Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-05-15
AnOka MutinOus !.-.AWful Waste OF
LiQuOrO!!

Anoka Mutinous !.-.Awful Waste of
LiquOrs!!
We have received the details Of the des-
truction Of the Grog-Shops in Anoka, which
We mentioned the other day,and present them,
this evening, to our readers 1t seems that
this thriving wn-disiinguished widely for
its morality and Temperance prime: ples-has
been cursed during the past Winter by the
presence of one ID. d. Dudley, who fitted up
an Empire Saloon,,' and retailed the most
villanous and filthy stuff to whoever would
drink it. His liquors were almost deadly
poisons and he has succeeded. by the insid-
Gus wlles Of his trade, in seducing several
young men from the path Of rectitude, and
running them on the rock of Appetite. Elk
asperated at his conduct. the citizens held q
series Of Temperance Meetings." to confer
upon the best mode of Kidding the town of
the nuisance. Force was recommended by
some, but finally moderate measures were un-
animously adopted. A committee Of seven
was appointed to wait upon Mr.. Dudley aud
make propositions. They called, treated him
with the most deferential courtesy and offer
ed to buy his establishment at a reasonable
price. He said he would sell his liquors and
the good will, for $ll 900 OF course, such
proposal could not be listened to. Dudley
treated the conference with contempt-nsul-
ted the citizens by posters in the street
hoasted that he 'could whip any ten Tenn
perance men in tOwn"-advertised that he
kept revolvers containing fifty charges with
in reach, and was ready to receive any inva-
ders, announced that he had made an arrange
ment with the Lumbermen, to accept two
barrels of rum which he would set in the
street when they came down, and "clear out
the Temperance men," g., &C., &c. But on
Thursday night, the 25;h ult., he was visited
by ".Sam." The prosecuted liquor vender
tells the story thus
He was sleeping on the lounge in the bar
room, when, about one o'clock at night, he
heard noise Ike clap of thunder, and
opening his eyes, he saw a battering. ram
come through the stout double door (which
was secured by four locks and bolts,) and
g three men were sitting on the end of it y
Before he could get up, eight men were in the
room, who held him upon the lounge, tied
his hands and feet, and nut neatly fitting
gag in his mouth which had been turned for
the purpose, tying it behind his ears. They
then commenced to smash his "property."
SIfy1foe barrels and as many more decanters,
'iemijOhns and casks were made "to bite the
Dust" ard their cOntOnts were poured upon
the ground cit is said that perfect food
| 1T nasrinpss slrged around the Empire
next morning, and stood six inches deep on
the Cellar bottOmD When they demolished
every thing that looked or smelt as If il would
make drunk come. and had thrown out in the
street with the broken glass, a lot of revolv-
ers, pistols, bowie knives and such like play
things that were found bv the side of the
helligerent sleeper, they took the gag out of
his mouth, and "some one whistlcd," he says.
land l did't see anybody any more The
spiders were disguised with lampback, friz-
lied hair, &c, so az not to be recognized and
lheir attempt at secresy was successful. The
abused Mr.. Dudley says the whole affair did
not last five minutes, and nobody spoke a
word! Some Of his early customers found
him pinioned on the lounge with "whisky,
whisky everywhere. but meier drop to
drink" He found his wagon at davbreak
drawn up before his door, facing out of toaon
A Dutch Grocer who had couple of bar
rels of liquor, announced next day that he
"vas coing to SELL" He didn't care tam
for te Temperance men," and insisted that if
they came to hiS house they would meet with
n warm reception. The next morning he
stick Of timher.) poised upon braces in the
street and aimed directly at the front of his
cdiicc. A note WIS stuck under his door,
warning him that if he didn't want visit
from the Dark Lantern Committee he had
better dispense with his rum and il he did
desire call he would do well to "separate
tue molasses froul the liquor, as, not being
able to discriminate, they might mix up
l. H.. -, > Al. a. Il
Sive frightened the German "merchant" out
of his wits, and he disposed of his liquors the
same day.
Public opinion in Anoka is nearly all on
one side-the side of the CHARTERS Anoka,
with population of over 1000 ndalitaDts,
has now no place where single glass of IL
quor can be ohtsned! Threats are rife that
"unless the offenders be brought to Justice"
(Which means the law We suppose,) the mar
tyrs to public indignatiOn-the rum sellers
will take summary revenge by burning the
town! They have publicly advised promi-
nent owners there to ''get their property in
sured!"
! p. S.-Sincc the above was written, we
learn that twelve Of the weathiest and wor.
| thiest citizens Of AnOka, (church members,
several of thenn,) have been arrested on sus-
pcion of knowing something about the
Dark Lantern Purifying Committee. Law
renee & Lochren, of this city, arc engaged as
counsel by Dudley and the ether gentleman
who retired from business so suddenly. The
| fight wakes hot-Anoka u.s. Alcohol are the
parties-and we shall watch the issue with
anxiety. The only question seems to be,
whe her, in lieu of better poker, it is allow
able to borrow the little finger Of BeIzebub
to "cast out Devils !' What say the pub
lie?
The above we copy from the St. Antho-
ny .N'ems of the 9Th. We doubt that our
Anoka friends are Sowing the wind to reap,
sometime or other, the whirlwind" This
doing evil that good may come" is rot
sound doctrine, nor prudent action. On the
frontiers, where the restraints of law at best
are feeble; where our population is motley,
mixed, AMI far from HON !. .eneous; and the
tendency is at any rate to disregard legal re-
straints; It is a dangerous experiment for
respectable aud conservative citizens to let
loose on any occasion the tiger of human pas
sion; or to furnish on any pretext, however
good or spccous preccdents for bad men to
Justify themselves hereafter in tram;lng on
the laws, wisely made for the common pro-
lection of society!
Oh for trees fer trees to uuench the