One Hundred Arrests, Three Hundred Dollars: Newport's Year in the Police Court
The city marshal's 1907 tally — drunks, burglars and a jailbreak by a notorious horse thief nabbed on a Washington Avenue street corner.
The police record for the past year shows that the local officers have made 100 arrests on various charges, from plain drunkenness to burglary. Eighty-eight of these cases were brought to trial and fines aggregating $300 were collected from prisoners.
The majority of arrests were made during the summer season, when the floating population was greatest. More arrests were made for drunkenness than for any other cause, and in these cases a nominal fine was imposed, while in some instances, where the defendants were without funds, a reprimand was deemed by the court as sufficient.
Three men were arrested by the city marshal and charged with burglary, and on hearing before Police Judge Lusher were bound over for trial in the superior court. Two of these men were later sentenced by Judge Carey to long terms in the penitentiary.
Last August City Marshal Jenno made a most important and clever capture, when he picked up Orra Conner, a notorious crook and horse thief, out of a crowd of strangers at the corner of Washington Avenue and Fourth Street, and for whom the sheriff of Douglas County offered a substantial reward. While confined in the local jail Conner managed to escape. He has since been captured and is now on trial for his crime in the distant county.
Owing to the vigilance of the local police the city has been kept free from crooks and other vicious persons during the past year. Compared with the police reports of other towns, Newport is probably the most orderly town in the northwest. That so few felonies are committed is clearly indicative of this fact. The majority of those arrested are transients.
“Compared with the police reports of other towns Newport is probably the most orderly town in the northwest. That so few felonies are committed is clearly indicative of this fact. The majority of those arrested are transients.”
Newport's 1907 ledger separates the town into two populations: permanent citizens who are never arrested, and 'transients' who account for nearly every case on the docket. The same arithmetic — arrests tallied against a floating population, with a small fine standing in for real process — still shapes how small towns talk about crime, poverty and who actually belongs here.
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