Jim Goddard was once the key figure in a legal fight that led to a state law declared unconstitutional.
But really all he cared about was getting sprung from jail.
Goddard in early 1902 pleaded guilty in Needles court of being a vagrant, earning him a free ride to the county jail in San Bernardino. But there, a young lawyer, Henry M. Willis was contacted to find a way for the well-known drifter to avoid 90 days behind bars.
Willis, son of a former San Bernardino County district attorney, failed twice to liberate Goddard, arguing Needles Judge L.V. Root made a variety of questionable actions in his ruling.
His third try, though, was certainly novel, and remarkably simple. Willis realized that Judge Root convicted Goddard of being a “vagrant,” not of vagrancy.
He argued the state’s definition was improper.
“The complaint charges Goddard with being ‘a person who roams around from place to place without any lawful business,’” reported the Sun newspaper, Jan. 31, 1902. Such was the description of a vagrant in Subdivision 3 of Section 616 of the state Penal Code.
Willis insisted “that ‘a person who roams around from place to place without any lawful business’ is not in itself any violation of law,” said the article. He cited the state Constitution that “all men are by nature free and independent and have certain unalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying life and liberty.”
In those days, it wasn’t especially popular to glorify the drifters plaguing this area as free spirits and vagabonds. Local officials were constantly frustrated by the crimes and other problems caused by such men who arrived here from cold Eastern states. Police found any excuse to boot them out of town.
But Willis pointed out that under the state’s definition just about anybody who was “roaming from place to place” was guilty. That would include “the tourist or health seeker for they equally with the tramp fall within the definition,” said the San Bernardino Times-Index, Feb. 4, 1902. “It would brand a very large and respective class of visitors to Southern California, and speedily deprive us of one of our principal assets.”
Superior Court Judge Benjamin F. Bledsoe agreed the definition was flawed and on Feb. 3 declared that section of state code unconstitutional. He ordered Goddard freed.
Goddard was again a free man, but he had an uncanny ability of getting into trouble. While celebrating his release, he was fined $5 two days later for violating San Bernardino’s crusade against expectorants – spitting chewing tobacco on sidewalks. On March 23, he was arrested for being drunk and fined $10.
“Goddard’s head has swelled to unusual proportions, and he has an idea that he is a privileged character and not amenable to the law,” said the Weekly Sun on April 4. Finally, he was arrested on March 28 for vagrancy – using a new and improved wording of that crime. “He got up against the real thing, and he will spend 40 days on the rock pile that joins the county jail.”
The trial didn’t really do much for Goddard but it helped launch a distinguished legal career for Willis. He won election to the state Senate from San Bernardino and Inyo counties in 1907 and 1909. He was named a Municipal Court judge in 1926 and a Superior Court judge in 1931. He had retired in 1958 after 27 years on the bench.
At the time of his death in 1960, the Los Angeles Times called him “the dean of California judges.” He is buried at San Bernardino’s Pioneer Memorial Cemetery.
Mills Act workshop
The Historical Society of the Pomona Valley will hold a workshop for residents with historic homes on April 17 in City Hall chambers. The 6:30 p.m. workshop will discuss how the state Mills Act can assist in the preservation and restoration of historic homes.
Information: 909-623-2198.
April tours
The Historical Society of Pomona Valley also plans Sunday tours of its historic buildings this month.
Tours will be on April 21 at the Casa Primera, and April 28 at the Phillips Mansion and Currier House.
For times and directions or to reserve a spot: www.Pomonahistorical.org.
Ontario Home Tour
Ontario Heritage is planning its annual Historic Home Tour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 4.
The tour will take visitors through four historic homes in Ontario as well as the Chaffey High School Memorial Library. Tours will describe both the architecture and history of the buildings as well as the work to keep them maintained.
Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 the day of the event. Information: 909-957-1646.
Ticket information: https://is.gd/7Dh2Xw.
Joe Blackstock writes on Inland Empire history. He can be reached atjoe.blackstock@gmail.comor Twitter @JoeBlackstock. Check out some of our columns of the past at Inland Empire Stories on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/IEHistory.
