The Brookhaven leader., 1889-06-06
PROHIBITION.
Judge Wharton Describes the
Revolution It Worked in
His District.
He Declares the Advent of Vel
low Fever Preferable tOa
Return of the Saloon.

Mrs. II. h. Kells, Editor White Ribbon:
DEAR MADAM-You requested me
to furnish the result of my observa-
ton of the effect of lOcal-Option, i'll
the promotion of temperance aud the
reduction of crime, i'll the Judicial
District 1.-THE 9th) during the six years
| presided over the Circuit Courts of
that District.
The District was composed of the
counties of Copiah, Kinds list and
2nd District), Madison and 1azOo.
When | retired from the Bench, in
October last, and for two years be-
fore. Madison was the only ret county
in the District.
Prior IL the adoption of the local
option law, there had been in opera
ton, for year or two, very strin-
gent local act for the promotion of
temperance in COpiah county. 1t
was "a most favorable forerunner of
local option. 1t had borne rich fruit
before the latter was introduced. No
where, in my observation and expert
ence, have the labors of the friends OF
temperance been crowned with more
success in the promotion of the great
cause they have so much at heart,
than in Copiah county. In the same
proportion i'll which they have pro-
NOTED temperance, have they dimln-
ished crime, and increased respect for
law and order. The change was
simply marvellous which occurred up
on the suppression of the open saloon.
Before that, and when the saloons
were in full blast nothing was so com
mon, on court days particularly, as
for the saloons and streets to be
thronged with crowds of drunken
men, by day and by night, disturbing
the peace of the community. The
terms of Court generally covered the
whole or nearly The whole time al
lowed by law, four weeks, as did the
sessions of the Grand Jury. The
number Of indictments, many of them
for felonics, would reach nearly 100.
During the three years which sue
ceeded the enactment of the local law
alluded to, and Immediately preced
ing my retirement from the Bench, |
saw only two or three persons under
the influence of liquor i'll that county.
The terms of Court were greatly
shortened and the sessions of the
Grand Jury were reduced more than
one half, and only about 80 indict
ments were found at last term, and
nearly all Of them for misdemcanOrs
or trivial offences.
Not less remarkable was the refor-
nation in the 2nd (Raymond) District
of Kinds county. There, as in CO.
piah, crime abounded. The terms of
Court and the sessions of the Grand
Jury lasted the whole time -four
weeks) allowed by law. Probably 70
would he the average number of in
dictmentS; many of them for high
crimes found at each term. For the
last three or four terms held by me,
the Grand jury sat only four or five
days, returned probably 20 or % in
dictments, and nearly all for missile
mednOrs, whilst the terms of court,
occupied in the trial Of all eases, both
civil and criminal, only about six
days. During the last three terms
held Court in Raymond, never saw
the first intoxicated man in the town.
What has been said of COpiah and
the 2nd District of Kinds would be
almost as applicable III every particu
lar to YazOO county. If the great ref
ormatiOn which has taken place he
not attributable to the causes stated,
| am wholly at loss to account for
it. am, however, so firmly persuad-
ed that | am not mistaken i'll suppOs-
ing that the laws referred to, and the
efforts of the friends of temperance to
enforce them, have produced the ref
ormation, that | would sooner have
hailed the advent of Yellow fevor IN
our midst than the establishment
of the open saloon here at the capital
of Mississippi.
Disappointment and regret at the
result of the recent election in this
city and county are intensified by the
fact that it would have required a
change of less than 20 votes, | be-
lieve, to have protected the commu-
nifty from one of the direst curses, in
my opinion, which ever infested soci-
ETY.. | mean the open salOOn-the
most successful recruiting agency in
the service of the Prince of darkness.
Very truly yours,
Il. j. WHARTON.
jackson, Miss. May 9th, 1899.