Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1916 — TOO SEVERE A PUNISHMENT [ARTICLE]

TOO SEVERE A PUNISHMENT

Tramp Objected to So Long a Sojourn in a Town That Shall Remain Nameless. A certafii town —not the one you live in, dear reader, but it’s nearest and dearest rival —was noted for being dead slow. There was no amusement in the place, not even so much as a moving-picture show, and everybody went to bed at nine o’clock every night because there was no other place to go. One day a tramp was caught begging in the streets of this town and was promptly arrested and arraigned before the justice of the peace. After hearing the evidence the magistrate put on his sternest look and said: "It appears from the testimony presented here that you are a vagrant without visible means of support. In order that you may not become a charge upon the taxpayers of a respectable community I sentence you to leave this town in three hours.” “Aw Judge,” pleaded the tramp, with a look of abject terror in his face, “have a heart, won’t yer? I didn’t do nuthin’ but ask a guy fer a nickel. Please don’t make me stay in dis burg all dat time. Make it three minutes, Judge, can’t yer?” ]