The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-04-10
OHIO FRIDAY MORNING APRIL 10, 1874

] j. d common. and. they suppose. a law
I full occupation. The law Of love. there
fore. requires that We should not visit
altogether. uDon them or their victims.
the evil aHH i-- crimes which society
Deliberately r..G-.Ifs. All. --socierv."
" IIar crimes lis.~ Il 10 answer Tor, lou
and l. my readers. make society. and
can we escape from the responsibility Of
all the evils. and the crimes. and the
wrongs which have accompanied iuJenl-
perance. Perhaps We can say IRE have
done no positive wrong. BUT can We
say We have done any positive good.
Have We upheld these laws ia tie spirit
in which they We're made. People are
continually asking for a }g5r. Well.
they get law. and the law i ALWAYS in
advance OF what the people are willing
TO do. Not One-fourth Of all the sa-
looms in Ohio would exist to-day If the
law Is enforced. Now. take tile Scheid
case at Lebanon. the other day. Ii was
asserted that Scheid was pursuing a
lawful vocation. and that certain wo-
men in the town of Morrow interrupted
his business. and were about to damage
him. irreparably, by preventing his sell
ing liquor and making drunkarIs. Now
very first principle of equity that lie who
comes into a court of equity must do
equity. He who asks for law. must
obey law, Well, when you come TO ap-
ply this principle to the SALOONS. where
Is their. standings Ifow many of the q
5000 drinking shops of Ohio have com
piled with the law fully. Scheid and
his attorney came into the court of Leb-
=. -. u, !
were pursuing a lawful vocation. and
they had right 10 ask for protection.
If they had. they could not ask it by in |
junction. 1t would be to make an in |
junction the instrument of easy immor- |
ality in the State and to violate law by |
law. But what was the state of fact |
The whole case is fully stated in Judge |
Smiths judgment at Lebanon
But there is another ground which, |
in judgment, eiTectually disposed of |
this motion. That is the third-viz.
That the allegations of the petition are
not true. He alleges that he kept a
house where he conducted business ac-
cording to law. From the nature of the
case, the character of his business i'll
this respect is directly in issue, and from
the proof it is perfectly clear to my
mind that instead of this it was n place
where intoxicating liquors were habiru-
ally sold III violation of the laws of the
State. and where gambling was con
staHtly being carried on.
SUCH IA place as this oar statue ex-
preSsiy declares to be Il public nuisance.
and which being shown in II proper case
would have to be ordered by the court
to shut up. Now the doctrine i perfect
ly well settled that a nuisance, either
public or private. may be abated even
by force. so no breach of the peace is
committed. Surely, then, the means
used here, with the view of ;buting this
nuisance, We're not unlawful or in dcro-
CATION Of the rights of the plaintiff. for
as the keeper of such an establishment.
the maintainer of public nuisance. and
a gambling house, he can have no stand
ing III Il court of equity. when he asks
to he protected in his unlawful and Grim
inal business. The Injunction will be
dissolqed at plaintiffs costs.
Four-ffths of all the saloons Of Ohio
are exactly in tie same condition-the
saloons are on all hands violating the
law. but who cnforces the law. We |
come back, then. to the great principle
society must enforce its laws. or they
are void Who is society. You and |
and all around us. who have any sense
or intelligence The grand jury of Ham
iiton county has just adjourned, with
ont even the prctense of indicting any
body for keeping a house Of i'll fame,
Or Illegal drinking establishment, or Il
gambling house, Such is human iuS-
rice and human law,