Judge Learn’s Cases
(from Kearney Hub,
June 1, 1889 – December 31, 1890)
Judge William Learn was a lawyer elected to be the
police court judge working out of Kearney city hall. At this time he had
been living in Kearney for over three years. During that summer of 1889
through 1890 the judge heard a variety of interesting cases.
Court costs were $4.70;
occasional $1 fine = $5.70 but usually $5 = $9.70 or $10 = $14.70
If the defendant could not pay his fine, he had to work it off on the street
maintenance crew.
The city
foreman was apparently strict
The judge was apparently somewhat of a
character. The newspaper called him “shrewd.”
On the
soles of a new pair of shoes, the judge had inscribed in bold blue
characters, one on each shoe,
“$9.70” and “$14.70”.
When an unfortunate violator of the law appeared in the city police court,
the judge would wave of the
appropriate extremity, displaying in front of his victim the price of his
offense.
Summary of Cases
Married 3 couples in that 18-month period
Looked for repeat violators, especially in alcohol
related cases but did not find any
Most Common Arrests
Drinking – usual
fine $9.70
5 were classified as Drunk & Disorderly
1 was
drunk & while being held in the jail cell he damaged ceiling plaster so he
was fined $14.70
A tramp got drunk and stole a pair of shoes. He was fined $9.70 which he as
working off.
Usual charge was Drunkenness – over 36 were reported in the paper
Exact
number unknown because one news item reported a “large number in last 2
weeks”
Taking Without Permission
Stealing – 12 –
One charged with stealing an overcoat on Dec 27 – borrowed from coworker,
got drunk and forgot to return
it, was read riot act by judge
One stole 2 horses; 4 men stole a keg of beer from a train car and were held
for UP officials
Burglary – 4 individuals (2 pairs)
One pair were juveniles. One boy went to the front door and occupied the
housewife in conversation while his
cohort went in the back door. The lady caught the boy going out the back
door and screamed for help.
The boy at the front door was caught also.
Assault/assault & battery – 9 – 1 on police officer; 1 with intent to
kill was a neighborhood row
Fighting – 7
Vagrancy – 6
– three (all arrested at same time) were told to leave town and not come
back
Usually the police did not arrest but escorted the vagrant to the city
limits and told him to never return
Two
were given 30 days labor on the street crew
In one
case a vagrant entered the mayor’s home and was going upstairs when he was
seen by the mayor’s
daughters who frightened him away. He was caught by the city marshal and
became the first to occupy a new
city jail cell. He was fined $10 by Judge Learn but, of course, could not
pay it. He worked it off on the city
street crew.
Gambling – 3 groups of 5, 4, [described in
March and April] & a group of 6
One man
was arrested twice, once alone and once in group of 6
Concealed weapon – 1
Driving across sidewalk – 1
Some Specific Cases
Murder
A
laborer working in West Kearney was charged with murder when he hit a
coworker over head with shovel
[the edge] during argument. The man died of his wound.
The
offender was remanded to district court; back in police court 2 weeks later
for drunkenness
Stabbing
A man
was tried for stabbing his step-father.
This was a family quarrel of long standing including tempers and abusive
language.
On this occasion a light in the room attracted insects. The accused man blew
out the light
The step-father relit it with an oath that made the first man angry.
He attacked his step-father with a knife, seriously wounding him.
The step-father, on the other hand, had been going for a pistol.
In court the step-father was so abusive and disrespectful on the stand that
he turned the jury against him.
He testified that he had intended to kill his step-son.
This was not the step-father’s first time to appear before Judge Learn.
The judge dismissed the case.
Tempers
Flared
A lady charged a man with “breaking into her house, throwing her household
goods into the street and using vile
epithets.”
The man demanded a jury trial since in his previous appearances before the
judge, the judge had “dealt out
justice to him rather severely.” At press time the jury was being selected
and the court was “thronged with
spectators.”
It
was later reported that the man had worked off his $36.00 fine doing street
work
A
Classic Case of Abuse
Story headline - “Some Men Love Not the Free, Free Air”
A man so abused his wife she left him and went to live with her brother.
When their child came down with measles, the man [father] came to visit and
left with the child.
The
brother, who was crippled, tried to stop the man who hit him on the head
with an iron bar.
As a result
he was arrested and sent by Judge Learn to district court where he was
sentenced to 3 months in jail.
His
wife divorced him on the grounds of extreme cruelty but when he got out of
jail he promised to change so
Judge Learn remarried them.
He had
only been out of jail a few weeks when he broke in to someone’s barn and
stole some items. So he was
up
before Judge Learn again
Reporters editorialized in those days:
A man who
advertised himself as a Spiritualist Medium charged 50¢ admission fee.
Following the performance, one patron declared he was a fake and had charges
drawn up. The Medium appeared before Judge Learn.
“He begged most piteously
to be released. Finally [he was told] that, if he would cough up $75 and
give it to the poor of Kearney he would drop the complaint….[ending with the
editorial comment] This man…knows no more about spiritualism than a hog
knows about astronomy.”
The money was given to the WCTU
Some Interesting
Descriptions
A
man got drunk, was fined the usual $9.70, and having no money, was put on a
street crew.
He refused to
work so was put back in a cell.
“His stubbornness and belly are trying to see which can hang out the
longest.
His crime consisted
of getting gloriously drunk, yesterday, and wanting to fight someone.”
A business man got drunk and wanted to fight another businessman.
“He got a healthy dose for being drunk and business man No. 2 will purchase
ice for being too high tempered.”
Late on
a Saturday afternoon some four or five individuals were “corralled for
unduly filling up, and they will
pursue pious meditation over Sunday in Judge Learns secluded retreat.”
Once It Was
the Judge Who Got the Lecture
Daisy, 11, had been staying with Mrs. Newell after
her brother assaulted her. He was sent to the industrial school and now her
mother wanted her to come home.
The girl eluded her mother and ran to the police
station.
She said she had scars on her back from her mother beating her.
Mother arrived
about that time, the girl was taken to a back room and the door was held
against the mother.
She turned to Judge Learn to vent her anger. “…she
spoke in very uncomplimentary terms of the Judge and the ‘stinking police.’”
She finally
wound down and, after crying a little, left the police station just as her
daughter was being helped out a back window into the arms of a friend who
took her to his home.
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