Officious Officers

Released
August 3, 1925

Starring

 * Farina
 * Jackie
 * Joe
 * Johnny
 * Mango
 * Mary
 * Mickey

Story
The gang, still in grass skirts thanks to their previous misdeeds, is trying to play baseball in the street but is constantly interrupted by traffic. They get chased away by Officer “Hard-Broiled” McManus, who gives them a warning. Mickey gets the brilliant idea of closing off a block of a nearby street. This causes a major traffic jam, which McManus soon spots. He orders the gang to remove their obstacles, and since they defied his warning, then arrests them, putting some in handcuffs because he doesn’t have enough for all of them. The friendlier officer, Mac, who has been observing, regretfully realizes McManus is doing the right thing so he helps out by placing the remaining gangsters in handcuffs. Mango escapes this fate because she was only watching, having been told by the rest of the gang that she was too little to play ball.

Thus Mickey, Mary, Johnny, Joe, Jackie, and Farina are marched several blocks through town, hands cuffed behind their backs, to the village square where they are placed in stocks for public scorn. Mango is amused by the process. The judge points out that they could have played ball in lots of open spaces, such as McGowan’s Vacant Lot, Dooley Flats, or their schoolyard, that didn’t endanger motorists. When it gets dark a few hours later, they are sent to prison and spend the next thirty nights in jail cells. During the day, they are chained at the ankles to form a chain gang, and work off their debt to society by cleaning the sides of town streets. They also have to make and set up traffic signs. Finally, another three months is added to their sentences of having to wear only the grass skirts.

McManus gets a commendation and a promotion, and gains the respect and admiration of all the law-abiding adults in town. A few billboards featuring the chain gang are displayed, and are very effective in eliminating crime in the city.