David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

were rumors—“true and false”—about
“rats, beatings, concrete beds,
overflowing latrines, jailhouse assaults,
and crude examinations for venereal
disease.” Seventy-five and eighty
children were packed into cells intended
for eight. Some had been bused out to the
state fairground and held without food
and water in stockades in the pouring
rain. King’s response? “Jail helps you to
rise above the miasma of everyday life,”
he said blithely. “If they want some
books, we will get them. I catch up on
my reading every time I go to jail.”
Walker and King were trying to set up
that picture—the German shepherd
lunging at the boy. But to get it, they had