1915-01-26yh

It was just another day at the Hamilton Police Court but a day, like the rest which was reported and read with interest by Hamiltonians:

“John Nanson will undergo the Salvation Army redemption process. A week ago, he was found curled up in a vacant house in East Hamilton. Homeless and penniless, he had crawled into the house for shelter. The constable who peeped in on him charged him with vagrancy, and he’s been in jail ever since.

“ ‘I’ll look after him, your worship,’ an officer of the Salvation Army announced this morning.

“ ‘All right. You can have him,’ the magistrate replied, and John walked out of the courtroom, visions of a good square meal floating before his eyes.

“Martha Hildreth, arrested on Sunday night on a charge of vagrancy, was asked to depart from $10 or take the rest cure for fourteen days. She unearyhed a roll like a ball of hay, and tossed the ‘tenner’ to Cashier ‘Jock.’

“John Kelly, whose home is the wide world, created a rough house at the S. A. Metropole last night. Drunk and disorderly was the charge today and $2 the assessment.

“A charge of loitering, preferred against Arthur Wilson, 240 John street north, was dismissed. Wilson, who is 70 years old, was standing at the corner of James and Gore streets last night, when an officer requested him to mooch. He didn’t and the court case followed. Wilson convinced the magistrate that he was not loitering, but had a reason for standing at the corner.”¹

¹ “Army Takes Him : Salvation Army Will Look After An Unfortunate”

Hamilton Spectator.   January 26, 1915