, 1876-06-01

WY SanoilhS III tnlS county, Tor
the ostensible purpose of "aiding
In the construction of a wagon road
across the Cascade Mountains"
Under this act the County Commits
sioners of the County assumed the
right to license the practice of
gambling devices which bear no re-
lations whatever, to the terms of the
law. Here gambling has been made
q apublic pursuit under the color of
law, and those to whom the enforce
ment of the law is entrusted acqui-
esce in it. The natural conseosen-
ces of such system have followed.
gambling of every kind. is carried
on with impunity; tie town has be-
come the reset of professional
gamblers, st4arpers,p pick pockets and
ourgiars of every grade. Why not
Wbesn our-oficiAls license gambling,
who shall say that it is crime to
pursue the same calling on private
account. Is it not natural that the
desperate characters who live by
preying upon the community should
regard place where such prac-
tees are legalized and tolerated
as the paradise of thieves,
and resort to it for. the purpose of
playing their vocation. The Coun-
ty authorities, by perversion OF a
legislative act, license gambling
hells; the city authorities in view of
this outrage upon public decency,
refuse or.neglect to enforce the law
against gambling hells of more
private and hence less demoralizing
character, which carry on business
without the license of the County
Commissioners Court, and the
thieves who consort in these places,
naturally and logically resort to
picking-poekets, burglary and high
way robbery, without license from
the Commissioners; though We are
not at all certain that they could not
obtain such license by applying for
it. Our town is literally overrun by
these desperate characters; their
characters, their vocations and their
indentity is publicly recognized.
Hardly night passes that some des-
perate crime is not committed. On
Saturday night no less than three of
our citizens in different parts of the
city were assaulted by foot-pads,
and Mr.. J. r. Robbins was knocked
down with deadly weapon, serious
ly wounded and barely escaped with
his life. We have City Marshal,
an organized police and night-watch-
men all under pay, but very rarely
an arrest of any offender, notwith-
standing, the frequency of crime.
1t would be better for the city to
make such terms with the thieves
and robbers as the County Commis
sioners have with the lottery gam
blers-to license them to pay their
vocation for ten per cent of their ac-
cumulations-then to pay a police
force for doing nothing.
The remedy for these evils are
within the purview of the law, and
it requires only faithful officials to
make that remedy effective. The
same Legislature which passed the
lottery act, passed vagrant act,
the first section of which reads as
follows
"That the following persons are
vagrants: All persons who tell
fortunes, or where lost and stolen
goods may be found; all common
prostitutes, and keepers of bawdy
houses or houses for the resort of
prostitutes; all habitual drunkards,
gamesters or other disorderly per-
sons; all persons wandering about
and having no visible calling or
business to maintain themselves; all
persons going about as collectors
cf aims for charitable institutions
undsr any false or fraudulent preten-
ses; all persons playing or betting
in any street or public or open
place, at or with, any table or in
strument of gaming at any game or
pretended game of chance" :"
Is there peace officer in this.city
who could not, at any hour of the
day or night, put his hands on
scores of persons decribed in the
above section as vagrants? ? If there
is any such, he is certainly not fit
for his position. The duty of such
peace officer is made imperative by
the third section of the same act,
as follows
All peace-oillcefs SfSdtt arrest any
vagrant whom they may find at
large, and take him before some jas
tice of the Peace of the county, city
or town, in which the arrest is
made"
If this law was enforced judicious-
ly-not oppressively-our city would
soon be relieved of its greatest pest.
But if our police will not or cannot
do anything, the law-abiding citi-