went there again and again, he was holding a
court of probation. So with the three pigeon
burglars and their gang; he went to see them,
but there was no method as yet. It was only as
the cases grew that the Judge had to ask the
boys to come to see him, and then, finally, to
appoint a time and place where most of the boys
could meet all together with him; and that was
the origin of Judge Lindsey’s Court of Probation,
the institution.
But there is more than that to the story of it. The Judge feels that he suffered as “ a little shaver” from lack of approbation. He was born in Ten- nessee and his family, well-to-do Southern people, were brought to trouble and to Denver by the War. His father died, and Ben had to work hard as a boy. For a long time he had three jobs: he carried newspapers in the early morn- ing; worked all day in a lawyer’s office; and, after hours, served as janitor. Always slight of build, he was often worn out; and nobody appre- ciated it. He was only doing his duty, and it nearly killed him — literally. He sank under his load to the very verge of despair; and he learned the value of a kind word of sympathy and good cheer.
Many of the bad boys who came to his court were lonely little fellows. They had no
