and see nothing out of the way or dis
orderly. And yet, day and night, and
all days and nights, disorderly acts
will have taken place and the many
offenders will have been combed by
the police from the riffraff of the city
and brought before the courts.
Vera Cruz, at the present time, de-
spite it's military occupation, has all
the seeming of such a city. All is
quiet and seemly on the streets, where
just the other day men were killing
one another on the sidewalks and
house tops. The very spiggoty police,
known, some of them, to have engaged
in shipping our men, have been put
back to. work under our army admins
tration. And yet for a city Of this size,
more than the usual combing Of the
riffraff is necessary. 1t is the desire
Of the military government, among
other things, to rid the city Of all able
bodied loafers, whether Mexican or
foreign. If Mexican, they are sent out
through the lines; if foreign, they are
deported to their respective countries.
On the other hand, there is nothing
hasty in this cavalier treatment. Pet
ty offenders continually receive dis
missals or suspended sentences for
first offenses. Nor is the right to be
represented by counsel denied anyone.
A visit to the Inferior Provost court
in the municipal palace proved most
illuminating. Here at desk across
which flowed a steady stream Of doc
uments, in olive-drab shirt and riding
trousers, with AS automatic at his
hip, sat a blond lawgiver, taken from
the command Of his company in the
18th infantry to administer the law of
Mexico and the orders above Mexican
law, which have been issued by the
provost marshal general.
At the desk beside the captain
Judge, the enlisted man, in uniform,
pounded a typewriter, kept record of
decisions, fines, imprisonments, and
probations, and performed the rest of
the tasks of a police court clerk. Sol
diers clacked across the square marble
flags Of the court room floor, and came
and went, carrying messages, appear
ing and disappearing through high
doorways and under broad arches. In
one corner a soldier telegrapher oper-
ated an army telegraph.
Strapping soldiers, with bayonets
fixed, guarded the doorway that led
both to freedom md to the cells. Be-
tween these guards, small people, fur
tive or sullen, came and Went-if wit
ness, summoned frcm without by an
alert little spigotty bailiff; If prisoners
escorted by armed soldiers.
AS is usual with our police courts at
home, not one but many cases are go
ing on simultaneously. A fresh wit
ness in a case Of theft, sent for half an
hour before, arrives and gives evil
dence between the payment Of a fine
and the fuddled protestations Of an
Indian woman that she was not drunk
the preceding evening. While the
court interpreter has halted the testi-
mony of a suspected fence in order to
look up in the dictionary the English
equivalent for a Spanish phrase. the
captain Judge admonishes a hotel
keeper on the conduct Of his house,
dispatches a policeman to bring into
court two pairs Of stolen trousers, evil
IDENTIFY germane to some other case
that is somehow in process OF being
tried, and listens to the remarks Of a
Spanish lawyer appearing for some
man not yet brought from the cells.
The stream of many cases thins for
a moment, and the captain Judge, who
has the bluest Of blue eyes and the
fairest of fair hair, calls the name,
"Francisco Ibanez de Peralta."
A peon, covered with rags for the
price of which six cents would be an
eXtortion, shambles up and bows hum
bly,.
Tell him that he was drunk and
disorderly on the street last night, the
captain judge says to the interpreter.
This being duly communicated, the
culprit makes brief reply, which is
translated by the interpreter as:
That's right. He says he was drunk
all right and is sorry"
Has he steady work." asked the
captain judge.
mo. He says he is a cargador and
works when he can"
Tell him if he is brought here
again he will be given sixteen days
turn him loose" is the verdict.
Next appears Serafina Cruz. She IS
blear-eyed and semi comatose.
Tell the lady she was drunk again
yesterday" says the court to the in
terpreter
Serafina acknowledges the soft i'm
parchment with ISL" a nod, and a
yawn.
Second offense, 16 days in which to
sober up-she needs it," is the courts s
judgment, and Serafina is trailed
away to the cells by big American
soldier.