Criminal Justice System

In 2013, the Black Lives Matter movement called national attention to systemic racism in the criminal justice system, a concept first introduced by Black Power activists in the 1960s. Numerous studies have explained why the costs and benefits of criminal activity differ between Blacks and whites because racial gaps in poverty, education, income, and employment have persisted for decades since the days of human bondage. As a result, Black people still face much higher rates of arrests and imprisonment than whites today at national, state, and local levels, including Douglas County.¹

To what extent and in what ways was the criminal justice system in Lawrence a racist institution since the 1860s? We do not know whether Black people were arrested, charged, and jailed more often than white people in Lawrence because, unlike today, statistics for various offenses were not reported by race for over sixty years. Countless people were held in the city and county jails, making it impossible to interpret the extent to which Lawrence’s criminal justice system exacerbated routine racism in which white racists harassed Black people— seldom reported in newspapers.

We do know that as the Black population rose dramatically in the 1870s and 80s, racist violence heightened racial tensions considerably (see that section). Despite a seldom enforced Kansas civil rights law passed in 1875, Joel White denied Black people access to his restaurant and Mayor J.D. Bowersock likely segregated Black people in the upper balcony of his new opera house beginning in 1882. That year, three Black men were lynched---without a trial. As the Black population peaked in 1880 with nearly 2,000 people, including potential Exodusters who stayed in Lawrence, Black men continued to fight for representation in city offices as political parties began to splinter (see Politics and Civil Rights section). Thankfully, John L. Waller, a Black lawyer, reported racial conditions in Lawrence from March 1883 to June 1884 in his Western Recorder newspaper.

Beginning in the 1890s, the Black population began to decrease as young members of the second generation left Lawrence to pursue higher paying jobs and diverse careers in larger cities. Those who stayed continued to negotiate difficult socio-economic relationships within the Black community, and working class people suddenly lost employment as major industries left Lawrence. Other long-time residents created various means of racial uplift through the benevolent society, literary clubs, and other organizations. By 1920, around 1,450 Black people (11.5% of the population) challenged systemic racism by founding Lawrence’s NAACP chapter with 50 charter members in 1921.

Like today, maintaining “law and order” in Lawrence first involved white and Black police officers who made arrests (including white county sheriffs). White city marshals kept the peace until December 1894 when Samuel Jeans became city marshal for five months and then assistant marshal until February 1903.² During the 1870s and 80s, at least one Black constable served warrants some years, and one or two Black policemen arrested people of all races into the 1890s and beyond (see Table in Policemen and Constables section).

The criminal justice system operated with two courts. The Police Court handled misdemeanor violations against city ordinances and guilty parties were sent to the city jail when they could not pay fines. For other offenses, people were bound over to the District Court and accused persons were held in the county jail for weeks or months until trials determined their final sentences. The racial makeup of juries was primarily white and all attorneys and judges were white with these exceptions: John L. Waller defended some Black people during his brief residence in the early 1880s, and Robert B. McWilliams and John W. Clark began defending cases in the late 1890s. Not until 1904 did Clark become a justice of the peace repeatedly elected for over twenty years.

Jailed for Misdemeanors

In 1869, a new city jail, known as the “calaboose,” was constructed below the new city building on the northwest corner of Vermont and 8th streets. However, its foundation accumulated filth, so a new calaboose building was built nearby with an outdoor, fenced-in yard in 1873.³ As this jail deteriorated further over the years, a new city jail was not built until 1914.⁴

Since the 1860s, the City of Lawrence enforced multiple ordinances with $1 to $25 fines that likely affected low-income residents disproportionally, pushing them deeper into poverty.⁵ When offenders could not pay fines and prosecuting costs, they were jailed and often forced to break rocks for city streets to pay off their debts, hard labor that also kept them away from their other jobs and families. After jail expenses, these fines became a source of profit for the city in exchange for free labor, as reported by police judges.⁶ Mayor Barker urged strict enforcement of this ordinance “not solely to secure revenue” but also to “prevent” crimes that seldom deterred offenders.⁷

Disturbing the Peace

Residents and family members could make complaints about all kinds of disturbances. “Disturbing the peace” of others included “offensive conduct,” such as drunkenness and using loud, profane language in public places, assaulting or beating others, keeping a bawdy house of ill repute (prostitution), and disrupting public meetings—all to control private morality in public contexts.⁸ Police officers often used these charges to arrest “nuisance” or repeat offenders who were encouraged to leave town.

Profanity

For decades, profane and obscene language flowed freely on public streets, especially on downtown street corners and on the bridge with fines ranging from $1 to $5. For instance, when a judge fined Mollie McGruder $1 for her language, she protested, “No sir! Rather than pay you a single cent, my carcass will rot within the [city jail].”⁹ These offenses were reportedly most often committed by groups of Black and white boys alike (ages 6 and up) who took pleasure in insulting respectable ladies with sexual whistles and “cat-calling.” Using the Lord’s name in vain was especially offensive to self-righteous church-goers on Sundays.¹⁰

Assaults

Unfortunately, countless individuals and families settled verbal arguments with physical violence, as Black women (and men) stood their ground. While engaged in a quarrel, Peter Preedy (British) threw some ashes in Margaret Wallace’s black face and she retorted with clods of dirt until both used their fists. Each was fined $1 and costs for disturbing the other’s peace.¹¹

In 1879, Jenks Walker, the son of fortune-teller Sylvia Walker, plead not guilty to breaching the peace of Albert Brooks. Days later, he was charged for an assault with an intent to kill, discharged for procedural reasons, and re-arrested for assaulting Mrs. Francis Brooks, Albert’s wife, with an intent to commit rape and fined over $7.50.¹² Then in 1886, Matilda Walker, Jenks’ wife, charged him and her mother-in-law Sylvia with assault and battery. Sylvia paid her $1 fine, but Matilda had to pay prosecuting costs.¹³ Months later, Jenks was fined $1 and costs for beating Matilda. As the Journal pointed out, “Jenks and Matilda do not have a very happy time. Jenks gets in jail about once a month, either for disturbing Matilda’s peace or for assaulting her. He swears every time that he will never go near that woman again, but he always gets hungry and returns to Matilda for something to eat, then ‘disturbs’ her again.” The next day, while walking across the bridge, the couple had “all the appearance of a newly married couple,” for Matilda had succeeded in getting her husband jailed for the first time.¹⁴ Two months later, Jenks was released from jail to earn money to pay his fines, “but instead of buckling down,” he left town, was arrested in Leavenworth, and ended up in the county jail.¹⁵

Keeping Bawdy Houses (Brothels)

Since the 1860s, both white and Black working-class women and men operated brothels as a means of making a living. Racial partners didn’t matter to customers, known as “inmates,” and jail sentences seldom stopped anyone from engaging in sexual activities. For instance, in 1867, a group of Black women who kept a bawdy house were charged with “lewd conduct” and fined $5 each. They laughed at the judge saying they would “just as [well] go to jail as not; can’t scare me none, white man.”¹⁶ Over time, “disorderly houses” were criminalized further in combination with gambling and prohibition after 1881 when Kansas prohibited the sale of liquor (see Jailed for Criminal Offenses).

Marriages and Divorces in Courts

Human bondage complicated marriages considerably, and women called upon the courts to settle marital disputes. Probate judges signed marriage licenses (and also handled the estates of deceased people with attorneys or family administrative executors). District court judges handled countless divorce cases and property disputes, as well as other criminal offenses.

The Case of Mary and Harrison Dorsey

In 1886, Mary Dorsey (born in Kentucky in 1840) confronted a probate judge: “Has you given my husband a license to get married?” Indeed, her husband Harrison Dorsey had obtained a marriage license from the judge but had asked him not to publish it in the newspapers. “’But he can’t get married, for I’se his wife,’ objected Mary,” very much wrought over the matter. She explained that she and Harrison “had been married while slaves, had lived together up to eight years ago ¹⁷ and had five children. ‘I’ll make him pay for this,’ she said. ‘If he’d asked me for a divorce I’d a said, alright, but he never said a word to me about it and just sneaked off and got married again. He ain’t no account nohow.’” In that case, the judge told her “she had better let him go. But she couldn’t see it that way and departed in search of a lawyer, vowing to ‘make him pay for dis’.”¹⁸ The following day, Mary Dorsey charged her husband with bigamy in police court, given his marriage to Laura Young on July 6, and the judge issued a warrant for his arrest. Days later, Harrison Dorsey pleaded not guilty to bigamy and was released from jail having paid $250.¹⁹

Meanwhile, Mary earned her living as a washerwoman and cared for impoverished people in the East Bottoms.²⁰ But having saved $30 ($20 and a $10 gold coin), some unknown thief entered her house and stole this money concealed in her bed in 1890.²¹

That year, Harrison was elected Worshipful Master of the Western Star Lodge, No. 1, the most highly respected office.²² One year later, he asked for a divorce from Mary and sued her in district court on the grounds of adultery.²³ Whether true or not, “Mrs. Mary Snow, alias Mary Dorsey,” faced charges for operating a “disreputable house” in east Lawrence beginning in 1892. When she could not pay her $35 fine, she was sent to jail, along with four “inmates” fined $16.50 each. Mary Dorsey presented a “strong petition” to the city council asking that her $25 fine be remitted due to “her destitute condition and the aid she has been to the city in keeping [caring for] the poor in her neighborhood”—but they refused.²⁴ “Mrs. Mary Snow” faced more arrests, heavy fines, and time in the city jail for selling liquor and maintaining “a nuisance house.”²⁵ Finally, S.C. Russell (a white man) brought suit in district court to secure possession of the property of Mary Snow and others on whose bond he paid in police court.²⁶ Unfortunately, nothing more is known about the fate and death of Mary Dorsey/Snow.

As for Harrison Dorsey, he earned his living working as a janitor at the Merchant National Bank and the First Baptist Church. He also furnished the Cottage House (717 New Jersey) across from the Santa Fe depot with Mrs. Maggie Butts to accommodate Black lodgers.²⁷ After falling on some ice in early January 1910, this “quiet, hardworking man” passed away at his home at 843 Ohio. The Black masons conducted his funeral at St. Luke AME Church.²⁸

Domestic Violence

Sadly, domestic violence was common among Black and white couples alike. Henry McKinney (b. 1818 MO) and his wife Frances (b. 1813 KY) farmed around Reno before moving to North Lawrence by 1885.²⁹ In 1886, Fannie (Nancy) filed a petition in district court asking for a divorce on the grounds of “extreme cruelty.” Meanwhile, a warrant was issued to arrest Henry for disturbing Fannie’s peace. Henry pleaded not guilty and gave bail but this case was dismissed for lack of evidence. Likewise, during their divorce trial, no evidence of “substantial cruelty” was offered, and because the couple continued to live together, the court refused to grant them a divorce and sent them home to reconsider “the sweets of matrimony.”³⁰ Months later, Henry was found guilty of assault and battery for beating and abusing Fannie, paid his $15 fine, and appealed the case with a $100 bond. But again, this charge was not proven and Henry was released.³¹ Four years later, Frances McKinney died—reportedly due to old age.³² Henry did face some jail time—for destroying his Black neighbor’s garden and not paying his fine---but when charged with keeping an unclean pig pen, he paid his $7.50 fine and was released. He then sold his pigs and had his tenant home moved across the railroad tracks onto three acres.³³ As he approached his 80th birthday, he moved to Visalia, California to live with his son Sherman, but died there days later.³⁴

Vagrancy and Unhoused People

1860 ordinance to “restrain and punish Vagrancy” was enforced through the 1920s with fines ranging anywhere from $10 to $100 over time. Any persons found loitering, wandering, or loafing in public places without any visible means of employment were arrested and jailed before their trials. Mayor Kimball wanted growing numbers of vagrants severely punished with heavy fines, especially those who loitered around saloons.³⁵ Yet police arrested many unemployed “inoffensive” vagrants who worked the rock pile in exchange for food and warm lodging during winters.³⁶ In effect, the jail became a safe place for unhoused people who could not afford homes. For these reasons, Gov. Lewelling urged city authorities to abolish “inhumane vagrancy laws” because “thousands of men, guilty of no crime but poverty,” languished in jails and “toiled on rock piles as municipal slaves.”³⁷ Yet like other cities, Lawrence continued to criminalize vagrancy. Mayor Selig even added an ordinance prohibiting loitering around the city jail with a $10 fine.³⁸

In 1906, police waged “a war” against vagrants, especially against young Black men who hung around street clubs shooting craps and brawling in the East Bottoms. The city attorney wrote a new ordinance to make it easier to convict “loafers” with higher penalties ($25).³⁹ Three years later, police launched another campaign in the East Bottoms and served warrants against several Black men. On the northside, Black officer C.C. James observed an influx of impoverished “tramps” arriving from Texas at the UP depot, ten times more than southside vagrants.⁴⁰ Clearly, by this time, the vagrancy law had become a form of systemic racism.

Poll Tax for Streets

In 1877, the city attorney determined that the city had the authority to levy a poll tax but could not make disfranchisement [voting] at city elections a penalty for non-payment.⁴¹ To maintain men’s voting rights, the city decided instead to levy a $3 street tax upon all male inhabitants between the ages of 21 and 45 years. If men could not pay $3, they were required to work on building streets for two days. If they refused to work, they were fined $10 for this misdemeanor. The street commissioner began collecting this tax to raise revenue for the construction of city streets in 1879. One year later, 650 men had worked on the streets in comparison to 800 men on voter registrations lists.⁴² It appears that newspapers seldom reported the names of Black men who paid, worked, or were jailed.⁴³

Some young men avoided the poll tax by refusing to register to vote.⁴⁴ One anonymous laboring man raised these points with bitter cynicism:

….Why can’t a poor man that has a job affording him and his family a meager existence
be allowed to get a friend to work his poll tax for him. No, he must lose his job, pay his
poll tax with the money his children should have for bread or go to jail. [Our] wise
lawmakers say that many were working [the] poll tax entirely too cheap, $1.75 to $2.00,
but we see this great generous city cutting the wages of day laborers to $1.00 per day and board themselves for ten hours work. That is right. Starve the laboring men into
submission [and] break their proud spirit in order to economize. Let a lot of rich old
cusses get out of paying their taxes but make it up on the poor man. Hurrah for the G.O.P. We voted that way and we are getting just what we voted for.

But a word more about poll taxes. Often a poor devil like myself owed a store bill of a couple of dollars and before the advent of Caldwell and Tucker [white Republicans] in the legislature, we could square up by working [the] poll tax. I see, Mr. Editor, that you touched up this matter some time ago. Hope you will have the nerve to go after a lot of these sharks. I will come again. **ONE DOLLAR A DAY.**⁴⁵

In 1905, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the poll tax in cities of the second class, such as Lawrence, was “unjust discrimination and void” because firefighters were exempt unlike most men. But the city continued to prosecute men who failed to pay their poll taxes.⁴⁶ This tax was collected through at least 1925 before the state eventually abolished it.⁴⁷

Dog Tax

Past ordinances also sought to control hundreds of roaming animals. A dog tax, another source of city revenue through the 1920s, required owners to pay $1 for males and $5 for females or face a $7.50 fine. Any dogs not leashed and found running loose could be killed. By 1887, the city had collected over $600 and slaughtered about 60 dogs. In 1913, people became upset when police brutally shot all dogs on the streets.⁴⁸ Attempts to stop livestock from running at large at night and destroying property proved difficult to enforce. Many impoverished families owned one milk cow and could not afford to pay for hay, so these animals were excluded.⁴⁹