The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-06-10
THE CANOE CREEK PETITION,
A Very Extravagant Statement Signed by
Men. Women and Children.

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The following is copy Of petition pre-
scented, at the late session OF our county
board of supervisors, by sup'r Feaster, OF
Canoe Creek
Hn1sDALs, Rock leland Co, III.
To the Board Of supervisors Of Rock Island Co.,
We, whose names are hereunto sub
ser1bed, being residents and voters in the
town of Canoe Creek and vicinity, hereby
petition your honorable body to abate a
nuisance and remove a curse from our
midst, by refusing license 20 the dealers in
intoxicating drinks, ale, beer or vine, in
the town Of Canoe Greek. -.
This accursed traffic destroys the peace
ofour families turns our homes into dark
ness and gloom, making wives worse than
widows, and children worse than orphans
making our sons, brothers, husbands and
fathers outcasts from moral society, and
often criminals. 1t fills our iails, recruits
our penitentiaries, lights the incendiaries'
torch, and turns the burglar key, and pro-
vides the gallows with victims, kindling
the fires Of beastly passions that burn to
the lowest hell
The dealers in this double distilled
damnation may plead inability to procure
a livelihood by honest and honorable means.
1t is towards plea, and should avail moth
ing, since they are supposed to have brains
and muscle like the rest of us; and we pro-
cure living without making our lives q
curse to our neighbors.
The cost of jails, which this traffic makes
it necessary for us to build and maintain
together with the cost of arresting and
prosecuting the criminals it makes, vastly
exceeds the revenues that government
may receive from licenses, so that it is poor
economy, and also league with death and
q covenant with hell
We therefore pray you to refuse license
10 any person who may desire to sell intox-
icating drinks of any kind in the town of
Canoe Greek. By such refusal you will
deserve and receive our lasting gratitude,
This petition appears to be in the hand
writing of Mrs. s. NJ. Hitchcock, one of
the signers. The first name signed to it is
WIN. ii. Hitchcock to which, in the hand
writing Of the lady named, is prefxed the
word Rev" There are 1874 names to the
petition, among which are several we'll
known aud highly respected citizens of the
township. We notice the names of G. B.
Marshall (who now resides in Clinton,
Iowa., George Kendall, John Cain, Chris
tophor Dillon, James Bcal, iona. Foastor
Arthur Goodrich, H. Ashdown, Joseph
Martin, J. B. Walker, VIM. S. Nosburg,
Calvin Goodrich, Chas Machin, NJ C.
Ward, D. B. Virgins, Perry Henderson,
Elisha Devinny, and others. There APP
pears TO be some IS or so names of men,
aud the balance between 50 or 90) are
names of women aud children.
The petition is a remarkable one for its
extravaganza Of language and its wild
statements, and we hardly think that a
single individual who signed it is prepared
to prove the extravagant statements il
contaius
No fault eau be found with the people
who think that the morals and good order
Of their township requires that no intoxi
eating drink shall be sold within its limits
The new and very stringent law of this Stat
requires, not that citizens shall demonstrate
dSdllSb TIC otlC VI luJOAiCdJlnB uIluhs Du
that no Board of Supervisors shall, after
the first of July, license any person to sci
IN any township, unless the person askin!
license can procure the signatures of a ma
iority Of the legal voters of the township
asking that he be licensed So, there il
very little probability that any saloon vii
be licensed anywhere by our Board Of Su
pervisors, for the reason that no one cal
get the necessary number of citizens t
sign such petition.
We publish the Canoe Greek petition
simply to show what wild and extravagan
statements people will thoughdessly pu
their names to-statements which not on
Of them are prepared to prove to be true
A petition like the following would hav,
be;n much more appropriate, VIZ
''To the Board of Supervisor. The un
dersigned, inhabitants of Canoe Cree
township, believing that the sale of intoxi
eating drinks is an evil in the community
respectfully ask that you will grant no Ii
cense for their sale within our township.
Such a modest request would commend
itself to the goodwill of ALL and create n
i'll feeling IN the community. But tn
double distilled damnation' style of tn
Canoe Creek petition will be likely to pre-
woke an acrimonious opposition.