The Republican journal., 1872-08-08
The Belly Ache Party.

The hotel and saloon keepers who were
| summoned to Portland to answer to the
serious charge Of furnishing glass of
liquor to man who declared he was sick
and suffering have returned They were
arraigned before the 4. S Court and com
PEELED to pay a large sum each. We are
happy to say that the two detectives who
sneaked around in this dirty business, ate
not Maine men, but were imported for
this special purpose. The meanness Of
the proceeding exceeds all belief In one
case, that of Mr. Israel Decrow, of Cam
den, who keeps a few summer boarders,
and has no more idea of selling liquor
than he mas Of being circus performer,
the informer fairly cried with the anguish
Of his counterfeit belly ache. until Mr.. ID
got a Jug of new rum which we kept for
use in the stable, and gave him a drink
After he had gone Mr.. Decrow found
that the scamp had left twenty-five cents.
The Commissioner chooses to hold that a
single sale constitutes man = retailer.
and liable to the penalties if he has no
license.
What a magnanimous and digniiied
proceeding for the government Of this
country Clothed with its power and
majesty, dirty scamp sneaks into mans
house, and by pretence of sickness and
by continued solicitation, works upon his
human sympathies, until he yields to them !;
and then bya still meaner trick leaves his
scrip behind, and goes off to enter COM
plant against his benetactor' The ac-
cused is placed where he must refuse an
apparently sick and suffering man. and
thus be brute, or fall into the cunningly
devised trap, and lose his money lie is
''between the devil and the deep sea-"
Such fellows would complain of the Good
Samaritan for pouring unlicensed oil and
traveller.
We understand that one hundred of
these cases have been commenced, most
of which are settled. 1t seems TO have
been raid, organized upon the belly-ache
idea, for the purpose OF putting money in
the pockets of certain officials and inform
ers. We learn that these one hundred
eases extract over $4,000 from the peck
cts of The people of Maine, with no better
cause or foundation than pretended
belly-ache Whether Mr. S. s. Marble
the Marshal was the inventor Of this
brilliant idea, we cannot say, but he
profits more largely than any one
Does the simple hearted reader imagine
that the money goes into the treasury of
this great and gloriously free country
Not by long sight. In one hundred
eases, we are told that Mr. Marble, for his
perquisite in the belly ache campaign,
pockets four thousand dollars, perhaps as
| the reward Of virtue in having invented
the idea. But let it be understood that
MIR. Marble not only didn't have the belly
ache, but didn't even pretend to have it.
That distressing fatnlence was VIGOROUSLY
borne. The two informers, who traversed
the country with hands on Wristbands and
anguish in their faces, and get only a
paltry $1,000, really sustained the burden
of the day Other costs eat up all but
$250o, which goes to the government, for
lending its dignity to this gripping and
windy campaign.
Such records as these, such instances OF
noble, high-mnded, virtuous and mag
unanimous administration of the govern
ment, make it proud thing to be a
citizen of this country!