St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-10
CALLS II GAMBLING.
Judge Kelly Makes Decision Against
the fremont Exchange. ...r
THEY ENTRAP THE YOUNG.
Shaw & Bannigan Appear in Court and
IA ~ Plead Not Guilty as In:
seo dicted.


| VII veg.%t4--.
al Judge Kelly yesterday overruled the
demurrer to the Indictment against
| Shaw & Bannigan for carrying on a
gambling at the Fremont Exchange"
OF Robert street. Defendants will be
Obliged to appear for trial. They were
arraigned yesterday and pleaded not
guilty. The trial will occur about the
| last of January. The decision is inter
esting. After repeating the Indictment
| the. judge says: :a
I ass 70 this indictment defendants tlemur,
| because they say that it does not state
facts sufficient to constitute a public of
Tense. The demurrer admits, of course,
that the facts as stated are true. Sec
| ton "a of the penal code is as follows:
Gambling with cards, dice, gam
ing tables or any other device whatever,
issprohibited."
1t is argued under this section that no
one can be convicted because the crime
| is not defined and because for it's viola
ton there is prescribed no penalty.
| But section $40 of the penal code pro-
vides that nothing in this code affects
! any of the provisions of the following
| statutes; but such statutes are recOg-
| niZed as continuing in force notwith-
| standing the provisions of this code, ex-
| cept so far as they have been repealed
| Oraffected by subsequent laws"
First--All statutes regulating the sale
| OF disposition of Intoxicating liquors.
SecOnd-All statutes defining and pro-
viding for, the punishment of offenses
| not defined and made punishable by this
| code.
Tboroforo sc o,an,t,l;,r -. 44.,4 :;
| section 294, is not declared to be, as it
undoubtedly is, misdemeanor and it's
| punishment defined. we may look to the
general statutes. We find that section
| 6, chapter 80, General Statutes 1878,
reads: Gambling with cards, etc., pro-
.hibited," as stated above.
Sec. -. Every violation of any statute
of this state prohibiting gambling is
| hereby declared to be and made mis-
demeanor, and shall be punished by a
| fine not exceeding 500 and not less than
| $40, and by Imprisonment in the county
jail not exceeding three months nor less
than six days, or both, in the discretion
| of the court.
1t is claimed that under our statutes
| the defendants can, in any event, be
| convicted of crime only by establish
ing that the methods and appliances
used are gambling devices. The Ian
| guage of the law, it will he observed, is
| broad: gambling with cards, dice or
other devices whatever, etc. Were the
appliances used in the manner in which
! they were used as charged in this in
dictment, gambling devices?
Defendants insist not, and their cOun-
| sci has urged at length and with plauSi-
,bility that gambling device must
I necessarily presuppOSe some mechanical
nOnfrlV4nnQ in
| which the element of chance largely en-
| tiers, and in and through which the
dealer or operator always manages to
| have the advantage. He says that mat
ter charged is simply
l -fIi BETTING ON HORSE RACES,
which he argues is not prohibited by
our laws. Without deciding the ques-
! tons whether wagerS on horse races
| are miSdemeanorS under our statute,
| because it is not necessarily involved,
/ will merely say i'll passing that the
son & TOuSley, 16 Mimi, 299, has in the
| plainest language denounced it as i'm
moral and contrary to public policy,
and severely criticises the courts of
! England for trucking to this vice.
= 1t has been held that the laws against
| this vice of gambling should be con-
! istfued to promote justice and secure the
objects of the law; this in view of the
| fertile ingenuity of the .yiOlatOrS of the
| spirit of the law in inventing schemes
| whereby to escape the application of it's
| letter. Counsel for the defendants
| claims that that the use of ''boards and
| lists" are the mere employment of
| written words, and cannot be called a
| device any more than if these words
were merely spoken. But taking all
| these things together, these boards
kept constantly before the eyes of
| the people, containing in writing there
| on the names of racing horses, the
| offers to wager money thereon, to per-
nit the visitors to detect the horse or
horses upon which they would risk their
money, the different ways of combining
| and betting upon the combinations; all
| these kept and maintained and used for
| gambling purposes; and it seems to me
| without reSorting to even liberal con-
| structiOn of this statute ''to promote
| justice and effect the objects of the
| law" but giving it its stricteSt cOnstruc-
| ton, here is gambling device and a
| well-conceived scheme of mischief.
But this indictment also charges these
| defendants with what is known as
| AS POOL SELLING.
The Kentucky court of appeals says
| that the words of its statute prohibit
| 1dIO DdukS, VI duy uudCulIlt, VI COLI
triuance used i'll betting" However, as
an authority Gf indeed authority is
needed where the reason of the thing is
so plaln) the case in Michigan of People
VS.. Weithoff. decided by Judge Cooley.
is decisive. In that case it was held
that keeping room for the sale of
pools OH the result of base ball games
and horse races for profit or gainis keep
ing a gaming room. hold that when
our statutes prohibit gambling
with any gambling devices what
ever" with keeping of any
| gambling device whatever" ''in-
tended to be used in gambling" they
cover and embrace the schemes set out
in the Indictment. The keeping and
maintaining of such gambling devices
or schemes presupposes rooms and other
appliances for the purpose, and these
rooms invite the idle or the disSolute-
they entrap the young and the unwary !;
the presence of crowds and the oppor-
tunities to be encourage gambling; the
facilities afforded for wagering upon
events in which the element Of chance
largely enters is vicious in the extreme.
| 1t is gambling in it's most dangerous
and seductive form. The demurrer is
| 0verruled.