The Winkler County News (Kermit, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 58, Ed. 1 Monday, October 11, 1971 Page: 10 of 10
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Page Ten
The Winkler County Newsy Kermit, Texas
Monday, Oct. 11,1971
Freedom At A Price...
(Continued from Page 1)
bonding company headquartered in Indianapolis, went into
receivership — in part because of a number of bail bond
forfeitures. In addition, many states have loose financial
requirements for bonding concerns* so failures among surety
companies aren’t unusual.
But A1 has few bail forfeitures because he is careful to
avoid defendants whom he considers to be “bad risks.” A1
consider^ screening of risks the bondsman’s most critical and
difficult task.
By securing releases without bail for many of the “good
risks” who once would have used bondsmen, Indianapolis’
year-old bail commossion has really made us scuffle for
business,” A1 says.
Al’s standards forjudging criminals may seem strange. The
bondsman cares little about the seriousness of the charge and is
mainly concerned with the likelihood of flight. Over the years,
A1 has gladly made bond for dozens of murderers, rapists,
professional criminals and narcotics dealers.
In fact, A1 prefers the real professional criminal. “They
know the rules of the game and usually don’t jump bond,” he
says. The ordinary citizen may dread the Mafia, but A1 says
defendants with Mafia connections are among the most
gilt-edged risks and he has bailed out many over the years. “The
syndicate boys from Chicago mostly call me to make bond on
their gamblers,” he says. “I’ve always found that a gambler’s
word is better than a banker’s.”
A1 carefully considers factors like a defendant’s
employment record and length of residence in the area. “I try to
determine a guy’s ties to the community and the odds of his not
appearing,” he says.
SHUNS PANTHERS,
HIPPIES
But some of Al’s decisions are emotional, too. The
bondsman refuses to bail out Black Panthers and other black
militants because he considers them “subversive.” He shies away
from “hippies” (“I don’t like their philosophy.”) Bail critics
have long argued that such summary rejections on the grounds
of creed or life style are common and illustrate a major defect
of the bail system.
On large bonds, A1 usually demands collateral. He
required a pledge of $100,000 worth of real estate as security
on a $75,000 bond he once posted for a local physician charged
with an abortion death. (This was Al’s record bond.) But as
most of his clients are poor, A1 can obtain collateral on fewer
than one-third of his bonds.
In most cases, the short, slightly-built bondsman must rely
simply on his instinct. In one typical interview in the Marion
County Jail, a prisoner in his early 20’s tearfully begs A1 to
guarantee his $5,000 bail on a check forgery charge. Under Al’s
insistent questioning, the youth admits passing the forged
checks for spending money buy says he wants to settle down,
find a job and make restitution for the checks.
At the same time, the youth concedes he has never held a
full-time job because of laziness. He also says he came from a
broken home, made several runaway attempts as a teen-ager and
has an older brother in a mental institution.
Despite the prisoner’s vows to settle down, A1 decides
against guaranteeing his bail. “With no job or strong family ties,
the kid is a poor risk,” he explains. “You can’t afford to get
sentimental in this business.”
DOING RIGHT BY
CONNECTIONS
Though he scrutinizes clients carefully, A1 is always eager
for new business. For this he needs connections. For one thing,
bondsmen depend on criminal lawyers for nearly all their
referrals. For another, close ties with the police often prove
invaluable in obtaining information and aid in tracking down
bond jumpers.
So A1 eagerly courts people who can help him. Recently, a
sheriffs policeman stopped him in a corridor of the county jail
and casually mentioned a coming police benefit. A1 quickly
bought two tickets. Later A1 dropped by the chambers of a
criminal court judge to hobnob with the judge about the stock
market. He never fails to send “a nice present” when a criminal
lawyer or a member of a lawyer’s family marries. “You’ve got to
do right by people if you expect them to do right by you,” he
explains;.
The toughest part of the business is tracking down bond
jumpers. A1 has traveled all over the United States hunting
fugitives. “A bondsman can’t afford to get the reputation of
being soft or pretty soon all his defendants will start skipping
bail,” he explains. “My clients know that I’ll go to any length to
bring them in.”
Since 1960, only five fugitives have evaded his capture,
though dozens have tried, A1 claims. In many cases, relatives or
friends of bond jumpers reveal the fugitives’ whereabouts —
especially if they hav$ furnished collateral on the bond.
“Understandably, relatives are more helpful when I have a lien
on their homes,” A1 says.
In tough cases, A1 routinely pulls strings to get federal
authorities here to issue federal flight warrants for the fugitives.
The warrant brings the FBI into the search and also results in
national circulation of the fugitive’s picture and description. A1
also “puts out feelers” to numerous contacts in many fields,
including the underworld. This personal network sometimes
proves surprisingly effective.
For instance, a tip from an Indianapolis mail inspector
helped A1 track down a man charged with a knife assault who
had jumped a $5,000 bail bond. Several weeks after the man’s
disappearance, the inspector told A1 that the post office had
received a request to forward the fugitive’s mail to a post office
box in Los Angeles. The next day, A1 flew to Los Angeles and
staked out the box with an off-duty Los Angeles policeman he
had hired. “It was only a matter of a couple of hours before the
guy showed up,” A1 said. “He was so amazed to see me that he
surrendered as meekly as a lamb.”
A1 claims that he avoids strong-arm tactics in capturing
bond jumpers. Though he owns two pistols, he says he last fired
a gun in 1955 when a bond jumper tried to speed away from A1
on a deserted Indianapolis street. “I hit his rear-view mirror and
the guy got so scared that he crashed his car into a Chinese
restaurant,” A1 recalls with a chuckle. “A policeman who
happened to be driving around the corner then nabbed him,”
the bondsman added.
POWER TO STRONG-ARM
But bondsmen have wide powers to use strong-arm tactics
if they choose. Contracts with clients are open-ended on this
count. For instance, Al’s clients “waive . extradition
proceedings” and “consent to the application of such force as
may be necessary to effect their return” if they jump bond and
leave Indiana. “By virtue of their private contract with bailed
defendants, bondsmen have greater powers than even law
officers,” observes John J. Murphy, University of Cincinnati law
professor.
While state law officers are subject to criminal prosecution
unless they fire in self-defense, bondsmen can use deadly force
even on persons charged with misdemeanors. The reason is that
there are no state laws governing bondsmen’s power of arrest.
Bondsmen arrests are sometimes bloody. Last May, two
bondsmen shot a Cincinnati bond jumper to death as the
fugitive’s eight-year-old son looked on. One of the bondsmen
also died in the shootout. The fugitive had jumped bond after
losing an appeal of a 13-month sentence for attacking a
policeman during a racial disturbance.
Though the bail business can involve truly grim incidents,
A1 says it provides him a “nice living.” In an average year, he
writes about 1,500 bonds or about 30 a week. Out of this
income, he pays his 72-year-old brother-in-law and another
assistant to man the office.
Many bondsmen fear that their whole industry may soon
be part of the past. The 1966 Federal Bail Reform Act gave
feden'i courts discretion to allow criminal defendants to post
only 10% of their bail bond with the court rather than the full
amount. If the defendant skips bail, he is liable for the full
amount. But unlike a bondsman’s fee, the 10% deposit is
returned following disposition of the case when the defendant
appears on schedule. Some states have also passed laws
encouraging similar — or more liberal — practices.
Moreover, New York, Washington, D.C., Des Moines,
Indianapolis and a number of other cities have established
special bail commissions to interview newly arrested defendants
and recommend release without bail for those deemed “good
risks.”
“The bail bondsman is an anachronism and is slowly
passing from the scene,” says the University of Cincinnati’s
Prof. Murphy. But in most areas, he adds, they still play a
“crucial role.”
Philippines Protects
Tribes From Settlers
WASHINGTON - An to undeveloped Mindanao and
unusual agency is protecting
the tribe recently found living
in the Stone Age in the
Philippines.
The Tasaday Manube, a
tribe of less than 100 persons
discovered deep in the rain
forests of Mindanao, are
hunters and trappers who use
stone tools and have never
tasted salt or sugar.
Shy but intelligent, the
Tasadays are being looked after
by Panamin, the acronym for
the Philippine government’s
Presidential Arm for National
Minorities.
To survive, the Tasadays
will need the support of
Panamin and its energetic
leader, Manual Elizalde, Jr. Hill
tribes in the area already have
suffered at the hands of
settlers, miners, and
lumbermen seeking their land.
Mr. Elizalde, 34, is
described in the August
National Geographic as a
“wealthy, Harvard-educated”
member of President
Ferdinand E. Marcos’ cabinet
who “cares more about the
hard-pressed national
minorities than about his
family fortune or his life.”
Kenneth MacLeish, a senior
assistant editor of the
magazine, accompanied
Secretary Elizalde on a rescue
mission in the troubled region.
A tribesman who refused to
give uphisland had been killed
and’ his wife wounded by
raiders’ machine guns. The
woman had been hiding in the
jungle for two weeks, and the
wounds on her face, leg, and
foot were festering.
As the rescue party
prepared to fly into the
mountains, Mr. Elizalde thrust
a submachine gun into Mr.
MacLeish’s hands with the
explanation: “No knowing
who’s around.”
The writer directed the hill
people in cutting a small
clearing, while National
Geographic photographer Dean
Conger hiked into the brush
with other tribesmen who
carried the woman out.
American helicopter pilot
Denis Rinehart, a Viet Nam
veterans, flew her to safety.
Mindanao, resembling the
American West of a century
ago, is the southermost island
in the Philippines. Sparsely
settled, almost lawless, it is
called by Filiponos their “Wild,
Wild South.”
On the 36,537-square mile
island, Panamin tries to help
threatened Higaonon, Mansaka,
Tiboli, Ubo, and other
tribesmen.
“We have our frontiersmen,
as did your Wild, Wild West,
and they’re a rough, tough
lot,” Mr Elizalde told the
magazine editor. “But we
mustn’t forget why we’re here.
“After World War II the
government urged settlers to go
Graveside Rites
Set Today For
Mrs. Blalock
Private graveside services for
Mrs. Lucille Blalock, 58, will
be held today (Monday) at
Kermit Cemetery with Rev. J.
Robert Hawkins officiating,
under direction of Cooper
Funeral Chapel.
Mrs. Blalock died Saturday,
Oct. 9 in Memorial Hospital
after a lengthy illness.
A 36-year resident of
Kermit, she was born July 27,
1913, in Ballinger and married
to John B. Blalock Jan. 1,
1935 in Odessa. She was a
member of the Community
Church.
Survivors include her
husband of Kermit; one son,
Tommy Lee Berry of Houston;
one brother, Ellis W. Furgason
of Houston; two sisters, Mrs.
Fred Kohlman and Mrs. Louise
Brown, both of El Paso; and
three grandchildren.
start civilizing it. The nation
was — and is — suffering a
population explosion and no
one cared much about how
land was acquired.”
Today the government
cares, and is aiding the
endangered tribes. Mr.
MacLeish met a Higaonon chief
who, after being accused of
slaying the lumbermen who
raped and killed his family,
received amnesty from
President Marcos.
Panamin, whose
representatives travel armed,
provides medical treatment and
schooling, and is helping the
hill people build villages in
order to retain the land they
had roamed for centures.
Now Panamin also is the
champion of the Tasaday
Manube.
Funeral Services
Set Wednesday
For H. M. Gould
Graveside services for
Howard Malcolm Gould, 58, of
Wink will be conducted
Wednesday morning at 10
o’clock at Kilgore Cemetery in
Kilgore.
Mr. Gould died Saturday
night at his home at 322 South
Monahans Drive in Wink dF&ri
apparent heart attack.
Born Oct. 1, 1913, at
Lexington, he had lived in
Winkler County for the past 11
years. He was a member of the
Baptist Church.
He and Elnora Ratliff were
married on Oct. 1, 1955, at
Lovington, N. M.
Mr. Gould is survived by his
wife of Wink; two sons, Bobby
Lee Gould of Los Angeles,
Calif., and Dennis Howard
Gould of Monahans; one
daughter, Mrs. Jo Ann Snow of
Washington, D. C.; two
brothers, James Mortimer
Gould and Robert Lee Gould,
both of Lexington; and three
sisters, Mrs. H. V. Ellison of
Odessa, Mrs. Hattie McMillan
of Abilene and Mrs. J. R.
Stanley of Lexington; and five
grandchildren.
Former County
Commissioner
Dies At Plains
Funeral services for former
Winkler County Commissioner
C. F. McCargo, 77, will be held
at 3 p.m. today (Monday) in
First Baptist Church of Plains.
Burial will be in the Plains
cemetery.
Mr. McCargo died Saturday
in Yoakum County Hospital at
Denver City.
A native of Jones County,
he moved to Winkler County in
the early 1930’s and for several
years operated a store at the
town of Cheyenne in the
northern part of the county,
Mr. McCargo served as a
Winkler County Commissioner
for a number of years in the
1930’s before moving to Plains
in 1941.
Survivors include his wife,
Oma, of Plains; one son,
Robert McCargo of Casper,
Wyo.; two daughters, Mrs.
Vivian Mays of Lafayette, La.,
and Mrs. Frances Copeland of
San Antonio; one brother,
George McCargo of Clyde;
three sisters, Mrs. Ada Phillips
of Midland, Mrs. Thelma
Barnes of Baird and Mrs. Bill
Wootres of Tres Ritas, N. M.
Mr. McCargo was also a
cousin of Mrs. Tom Linebery
of Kermit.
To keep mirrors shining
bright, dust them and go over
them with a clean cloth
dampened with a little rubbing
alcohol.
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Maikell, Elgin L. The Winkler County News (Kermit, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 58, Ed. 1 Monday, October 11, 1971, newspaper, October 11, 1971; Kermit, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1000073/m1/10/?q=waco+tornado: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Winkler County Library.