Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-03-22
Drink Shops and Crime.

This is the old, everyday story from every
quarter where liquor shops are suffered to
exist. How long will these direct and most
prolific sources Of savage outrages, hideous
orgies and CHASTITY murders, be permitted to
carry on their fiendish work in civilized So
cietyP How long will the people not only
tolerate but actually legalizs these dens of
bestiality in their very midst, to ruin their
sons and fathers, and demoralize and de-
grace humanity How long will they license
the cause, then shudder and groan aud weep
and whine over the sad and deplorable re-
sults2 License schools of vice, pauperism,
madness and crime, aud then build pauper-
houses, madhouses, prison-houses and scat
folds for their molly graduates Pay the
taxes imposed in consequence, and then
again and again license the same accursed
traffic which renders these expensive poor
houses, mad-houses, asylums and prisons
necessary Legalize the manufacture Of
rowdies, tramps, mendicants, marauders and
murderers, then arrest, try, convict, imprison
or hang the wretched victims Fire the
magazine, then CIRCULATE" restrain aud
"punish the explosion Beautiful consis-
tency Profound craftsmanship this Some
few Sundays ago, young man in Detroit
CHARLES MARTINI, grog-shop graduate and
having his nature saturated with alcohol,
his blood and brains fired with the poison
they had supplied him with in violation of
both the laws of God and the laws of the
state, sailed out upon the street to have, as
he said, "some fun" and overtaking an in.
nocent, feeble old man seventy-fve years OF
age, carrying some milk to his neighbors
began to abuse and blackguard him aud
then knocked him down, aud while he lay
PROSTATE upon his back in that helpless con.
dition, pleading for mercy, the savage
jumped upon him with his coarse, heavy
boots, and literally smashed his face and
head into an unrecognizable mass, besmear
ing the sidewalk all around with blood and
brains, crushing the life out of the feeble
old man and sending thrill of anguish
through the hearts of his aged wife, his
children and friends, and startling the com
munity with horror This depraved wretch
-depraved by the saloons, who may have
made few cents profit on the liquor they
sold him-is now in prison, and his arrest
trial, sentence and imprisonment Gnsteac
of hanging as he deserves) may yet cost the
cost the country thousands of dollars Such
are the constantly recurring crimes ant
such the economies of the liquor traffi, and
the license or tax system which upholds it
The Detroit Post and Tribune has a spasn
of holy horror, as well it may, and calls upor
the authorities to enforce the laws forbiddn@
the sale of liquors on Sundays, and says
"If these laws had been observed or Ell
forced, Martin would not now be in prison
murderer, and the old man would now b,
alive" This awful tide of vice aud Grim,
and death, forsooth, may flow ON through al
the week, but should be damned up on Sun
day. Does the Post and Tribune think tn,
poor old man would have suffered any les!
torture, the bereaved family have felt any
better, and the fiendish crime have been any
the less shocking aud revolving had it beer
committed on Monday? Would it be graft
flying to know your son was made muir
derer or was murdered on week day rattle
than on Sunday? Would it be the trafi
which murdered him or the day on which h
was murdered against which you would
level your guns? Is the Post and 7ribun
afraid of the liquor power? Why, then
does it not lay the blame where it rightfull
belongs, and come out boldly against tn
hellish traffic itself, which is continual,
causing the Dissertation of the Sabbath ant
such CHASTITY murders as this and others tina
we read of almost every day? To attemp
to suppress this traffic on Sunday, while j
is licensed and in the hands of unprinciple,
men and allowed to run riot all the rest o
the week, is as absurd and ridiculous as it
impracticable. Men who are base enoug
to sell intoxicating drinks to their fellow
men, and who violate the liquor laws ever,
day in the week and set the authorities a
defiance, will do the same on Sunday
Christian CynOSure.