"
"Why, Daddy Crow, he was the most heartless brute in the world!" cried
Rosalie. "I've seen him knock her down more than once--and kick her,
too."
"A slip of the memory, that's all. He was probably thinkin' of his wife,
if he has one."
At a public meeting the town board was condemned for its failure to
strengthen the jail at the time Anderson made his demand three years
before.
"What's the use in me catchin' thieves, and so forth, if the jail won't
hold 'em?" Anderson declared. "I cain't afford to waste time in runnin'
desperite characters down if the town board ain't goin' to obstruct 'em
from gittin' away as soon as the sun sits. What's the use, I'd like to
know? Where's the justice? I don't want it to git noised aroun' that the
on'y way we c'n hold a prisoner is to have him commit suicide as soon as
he's arrested. Fer two cents I'd resign right now."
Of course no one would hear to that. As a result, nearly five hundred
dollars was voted from the corporation funds to strengthen and modernise
the "calaboose." It was the sense of the meeting that a "sweat box"
should be installed under Mr. Crow's supervision, and that the marshal's
salary should be increased fifty dollars a year. After the adoption of
this popular resolution Mr. Crow arose and solemnly informed the people
that their faith in him was not misplaced.
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