The Baltimore Twenty Three
Posted: October 23rd, 2015, 11:09 am
The kids I grew up with meant a lot to me, I didn't like being at home. So I was out at 17, had my own place...a job....a car....nearly unheard of these days. It was an entire house that became known affectionately as the House of Weaver. it was a non-stop party....I would get up to go to work and there were people drinking beer at 6 am and smoking cigarettes and laughing . Under the street light in a nondescript sedan was a man taking notes, and we knew we were being watched. Maybe a disgruntled parent had ratted out the twenty four hour stream of visitors. In and out all day. All night. And we were mostly all drinkers back then, except for the band that rented the third floor from me. So I talked to them about the visitor under the streetlamp....told them they might want to clean up any drugs, and since they padlocked the door because of all their musical equipment, suggested they might want to give me an extra key, in case we got some visitors. And they did give me a key.
And so...one night when twenty three of us were drinking....all under age....the house was surrounded....and the cops came in with a vengeance.....when they asked me about the third floor, I told them the band locked their valuables up there, that I have the key...I immediately heard an order to break the door down....which they did....and the night went down from there. The police began to stage scenes so the crime lab could photograph the rooms to look particularly outrageous....began to place empty bottles on the tables, knocking over furniture and lamps....creating an environment all their own...for some nice black and white glossies ...we protested, but they told us to shut up.
In the end all 23 of us were arrested for drinking under age, and escorted out to the paddy wagons....but the BUST, was a BUST....NO DRUGS ....and the city had spent a lot of time and money on this sting to only get some kids being kids.....so they asked me after everyone was out, including myself, to come back in....that they wanted me to turn off the lights and lock the doors...and right away I knew something was up. cuz that's a pretty easy job....SO....AS SOON AS MY EYES MET ONE OF THE COPS, HE PLUNGED HIS CLENCHED FIST INTO AN UPHOLSTERED CHAIR....and well as you might have suspected he came out with a handful of capsules that were of course illegal drugs....So since my name was on the lease....I now had a drug charge.
This was my first experience with the the law...the way it really works....or doesn't work
I was now jaded....and that would last a lifetime....from there forward I always had a mistrust of police.....and so did the other twenty three. We just had a fifty year reunion of that time...that night if you will....and twenty of the original criminals were there....we had a lot of laughs retelling the stories of those days, and specifically that night...and OH Yes,
we all turned out just fine.
And so...one night when twenty three of us were drinking....all under age....the house was surrounded....and the cops came in with a vengeance.....when they asked me about the third floor, I told them the band locked their valuables up there, that I have the key...I immediately heard an order to break the door down....which they did....and the night went down from there. The police began to stage scenes so the crime lab could photograph the rooms to look particularly outrageous....began to place empty bottles on the tables, knocking over furniture and lamps....creating an environment all their own...for some nice black and white glossies ...we protested, but they told us to shut up.
In the end all 23 of us were arrested for drinking under age, and escorted out to the paddy wagons....but the BUST, was a BUST....NO DRUGS ....and the city had spent a lot of time and money on this sting to only get some kids being kids.....so they asked me after everyone was out, including myself, to come back in....that they wanted me to turn off the lights and lock the doors...and right away I knew something was up. cuz that's a pretty easy job....SO....AS SOON AS MY EYES MET ONE OF THE COPS, HE PLUNGED HIS CLENCHED FIST INTO AN UPHOLSTERED CHAIR....and well as you might have suspected he came out with a handful of capsules that were of course illegal drugs....So since my name was on the lease....I now had a drug charge.
This was my first experience with the the law...the way it really works....or doesn't work
I was now jaded....and that would last a lifetime....from there forward I always had a mistrust of police.....and so did the other twenty three. We just had a fifty year reunion of that time...that night if you will....and twenty of the original criminals were there....we had a lot of laughs retelling the stories of those days, and specifically that night...and OH Yes,
we all turned out just fine.