The Judge Who Stood Up to the Police

Quite a sensation was caused in the municipal court yesterday afternoon during the hearing of J. Humphrey, a Black man, who had been arrested by Officer Glasscock upon a charge of vagrancy, by Judge Rivers declaring that some of the policemen should not be allowed to make arrests except on warrants. Several vagrancy cases, which were brought into court with not enough evidence to secure a conviction, put Judge Rivers in a bad humor. Officer Glasscock testified that he had been told Humphrey was allowing a woman to support him. Humphrey had two witnesses who swore that he was running a lunch counter on Jackson street and that he was making good money. 'The defendant is discharged,' said Judge Rivers, and then turning to City Attorney Foster he said: 'I wish you would investigate more carefully these complaints before bringing them into court.' There was an oppressive silence and the judge then looked at the long row of prisoners in the dock and exclaimed: 'If there is as little evidence against these men as there is against Humphrey they may all go.' The judge further remarked: 'It is a shame the manner in which some of these officers abuse the authority with which they happen to be invested. A law should be passed making it a necessity for them to procure a warrant before making an arrest.'