The Pulaski County Courthouse where the 12 Little Rock aldermen were arraigned.
On Monday, December 4, 1939, a dozen of Little Rock’s aldermen reported to the county jail to serve sentences for contempt of court. The previous Monday, the twelve council members had voted against an ordinance which had been ordered by the judge in an improvement district matter. The other aldermen had either voted in the affirmative or had been absent. Because the twelve had refused to change their votes since that meeting, the judge ordered them jailed.
At the hearing, the judge brought each alderman up one by one. This seemed to be in order to further embarrass the aldermen. The judge also interviewed Mayor J. V. Satterfield and City Clerk H. C. “Sport” Graham to put on the record that they had counseled the aldermen to obey the judge’s order.
Mrs. C. C. Conner, the only female alderman, was not jailed but was fined $50. The eleven men were held at the jail, though not in cells. Newspaper photos showed the men playing cards in a conference room. In order to get out of jail, the judge gave the aldermen the chance to change their votes.
Mayor J. V. Satterfield plead with the judge to let the aldermen leave the jail to attend the meeting at City Hall, which was nearby. He requested that the city be allowed to maintain “what little dignity remained” by not having the meeting at the jail. The judge relented, and the aldermen were escorted by deputies to the council chambers.
After the aldermen changed their votes, the judge suspended the remainder of their sentences. The sentences were not vacated, they were only suspended. The judge admonished them that should they attempt to reverse their reversal, he would throw them back in jail.
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