were wrong in the Law and in the courts, and the
boys came to understand. It wasn’t easy to
correct the teachings of the jails and the police
and the home and the streets, but this man did
it with those boys. He showed them, for example,
how the officer, Roberts, was acting in good faith,
doing his duty, and how he must have been
exasperated with the Eel. And the Eel saw it.
And when the Judge saw that he saw it, he brought
the boy and the officer together, and — they are
good friends now.
So with the Law; the Judge explained what the machinery of justice was for. It had been perverted from its true function, justice, to ven- geance, but it could help a fellow, and he proved it, the Judge did. He got the cases. And he got them with the consent of the police. One captain who was loudest in his protestations, said:
“You can’t baby Lee Martin, Judge. He’s been in jail thirteen times, and it hasn’t done him any good.”
“No,” said the Judge, “and if I fail, I’ll still have twelve times the best of you., You’ve failed with him your way. It’s my turn now. It has cost the city in officers’ fees alone, $1,036 to make a criminal of him. Let’s see what it’ll cost to turn him into an honest boy.”
The captain ran over a list of his crimes. The
