The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-08-30
What They Are Doing.
CHAPTER TX.

CHAPTER TX.
"Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a
breach, ready to fall, swelling out in a high
wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an
fnStant.'-Is. 30-13.
THE iniquity of " which we speak is materially
assisting in working out its own destruction
The doggery-keeper sees that the bands of In
telligence, Honesty, Education and Religion,
are surely, If slowly, tightening around him.
He sees the time rapidly approaching when he
will be compelled to cease preying of the mis-
cries and weaknesses of his fellow men. He
sees the hand of God clearly tracing his doom
upon the wall; hence he is exceedingly restive
under any kind of censure or criticism. The
one great aim of a doggery-keeper is to make
hist'peesness" respectable. He realizes that he
is engaged in horrible, deadly traffic, yet i'm
agines it possible for him to deceive the re-
spectacle portion of the community into recog.
nizing him as a valuable citizen.
We spoke in our last chapter of some of the
methods used for harboring and plucking the
victims of the doggeries. Another method pop
ular among the doggery-keepers, are the games
of "pool' and "cards." Take the game of cards
example: From four to six men will sit
around table and gamble for treats-that is,
at the end of every game the players are ex-
pected to all either drink or smoke. These
games will run, some times, for three or four
hours without intermission-save to pause and
drink, and frequently run up into the dollars.
The fellow who keeps the den will watch the
game very closely. and never allows game to
pass without spending something at the bar. "
In this manner men are kept gambling and
carousing, day and night.
Now, while we are watching this game of
cards, which has now reached to the hour OF
half past ten o'clock, there comes timid rat
tling at the front door of the beer-doggery, and
the bloated proprietor-who walks somewhat
after the manner of little boy with his daddy's
boots on-waddles tothe door and opens it.
There stands a pale-faced, tfred-looking
woman, and in trembling voice, expressive OF
mingled doubt and trust, she asks:
"Is my husband here?"
"Naw! Itont keep poartin house!"
"But believe he is in there, where the men
are playing cards
'"Blayin carts! In my house! Mein Cott in
Himmel woman IS, ton't you know dot dis blace
of peesness vos pin closed at ten O'CLOCK,
already?' F-
And the poor woman goes home to her little
children. On the bare floor she kneels, hungry,
and pours forth her soul in sorrow to Him who
is ever willing to be friend to the friendless-
praying as only abused wife and a sorrow
ing mother can pray, that the same Heavenly
influence which brings sleep to those little eyes
and gleefulness to those little hearts, may yet
reclaim and bring back to their love the drunk
en-, gambling father. And while this poor,
heart broken mother is invoking Heavenly
assistance to reclaim her husband, let US return
to the doggery.
The proprietor stands over the card table,
gloat1ng over the excitement as two of the con-
testants are playing the rubber" to see who
shall pay for the last game. AS luck would
have it, the husband of whom we have spoken
is compelled to pay the score. Fumbling in his
pockets he draws out his last twenty cents, and
hands it over TO the doggery-keeper.
"Ha, ha! Dot ish goot poy; now go home to
dot demprensh fanatic woman, unit dell her be
goot NIT you'll"
At this allusion to the suffering wife, there is
an outburst of drunken laughter, and the keeper
of the den quietly dropped the last dime into
the drawer and ushered the men out, with his
"blessing." Reader this is occurring every
night almost, in some of these dens.
Talk to us about personal abuse? All such
complaints come directly from the lowest and
most filthy doggeries. There is no possible con-
struction or combination in the English lam
guage that could fittingly portray the horrors of
these dens. The dens right here in Jackson are
at least one hundred per cent. more horrible
than we have ever been able to portray them.
keeps men drunk til he gets all their money,
then kicks them out; talk about "peIsonal
abuse" of the beast who laughs to brutal scorn
the petition Of the broken hearted wife not to
sell her husband liquor; "personal abuse of the
imp who would willingly destroy every family
in Jackson County for the means to live with
out work; "personal abuse" of the enemy to
home and society, who thrives on drunkenness
and lawlessness; how could you abuse such
creature?
While we are writing this young man who
was one of the handsomest specimens of physi-
cal manhood who ever came to Jackson lies
helpless in the hands of his physicians, as the
result of his periodical spree; married into an
he is destroying himself and his family, and
rushing headlong to ruin. But why complain
of this? The poor, abused doggery- keeper got
his money, and there must be nothing more
said about 1t. Another young man who a few
months ago was living happily with his family,
and doing good business at his trade, is now
wandering about, an aimless sot. his family
having fled for their safety. In making this
wreck, the saloonist was "doing peesness''; in
denouncing the horrible work, we would of
course be guilty of personal abuse" of the poor
doggery-keeper who ruined this man and broke
up his family.
Take q solemn walk around Jackson; look at
the misery, the suffering, the horror, the danger
of this horrible traffic, and ask yourself if you
can be a good neighbor, good citizen or a
Christian, and not do all in your power to put
down the horrible thing.