*

By
ROY THORSEN

*

tions of a reporter who covered
the “grief beat” for a Victoria
newspaper for six years. It is the pic-
ture of Victoria area police courts as
he saw it.
It was not a pleasant beat. In brief,
it was a bird’s-eye view of the grief of
the community.

Wis: is the story on the observa-

One saw in the passing parade be-
fore the magistrates the tragedy of
broken homes—complete with tears,
sad, worried faces and heart-breaking
stories . . . the motorist who killed
someone, drove after drinking too

ET

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to Hotel

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A-K SOOTAWAY

For Pot-Type Oil Burners

and ali other types of fuel. Removes
soot and fire scale. Obtainable at local
stores or direct from

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PHONE 16

Phone Sidney 6

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Lumber Co. Ltd.

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Sidney, B.C.

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AND STORE

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GEORGE HAUK, Prop.

TWENTY-FIFTH EDITION

A reporter on the Police Beat gets a bird's-eye view
of the grief of the community. He sees the tragedy
of broken homes, drunkards, bootleggers, book-
makers, rapists, sex perverts, forgerers, youngsters
starting out on crime and occasionally murderers.

much liquor, erred in a hundred dil-
ferent ways and got into crashes...
the ordinary drunks . . . the person
who got destructive with drink...
the bootlegger, the bookmaker, the
rapist, the sex pervert, the bad cheque
artist .. . hardened old offenders and
beginners at thieving and burglary...
very occasionally, here, the drug
AC diGta aes

The daily parades—well over 1,000
we covered—were comprised of a
variety of types of citizens.

There were the timid and meek
(mighty scared some of them) who
usually entered a hasty plea of
“ouilty” to get the thing over with.

There was Mr. and Mrs. Average
Citizen, the cooler-headed who take
things like minor court charges in
their stride. Then comes Mister
Belligerent. He’s the guy who claims
he was always in the “clear,” no matter
how black the evidence against him,
and left the court snarling “kangaroo
court.”

And we can’t forget those down-
right “tough guys,” the boys with long
records—the hardened criminal—who
showed no emotion to sentences im-
posed on them for their crimes.

When one is giving testimony in a
case the witness box is no place to

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COFFEE SHOP
GROCERIES, ETC.

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Near Solarium
Island Highway Mill Bay, B.C.

—————————— eee

show levity. Over the years, the writer
saw quite a number who took the
stand titter (women) and grin (men),
which drew curdling reprimands from
the bench, “this is no_ laughing
matter”!

However, the courtroom scenes
were not without their lighter mo-
ments.

Robert G. Jackson, the wealthy
horse-riding Victorian, up before the
court late last year for maintaining a
“menagerie” on his Rockland Avenue
property, stole the show over the six
years.

Unorthodox, out-spoken Jackson,

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rmy, | lavy anc ir Force
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*

THOS. HINCKS, Secreiary-Manager

1001 Wharf Sireet, Victoria, B.C.

Mary obec
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