The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1874-12-31


the return of the liquors the shrinkage was
found to be very Large, and the Sheriff; BY
the judgment Of the court, was held respon-
sible. In attempting to enforce the law in
st. Paul met more serious resistance:
The case selected for seizure was under
stood to be = test case, TO- see il the. law
could b enforced, which fact was not known
to the Sheriff: A large quantity of liquors
was stored in the warehouse of VIM. Con-
STAINS, 1t the foot of jackson street. Judge
symonds issued writ commanding the
Sheriff to make the seizure. exhibited my
writ to Mr.. Constans, stating my regret that
I had to perform such an unpleasant duty.
He asked time to consult his attorney to sec
if he had better give bonds. At the time
appointed went for the answer, and found
they had Knocked down and dragged outmy
keeper, thevenerable but now lamentedL Lott
Moffet. The doors were barred and barri-
cades erected inside, with armed men to de-
fend them, and large crowd was outside
ready for the conflict. Ny next move was to
proceedup Third street and summon every
man I met as posse con'itatus to aid me in
enforcing the law. In this 1 was only par
TALLY successful, a. out of every three I would
summon two would enlist to fight against
the execution of the law. However, sc.
cured respectable force, and proceeding to
the warehouse, mounted the steps, and told
the assembled multitude of my determina-
ton to execute the law, and that if failed
'tMolly Starks" would have to sleep ~
widow" concluding by calling on all good
citizens to aid me. Our first attempt to
make breach in the building was by using
. large stick of timber as battsring ram,
which was rendered imperative by tho sp-
posite party's pushing the end against
beam. Our efforts soon resulted in gener-
al free fight, causing some bloody noses and
scalps, Mr.. Constance being among the
wounded. At this stage Of the conflict, Mr..
G. proposed to have me withdraw my force
and return in one hour with such assistance
~ might deem necessary, and he would
surrender the liquors. This was proposed
only to enable him to reinforce his COM
mand; fox when returned as agreed upon
I found much larger force to contend
with, and was told that he could not con-
troll the men and that if I persisted I must
fight.
During the armistice I had arrested .
large six-footsr for hitting me . sumner
under the sar, and with the assistance Of
two Deputies was making slow progress up
the hill, when . number came to his rescue
and W were about to lose our prisoner, -
I noticed another party headed by Case
Tor Case), = noted gambler, who came
rushing up to aid in the rescue. I cried in
. loud voice, Cease, the sheritf calls on you
tn ,.,;,+ i. a1resting this priaoner." He
in.t,ntl, replied, "ceme on, boys! When
the High sh> <rif Of Ramsey county calls on
me to assist him, shall see the laws en-
forced" After viii, h my prisoner made
no further resistance.
AA0 A6At ~ LAAS "0<SOO> Wv "ss0 A~~o"~~
in the afternoon. The Sher4' ff's posse wore
blue ribbon in their coats, AMI were large
ly reinforced by lumbermen fr.'m st. An"
thony, all of whom formed around the
Sheriff to protect him while he was max
ing breach with an axe in the side of the
building. A few knock-downs and some
promiscuous fighting, ensued, when Col.
D. A. Robertson mounted barrel and
asked cessation Of hostilities for a few
minutes. He made very effective appeal
On behalf of law, and was succeeded by Col.
Beck, who used the same line Of argument,
and to be more emphatic he stamped his
foot ON the head of the barrel, which caved
n and left him astride of the slaves, caus-
ing the whole crowd to be convulsed with
laughter. These addresses resulted in the
immediate surrender Of the liquors. Judge
Haynes decided the law unconstitutional,
and the Sheriff was made to pay q thousand
dollars damages. He appealed to the
Legislature for relief: All acknowledged
the equity of the claim. Some thought the
county should reimburse the Sheriff, others
that the State shonld, and between them all
he got nothing. Thus the adage, 'Repub-
lies are ungrateful," was proved true.
G. F. B.