§ 139. Discharge on application of taxpayer. Where a person has been
arrested by virtue of an execution issued upon a judgment of fifty
dollars or under, and has been kept imprisoned at the expense of the
county for six months or over, the court out of which the execution
issued may, on the application of a taxpayer of the county to which the
support is chargeable, and upon due proof of the service upon the person
in whose favor such execution was issued, of a notice in writing of the
time when and the place where such application is to be made, at least
eight days before the making thereof discharge the prisoner, and it
shall be the duty of the sheriff to forthwith release him from custody.