Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-10-25
LICENSE OR No L[CESE|
JUDGE MCLAUGHLIN HAS THE APPLICATION
OF JOHN WALLACE FOR A HARRISON
BURG LICENSE BEFORE HIM.
Reported for the Staunton VINDIcAToR.l

ance Sitting at the front row used by
the lawyers, was Rev. DR.. Leonidas Rosser,
the venerable Methodist Evangelist, his
long white hair and beard making a strlk-
ing picture. Sitting around were Rev. DR..
Cox of the Methodist church, Rev. Mr..
Gresham of the Baptist church, and several
prominent ladies of the Women S Christian
Temperance Union. Not far from the
group were two benches filled with ladies of
the Union, and in the back ground stood
the pastor of the colored Methodist church.
DR.. Points and other prominent Temper
ance workers were also present. The oc-
casion for SO unusual gathering in court
room may be briefly stated.
WHAT BROUGHT THEM THERE.
In 1887 the district on License OF no
License'' vote, went Dry by 241 majority.
All three precincts in it were Dry-Harri-
sonburg by 50 votes. On the oath of last
June the vote was taken again, with diff
ferent result. The District went Wet by
46 majority, and Harrisonburg was the only
precinct in it that went Dry and that by
only four votes. There was great depres-
sion among the temperance people at this
result and corresponding jubilation among
the Vets. 1t was thought that licensed
bars would at once appear in the town.
But an unexpected obstacle presented itself.
The licenses in the town as well as the
county have to be granted by the county
judge, Judge George Grattan. He held
that while the voting Dry by Harrison
burg could not, in the midst of a Wet ma
jority in the District where the election
was ordered, have any legal effect to keep it
Dry, yet the spirit Of the Local Option law
was to give effect to the wishes of the ma
jority of the people, and Harrisonburg S vote
made it evident to him that it's majority
was against license. The old law saying a
county judge ''may" grant license when
good character of the applicant for license
and proper and convenient place of the To-
cation were proven, had once been changed
to ''shall, but the dissatisfaction of the
people forced the next legislature to restore
the ''may," thus leaving it now wholly
at the discretion of the County Judge. That
power Judge Grattan exercised in be-
half of the dominant public sentiment and
refused to grant license at Timberyille,
Broadway and Port Republic, villages
where the majority of the people were OPP
posed to it. So, when application was made
to him twenty days after the result of the
June election, for license in Harrisonburg,
he refused it. The liquor dealers decided
to make a test case OF it and appealed the
matter to Judge Mclaughlin of the Circuit
Court, making the application of John
Wallace of Staunton, the test.
PUBLIC SENTIMENT.
After the June election, came the town
charter election for officers in July, when a
Wet Mayor and Council were chosen. The
charter provides that licenses shall be
granted only on the concurrence of the Town
Council and the County Judge. MI. Win
field Liggett, the Counsel for the Liquor
dealers, prepared resolution which was
adopted by the Council, declaring that it
was evident that a majority Of the people
favored License and that it was eXpedient
to grant it. This action of the Council
however, does not move Judge Grattan, who
holds that the town election was not made
solely on that issue, but mixed up with po-
litical and personal issues, and could not be
regarded as the sense of the people meant as
ascertained by the Local Option law,
which wisely made the License question to
be exclusively voted ON at Option elections.
THE CASE IN COURT.
Before Judge Mclaughlin, the Vets
were represented by Hon. John I. Harris
and Messrs. Strayer & Liggett, and the
Drys by Messrs. J. B. Stephenson and Pen
dleton Bryan. assisted by Commonwealth S
Attorney, Charles Harrison. There were at
least 200 persons in the courtroom when
the first witness took the stand.
MI. John Wallace Of Staunton was put
on the stand and testified that he had been
keeping licensed saloon in Harrisonburg
for twelve OIL fifteen years before the Dry
victory of 1887. No complaint had ever
been made against his house. When that
election came he resolved not to violate the
law, and removed to StauntOn. The Dry
election had resulted in breaking him up
financially, and now that Local Option had
been voted down he wanted to return to his
old home, where he had kept his family, and
open business again. He had rented house
on East Market street.
The witnesses to Wallace's character and
fitness to keep saloon, gave him the high
est character, both in HarrisOnburg and
Staunton. They were some twenty in
number, including the Mayor, Town Treas
urer, Town Council, and other officers of
Harrisonburg, and many prominent citi-
Zels.
The main point of the fight against the
granting of the application, was on the I'M
suitability Of the location, being near build
ings occupied by families, and being near a
milliner's store, which many ladies fire.
quent.
The proprietor of the millinery, Miss
Mann, a bright and clever little lady who
proved herself a match for the lawyers when
under cross-eXamination, was earnest in
her protest against license being granted
for that locality, Oh for any other. She was
a member of the w. c. 7. U. and had the
Prohibition side of the question ready at a
moment S notice.
Other witnesses were examined who OPP
posed a license there, OIL anywhere else. The
examination naturally ranged out into the
wide field of Prohibition, the general effect
of bar-rooms, and the like. Judge Harris
remarked that generally in cities, property
: in the vicinity of bar-rooms was the most
p valuable in the place.
q Judge McLaughlin.-Th is not the case
in StauntOn Iudue Harris