Chapter 24 of the Code of Ordinances deals specifically with paupers, vagrants and tramps.

It’s not unusual to hear some Athenians say they pine for the good ol’ days, but feelings of nostalgia could be eased by just a quick look through the city’s earliest ordinances.

A citizen recently returned a copy of the 1903 Code of Ordinances that city officials didn’t even realize was missing. City spokesperson Holly Hollman said the 114-year-old book was in surprisingly good condition for its age.

The turn-of-the-century ordinances are seemingly more concerned with personal behavior than building and construction codes. One ordinance says it is unlawful to solicit strangers on a depot platform, while another prohibits drinking in public streets. Another regulation gives the fire chief the same authority as the police chief.

One section, Chapter 24, deals specifically with paupers and tramps. Section 261 explains a fine of $50 would be levied against anyone who knowingly brings a pauper into town. Section 262 deals with vagrancy:

“Any person who having no visible means of support, or who being dependent upon his labor, lives without employment or who abandons his family and leaves them in danger of becoming a burden to the public, or who is a common gabler or a common drunkard, or who habitually walks or rambles on the streets at unseemly hours of the night, or who habitually loafs or loiters around places where spiritous, vinous or malt liquors are sold or given away, shall be deemed guilty of vagrancy, and must, on conviction, be fined not less than one nor more than fifty dollars.”

Section 263 defines a “tramp” as anyone unable to do manual labor and who goes from place to place asking for food. The fine for being a tramp was no more than $25 for the first offense. Subsequent offenses could have resulted in imprisonment.

Hollman and other employees at City Hall have enjoyed flipping through the hardback book and laughing at how strange life in Athens must have been at the turn of the century. She plans to highlight different sections of the ordinance as part of the city’s ongoing bicentennial efforts.

“I’m going to post things from it periodically (to the city’s Facebook page) and then we’ll put it in a vault,” she said. “I would have loved to have been there.”

Strange state laws

Athens’ 1903 ordinance may seem strange by 2017 standards, but they pale in comparison to some Alabama laws, including:

• Dominoes may not be played on Sunday;

• It is legal to drive the wrong way down a one-way street if you have a lantern attached to the front of your automobile;

• It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle;

• It is considered an offense to open an umbrella on a street, for fear of spooking horses;

• Masks may not be worn in public;

• Putting salt on a railroad track may be punishable by death; and

• Boogers may not be flicked into the wind.