The Worst Hard Time, ctd.

The anecdote I quoted in this post was continued later in the book:

In early April the two black men who had been sitting in the Dallam County jail for three months were brought back to the courthouse for trial.  The railroad agent again told how he found the men, on the coldest of nights, looking for food and shelter, and looking in a place that happened to be property of the Rock Island Railroad.  The judge asked the men if this was true and they said, yes sir, we were hungry and cold and saw that little haven of warmth and food and we pushed open the door and helped ourselves to something.  With this admission, the judge found the pair guilty of criminal trespass and sentenced them to 120 days in jail.  But he wanted one more thing.

"Dance," the judge said.  The two men obliged, and as the Texan reported the next day, the tap-dancing Negroes made for a good laugh for judge, prosecutor and the Rock Island Railroad agent.

Again, I have a hard time imagining how such things occured. It does make me think of this post, though.