The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-03-30
CALMNESS ASSET
OF MOST PEOPLE
WHEN ARRESTED
DIR. Sutton Discusses Atti-
tude Of Birmingham
Citizens To Being Jailed
DRUNKENNESS BIG
TROUBLE FACTOR
Loud MOuthed Braggart
Is Bad Type To Handle,
Says Warden
Some lfoks bite; some folks scratch ;

Some lfoks bite: some folks scratch !;
some folks stay just calm.
Some are belligerent; some weep in
coherent statements about the people
at home, but again. the most Of them
behave themselves, and act perfectly
calm, realizing that nothing 10 to be
gained by arguing or pleading with
the authorities. !.
Such was the general substance Of
of information given out Saturday aft
ternoon by DIR. Sutton, warden Of the
city jail during the morning shift,
when discussing the attitude taken by
the average person arrested by an
authorized officer of the law, and taken
to the city jail with the prospects
of passing several nights in confine-
ment.
DRINKS TreubIeseme
Virtually all the trouble we have
with prisoners comes from drunken
ness" DIR. Sutton says. "It is very
seldom that we have any trouble with
a sober man. The average sober per-
son is entirely too wise-he knows
there is nothing to be gained by being
0bstreperous and mean.
Most of the DRINKS that are brought
in, IL any sense at all remains in
them, contend they are not drunk, and
that their arrest was wholly uncalled
for. In the drunk cases that come
in here one can find manifested all
the phases of mental alteration, from
mania to hysteria.
"One Of the most common phases
of near insanity is that in which the
drunken person walks with a hating
gait. frequently the alcohol has re.
acted on him to such an extent that
he is completely paralyzed. When q
drunk who has reached the stage where
he believes himself to be perfectly sober
he becomes truly troublesome. He IL
obstreperous, mean, argumentative and
belligerent. 1t is with this class that
we have most trouble,
Jail Aristocrats
Considerable difficulty is experienced
also with the so-called better dass
of residents. No matter what charge
they are arrested on they are always
unwilling to be placed in Jail. They
argue with the police, the wardens and
anyone who viii listen to them ON the
contention that they are entirely too
good to be locked up with the common
run of criminals. They seem to feel
that their station in life ia superior
to that Of the other prisoners.
Occasionally on arrester man win
fight before submitting to search and
being locked up. These eases are COM
paratiyely rare, however, and only two
or three times since I've been here
have ] had to strike a man before I
could lock him up.
Frequently white women burst into
tears when they learn they viii have
to pass the night in jail. This In
caused both by an hysterical stage Of
drunkenness, and by feeling Of true
shame that they should have SO con-
Quoted themselves as to be forced to
pass night behind the bars. I've
seen quite few men cry, too, when
they were put in jail.
Become Solicitors
These men usually sob loudly and
claim to be very solicitous about their
home folks. They tell Of their wives
home-perhaps they mention d sweet
heart. But their pleas are in a way
rather ridiculous. Frequently they
come from some man who has been
out on wild" party all night. He
had made himself drunk and conducted
himself confronted by the iron bars Ell
perhaps, without even a thought of what
his wife or mother would think about
the affair. But as soon as he finds
and mother and children at
himself confronted by theron bars he
il. all solicitation for their feelings in
the matter.
Another type we have to deal with
Is the loud-mOuthed braggart. Go
ahead, lock me up--I don't care, he
announces. He usually is in that
stage of intoxication where he feels
that he really is perfectly sober and
where he is positive that the judge will
be convinced Of it the next morning and
free him."