The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1888-12-15
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ccSSlulIs. III l4illil, pliio, LIE ItOplt
declare they VIII not allow liquor sell
ing in the place The liquor dealers
declare they viii continue to sell The
jury system is just rs much Of a hum
bug in Lima as elsewhere, and as re-
suit no convictions for violated law
can be secured. This state of affairs
leads to tie formation of a society
known as the "White Caps, composed
of men who were determined to de
fend their homes against the invasion
of King Alcohol at all hazards, and in
doing 50 they sometimes resort to
what we call unlawful acts. y Lima
dispatch Of the 9th gives us this sample
of how the "White Caps enforce their
commands:
a white Cap notice was left at the
saloon Of Thomas Casey last " edncS-
day night notifying him that unless he
vacated tie building in tWentyfour
hours it would be burned to the ground.
Casey did not heed the warning and
last night the building was burned.
The White Cars left notices at several
other saloons last night to take warn
ing by Casey's treatment and leave
town.
Now, in all this what is it that the
good llw-abiding people most deplore
that act OF burning Casey's saloon,
or the act Of Casey himseif-Which at
least seemed to make the burning Of
his saloon a necessity? IN all such
cases we are too apt to look, all at once
to the effect and forget the cause, and
il is never fair to consider the one
without or apart from the Other. In
this case both the cause and the effect
is deplorable. There is nothing in
this broad land of ours to-day that is
so defiant OF law and the rights Of the
masses as the liquor traffic. The state
and local laws are alike totally
disregarded. The Laws of the Sabbath
and all laws of morality are as though
there was no such thing. The parent
who wishes to keep liquor from his
minor son, and keep him from becom
ing a common drUmkard is laughed at
when he notifies the liquor dealer not
to sell his sen liquor, and they keep
right on supplying the liquor anu drag
ging the son down to the gutter and
hell in open defiance of all law and en-
treaty. There are three principal
reasons for this state of affairs. One
is the positive proof Of guilt required
by the law III such cases, and the bar
ring out of al circumstantial proof of
guilt; the second. as the method of
drawing jury, the ignorance required
by law to entitle a man to be juror, and
further equally absurd requirement
that twelve men must positively
agree on all points in order to convict
criminal, while the dissenting voice
of one may turn a murderer, thief or
a guilty. liquor dealer loose upon in
unprotected people; and the third is
that i'll the case of tranSgresSed liquor
laws the punishment is so universally
light-a mere nominal iine in most
cases-that should an offender be
found guilty, he can afford to pay his
fine and go On repeating the offence,
knowing that not more than once in a
thousand OF these violations Of the law
VIII conviction follow This is no
fancy sketch but a true statement of
facts. What are we TO do then? \
town declares by majority vote Of its
people that no liquor may be sold in
its territory for given time Three
or four men at once say, in the Iangu-
age of certain railroad magnate the
people be damned" we viii sell liquor
in said town, and the saloon door is
publicly thrown open, or the "blind
pig" is the channel through which the
stuff is emptied on the public. What
is the result of all this open defiance of
the law and the VIII Of the majority
Clearly there is but one last resort or
ganization for protection, even though
it be necessary to commit what is gen
orally termed violent and unlawful
acts, in order to secre that protection
and the White Caps of Lima, is but a
name given to one of these societies
and before we condemn their acts Let
US first condemn the acts Of the men
who first transgressed the law, and il
we do this with such a condemnation
that shall compel him to obey the law,
under which he lives, we shall have NJ
reason to deplore the acts o
the White Caps.
Nigilence committees are not desir
able institutions in community, We
we have had many Of them ana no ont
will say but that they nave done lot
of good while the unjust acts commit
ted by them through error or falst
evidence has been very small indeed
The writer well remembers wheI
Northwest Iowa ana Southwest Min
uesota was SO infested by a band o
horse thieves that no man was sur,
that he would find his horse in tn
barn III the morning The law movet
81 SLOW chat it seldom caught the THE
and When it did, the evidence demand
ed was of such a character that bu
few convictions followed, for no on
had seen the culprit stea
the horse. What was the result bu
the formation Of ''Nigilance Commit
mittees", and it was not long unit
that country was freed from the pests
and no man could be found to say the
the committee, although violators o
the law, were not justified in their act
and that they had done good work
If, then, We sanction by consent III
acts of organized force to be used i
the protection Of our hoTses-and bea
mind it was death to the offender i
these cases, and that without a tria
before the courts how much NOR
may we sanction the acts Of organize