Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-02-06
The work of a otelzen's league.


Cincinnati Commercial.
Three years ago citizen of Chicago
happened 10 notice the great number of
juvenile offenders arrested by the police.
He and others became interested in the
matter, They began to hunt among sta
tistics, and found from the report of the
Chief of Police that nearly one-fourth of
all the arrests in Chicago were of minors,
twenty years old and under. Next they
examined the report of the House of Cor
rectfon, and found that more than one
fourth of the prisoners sent there were
minors. Of these, the Superintendent of
that establishment said in his report:
SIN this city there are many dens in
which criminals are made faster than
prisons can cure them. Thesezdens must
be broken up, or it is useless to suggest
methods of reform in prisons. Merely
an occasional raid by the police authori-|
ties is of little if any benefit -
Systematic and continued police surveil-
lance of all places of doubtful moral char
acter-especfally those in which the
young are being entieed or do frequent
is very necessary
Speaking of the class of prisoners re-
ceiyed, the Superintendent says: SIT is
safe to say that nearly all of those be-
tween the ages of fourteen and twenty
one years have been frequenters of drink
Ing saloons and low resorts. A large
percentage drift into such places natur-
ally; they are at home in them. A small
percentage, who are net naturally bad,
are drawn into them from the fact that
they have not elsewhere to go, and that
they can there kill time easily. Young
men must have society, and they must
have amusements. They can not always
choose best for themselves. Their tastes
and habits are formed through the COM
pany they keep. If, during minority,
they are under proper restraint and infiu-
ence, they may develop well; if not, of
course the reverse will be the result
More thought and consultation on the
subject of Juvenile criminals at length re-
suited in the formation of what was called
the F'Citizens' League It's object was
to prevent crime and drunkenness among
the children and minors of Chicago.
When the League began its work, it was
presently faced by the uncomfortable dis
covery that thirty thousand Chicago boys
and girls were patrons sofdrinking-saloon of
and that one thousand such places were
largely supported by minors. Public
opinion supported the League. The better
class of saloon-keepers even were in
hearty sympathy with them in their eff
forts.
The history of their labors and success
forms a most Interesting chapter. Chi
cago enjoys the benefit of a stiff liquor Ii
cense law, and the League found it, in
conjunction with the law against selling
Intoxicating drinks to minors, of valuable
aid to them. One of the first cases re-
ported to the League was that of saloon
keeper who enticed number of boys be-
longing to most respectable families into
his den of a Sunday afternoon, to play
pool and drink. After making them
drunk, he had them arrested for being
disorderly. The facts became known,
and the sa1oon-keeper was arrested. He
swore on the witness stand that he had
retailed liquor eighteen years, and never
sold glass of Intoxicating drink to a
minor, but the facts were too strong
against him. He was fined round sum,
and the youths were set free. In another
case, two bits of boys-one seven, the 9TH
er eleven-bought whisky and drank it
till the eldest became SO drunk that he
rolled into the gutter, where he was found.
The child came near dying. His sister
complained to the League; the saloon
keeper was fined 800 and costs, and the
Justice told him besides, by way of a
moral lecture, that he was not fit to live,
much less to keep a saloon. At another
place the League found near 200 boys and
girls, many of them fourteen to fifteen
years old. Beer-tables were ranged
around the hall, to which the children
stepped up and drank at will. The keeper
of this place was also dealt with.
Only few of the multiplied instances
in which the Society interfered for good
can be mentioned. Once five boys went
from Sunday School to rum shop near
by, and bought and drank two bottles of
port and one of sherry wine. Two OF
them became SO wild from the liquor that
they had to be watched all night. Not
the pleasantest feature in the work of the
League was that in numerous cases the
drinking and drunken children were
| found to belong to Christian families OF
the highest standing. The saloon-keeper'
had lured them privately into drinking
dens. Such facts seem to explain the
mysterious way in which the sons of the
best families in community sometimes
go to ruin. Mothers almost heart-broker
occasionally appealed to the League t.
save their boys, and more than once theJ
had the happiness, apparently, of doing
so. A widow called at their headquar
ters in the utmost distress. Her son wa
fast forming the habit of intoxication
She had at first gone to the proprietor o
the place the boy visited and pleaded wit
him not to destroy her child. The saloon
keeper showed her out upon the sidewalk
She still kept hold of her boy, however
whereupon the man pulled the youth ou
of her arms and pushed him back into tn
saloon. The Society brought such legs
and popular pressure to bear upon thi
man that he was fined one hundred do
lars and costs, and was compelled to giN
. up his dram-selling business. The bo
: promised that he would never visit anotl
. er saloon, and thus far kept his word.
. The support which the Society had
back them was hearty sympathy and C
~ operation on the part of the public,
Mayor who was willing to enforce ii
statutes, and an excellent license Lax
When man was plainly caught sellir
liquor to minors, or enticing them into
place to play pool, he was arrested sur
= marily, and unless he was very riC
i man, his license was usually revoked,
9. he was an o Id offender. In this way,
m the last year, the Society have entir