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Show TME PASSES SLO WLY TO NATHAN WILKES WAITING TRIAL FOR A FORGERY . , - ... 1 , ' Nathan Wilkes, a oy ct U years, haa "keen locked In the juvenile ward of the , - city Jail one week, awaiting a hearing - before th Juvenile- court on a charge of forgery. During thWi time Judge Brown - of the Juvenile court haa been absent - from the city. 1 It seems as though there is a flaw in : ' .the Juvenile court law In that no provi-. provi-. eion has been made for the arraignment ' . or preliminary' examination " of minors ' ' charged with infractions of the law, during dur-ing the absence of the regularly appolnt-. appolnt-. ed Judge from the city. ' :' Judge Diehl of the regular Police court and criminal -division of the City court. v cannot hear cases properly coming bef or ' the Juvenile court, nor can the District j - court. - ' Nathan Wilkes is a German Jew, slight - " ' and slender for his years. TBe lad ha; not a bad face. But If ever there had been badness in the boy, his punishment before his trial has driven that out and ' " ' conquered It . , Nathan is charged with forgery. He Is , almost entirely alone here and has wo friends to counsel him and teach him the , difference between right and wrong. we has no attorney, nor hss he the money with which to supply one. ' ' Nathan was arrested last Friday afternoon after-noon on a charge of forging the nam-or hie employer to a check for a small amount. , Her is the story of Nathan Wilkes" temptation, his fall, his punishment, as told by himself to The Telegram, as he sat on the edge of his bunk in the Juvenile Juve-nile ward of the city Jail last night. By Nathan Wilkes. "Oh, have you come" to get me out of this place? . "Will I have to stay here until I diet "I was arrested last Friday afternoon and I have been In jail ever since. ''The policemen treat me well, and the Chief, that big fellow, comes in and talks to me once in a while. The policemen can't help keeping me. they say, and they can't let me go until I go before the Judge. "The Judge is out of town. Every day, 'most, they tell me he will be back tomorrow to-morrow and he Isn't here yet. It seems funny the Judge doesn't come when they say he will. " "When will he come? Can't I ever get out of here? "I can't .sleep at nights. The drunks yell and holler and scare me so I can't sleep at all. There are -all kinds of creepy, groaning noises and I am afraid I'm going crasy. All I can do Is to walk up and down, and then 1 cry until I can t cry no more. "When you came I thought you had come to get me out. and I was glad. Now I am sorry again, because you say you-can't you-can't take me from here. "I was working for the California Fruit and Produce company. I had been here a month and was living with my brother, Jacob Wilkes, who sells fruit for the California Cal-ifornia company. My father is In California. Cali-fornia. He lives in San Francisco and his name is Isaao Wilkes. "When I was working for this company a big kid came to me and said: " 'I seen Mr: Fisher, the boss, write a check and give it to a feller. Why don't you write one, you can get some money out of it?' "I said I didn't want to write none, and then the big kid said to me: " Tou ought to.' "I said I was thinking to myself and kept on saying 'no.' and he Just kept on saying yes' all the time. "I wrote the check when the boss went to the fruit market to buy some fruit for his peddlers. "Then I kept on working for him all day until 1 o'clock that afternoon, and when 1 o'clock came I took the check to the bank. "I gave the check to the banker, and I seen something was wrong with it, so I walked out. "I didn't want the money. I Just did It to see if there was any fun in It. If I'd a' wanted the money, I'd a' stayed for It. The check was for $1. "Then I went back to the shop and sat down on the staira The boss sent me on an errand. When I got back from the errand the banker was down there. "Just as soon as I came in they grabbed me and said: " 'I guess I'll have to take you to Jail.' "I got awful scared then, and they asked me if I wrote the check. "I told them I didn't write It, and I didn't take it up to the bank. "That's the reason they brought me here for telling that lie. "The banker left and the boss said: " 'I guess I'll take you to Jail and prove "He asked me If I didn't want to go up to the Jail and prove it and I said 'yes.' "I wlsht I hadn't come up here to prove it, because I knew I did it. "After I (ret out this time I'll never do it In my life again. I'm pretty sure I've had enoug-h of jail for a while. When I get out I'm going to be a good boy. "I wish the Jail would catch fire and burn, and then they'd have to let me out" Chief Lynch Talks. Chief of Police W. J. Lynch was asked what he thought of the boy's case, and of the fact that he had been in jail for a week without trial, and he said: "I think it's a shame and an outrage that this boy cannot be tried. It is scandalous scan-dalous and something should certainly be done, and at once, so that there shall be no repetition of a case of this kind. "The boy is under arrest on a warrant, and I cannot let him go without authority author-ity from the court under whose jurisdiction jurisdic-tion he is. "I would let him go If I could but I cannot can-not do it and keep within the law." |