The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-12-21
ALFno. Dec. 1a. 1S76.

a. Circuit court mas now Deen IN session TWO |
weeks, and will continue during the pres
ent week. Much of the time of the court
was taken up In the prosecution Of persons
for selling liquor to minors. and for sell
ing without license. Some of these parties
were saloon keepers and some were drug
gists; few were convicted and the rest
acquitted.
If the sum total of money expended
annually in this county could only be
paraded before the public, in the prosecu-
tons of whisky cases, think there would
be a correction somewhere. What mean is
this:-As each court commences, the
crusaders begin their work. Hundreds of
witnesses are subpoened to appear before
the grand jury, and that august body.
anxious to make a reputation for the
amount OF work performed, proceed to
wholesale indictment of everybody COM
planned of. When brought before the court
for trial, many of these cases cannot be
sustained. and should never have been
put on the trial docket. Innocent parties
are stigmatised. and put to the cost of
defense, through the laundering ignorance
of an incompetent grand jury. To Illus
trate: | will give the case of DR.. W. ID.
Craig, a physician and druggist of excell
eut reputation in Aledo. He was brought
up before the court on the charge of selling
liquor The only witness against him was
a gentleman, a resident of the town who
swore that he had gone personally to Doct.
Craig. stating that he was sick and would
like to have little whisky. He bad got
whisky twice, a half pint each time.
With this presentation of the prosecution
TO the jury Doct. Craig was promptly
acquitted. The prosecution never should
have been made, not alone because of the
expense attending defense, but because
OF the scandal attaching tol the charge,
But then when the crusading fanatics are
seized with q sudden spasm of religious
and temperance fervor, they arel bound to
have a victim. Rather than be cheated
out Of the spite of a prosecution, in the
absence OF drunkenness or violated law.
they would hire man to get drunk and
make case for them
The people of this town and county are
constantly irritated by these whisky prose.
cutions. They are prolific source Of bad
feeling, arraying one part of the community
against another part, and this bad blood;
engendered by the whisky business, is
carried into everything. 1t breaks out on
all occasions, where unamityFot feeling
and cooperation, especially.in business enter
prises, are essential to success. If Mr..
Smith, who is an enterprising bushes man.
and leading capitalist, but who favors a
system Of license for the town, goes to Mr..
Jones, who is a strong temperance advocate.
to enlist his aid and influence
in a matter Intended solely to enhance the
business interests of the town, Jones will
not give any assistance because Smith hon
estly differs with him 10 purely personal
matter. This contentious spirit is rife for
an outbreak at any time and in any place.
1t enters the churches as we'll as the
stores and Offices, and casts black cloud
of defamation over the social horizon of
the village.
believe l haye already furnished THE
ARGUS readers with brief account of the
trouble between Rev. Robert Nourse and
Doct. Rev, j. +. Cook, resulting in a suit
at law for SANDER and libel, The case
was tried before the circuit court last
week, and resulted in a verdict of guilty,
the jury awarding damages in favor of
Rev. Nourse, at $1,000. | will give a
concise reorganization of the case:-Sev-
eral years ago the Congregational church
OF Aledo was without a pastor. Among
the applicants for the vacancy were Rev.
Cook and Rev. Nourse. At the time the
latter put in an appearance, the COngrega.
ton OF the church had had Cook on trial
few weeks. After Rev. NOurse had
preached a few trial sermons, he was sc
well liked that he was Immediately engaged
as the pastor. The Doct, Rev. Cook
could never see why the Congregations
society should prefer Rev. Nourse to him
In his opinion it was an evidence of utter
depravity on the part of the society, anC
he has eyer since been trying to prove
that the church was not orthodox in it:
teachings, andthat Rev. Nourse was guilty
Of all kinds of misdemeanors unbecoming
minister of the gospel. He first com
meDced his work of defamation by writ
ing anonymous letters in a disguised
hand, slanderlng the pastor and his con
gregation. These letters were afterward
proven on him. He used the local paper!
to vent his indignation, until the proprie
tors of both papers refused him further
use of their columns. But on the stree
he was necessarily shooting off his
mouth" whenever he could find audi
tors.
Rev. Cook is physician of the homeo
pathic school, and, On his failure to secur,
the passionate, he hung a shingle as cure
OF physical ailments. His time was ex
clusively devoted to his patients and t
the abuse of the Congregationalists. and a
his practice was quite limited he haC
plenty of time to devote to the latter. |
the congregation and pastor had not proven
impregnable, such herculean efforts al
those of Cook must have ended in tota
discontinue. As a slanderer Cook ha!
few equals, He is a master of the art
10 achieve his purpose, when bent OF
mischief, he would stop at nothing. Will
some people, even when mad, there is
line of demarkation beyond which it is re
garded as not honorable to 90. Not 81
with Cook. His conscience never SCENE;
to trouble him on such little matters
And 50 he just kept pitching in" unmer
citully. Finally he went to the troutl
and expense Of getting out a pos
ter as large as an average count
newspaper, in which he gave Rev
Nourse and his congregation u most out
landish scoring. Determined to put
stop to this eternal annoyance, the Rev
Nourse and some Of his church member
had Cook arraigned for SANDER and libe
Before circuit court convened, Doct. Rev
Cook silently folded his tent and departe
for regions unknown. lnasnuch as he
not worth any property, the award {
damages against him amounts to nothin
more than victory for Rev. Nourse,
driving Cook from Aledo. For this h
deserves the gratitude of the entire peopl,
In the few years here in Aledo, Coo
kept the town in hot water pretty regularl!
He was eternally raising a disturbanC
with some one.
Circuit court will adjourn on Saturda,
oraat mann oooao haua haar k..ol l.,