The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-29
'BROWER REPLIES !. ID AUST|N'S CHARGE Says the Negroes Released Were Not Professional
 Gamblers

Deputy sheriffs are not directing the policy of the solicitors office. This was in effect, the gist of the | remarks of Assistant Solicitor Walter l S. Brewer in reply to a complaint by
 Conrad W. Austin, deputy sheriff to Judge William E. Fort, about some ne- groes that had been freed on their own recognizance from a charge of Sunday gaming. Judge Fort followed the recom- | mendation of MT. Brewer in releasing them.
 Tt is the natural tendency" said MT Brewer, in commenting on Austin s charges, that where a pernicious fee system exists deputy sheriffs would re- | sent the freeing of a few negroes. By this I do not mean that Sheriff Batson | is personally In favor of the arrest of negroes on frivolous charges for the benefit of the fees that accrue The so l licitors office knows that Sheriff Bat son Is In hearty sympathy with it's poll cies but the deputy shefiffs in his em- ploy are not so sympathetic. Tn the cases that MT. Austin criti- cized us on we had carefully investi- gated and found that they were hard working negroes whose only offense consisted in throwing dice on Sunday They were not professional gamblers and it would have been persecution to have kept them in jail. We recommend ed that they should be allowed to go and we will continue to do so in the future unless we are dealing with vag- rants and professional gamblers"
 Following is the protest of Deputy Austin that was filed before Judge Fort yesterday:
 "The action of the solicitors depart ment in freeing negro gamblers on their own recognizance is proving a stum- bling block in the way of the sheriff $ office in enforcing the law.
 Several weeks ago we arrested a number of white men one Sunday aft ernoon at Second avenue and Twenty fourth street for shooting craps. These white men remained in jail several weeks before they were able to make for gambling. They are still confined in jail, unable to make bond.
 At every term of the grand jury a number of white men are indicted for gambling, and their causes pursue the same course as those of persons charged with other crimes and which go through the regular court routine.
 AS every man In town knows, the negro crooks hang around negro gam bling games There have been a num- Der of murders committed by negroes as a direct result of negro gaming. A prominent doctor met his death at the hands of negro who had just left a craps game in which he had lost all his money, and apparently had made up his mind to hold up the first man he met.
 We are not prosecuting the negroes of Jefferson county. I have taken part in about seven raids on negro gamblers since taking my present position When accepted this position I told Sheriff Batson that l. would not take it If the same conditions prevailed which had existed in lce past, and said I would not use spott.s's, and I am not doing so. When we receive complaints of ne- gro gamblers we endeavor to provide relief
 Prior to Sheriff Batson taking office it had beeu the cpstom to pay spotters 50 cents per head for each person caught in a gambling raid. This cus- tom Is not in effect now. and I do not think we should be hampered by the solicitors office in our efforts to en- force the law. If the word gets out among the negro population that ne- groes are practically not being prose- -cuted for gambling, it will result in ex- tremely bad conditions.
 In a number of instances negroes have been released on their recog- nizance, returned later pleaded guilty and paid small fines, while others have been sent to jail for an hour"