Omaha daily bee., 1889-01-22
FEW HOLES IN THE WALL.



and development in Dcs Moines determined
to remain over, and well have Deen repaid,
as have seen TIE elephant in its fullest
bla2onry.
After the shades of night had settled
down, and the city had fallen into her nor
NAL state of quiet and immoblity, IN com
pany with a prominent politician, we'll
known physician and an eccentric livery
man, started out to see the sights and
make additional memoranda of the beauties
of the law Of prohibition, as it tiOurishes
here.
We first visited the east side, across the
frozen Des Moincs, and under the protecting
shadow of the dome that tops the imposing
structure within whose ggldcd walls all the
wise and unwisc laws OF this great state are
made. 1t would :be strange indeed, if
whisky and beer selling, and whisky and
beer drinking, and prostitution in its vilest
and most loathsomc form, and gambling ga
lore. would be permitted to flourish here
like green bay tree or u cedar of Lebanon,
and Governor Larrabee and the legislature
and the police force would not know of the
fact. 1t is equally singular that if anyof
the functuaries mentioned do know of this
state of affairs that they do not take vigor-
no difference how astonishing
such a state of things might be
considered, 1t exists and fourishes
with an Hpen brazenness that could not pos
%ibly escape Official notice. The mayor has
been given information that the practices are
carried on here, and among the individuals
who are in the habit of quaf1lng the rosy here
are a number of the gentlemen who wear the
uniform of the city's police force and consta-
bles ad infinitum. This class of officials,
however, is n parasitical one, out of whom no
earthly good has come.
A System of BlacknaiI.
The whisky men say that they carry on a
systematic business, in blackmail, and the
proprietor of 'jont" where "booze" is
sold, or "bootlegger," who will whack up
with them on the revenue of his sales, is as
free from molcstation as the most blatant
propagandist in the CITY,
The good citizens of Des Moiues can ex-
pect little ameleoration in the general morale
of the town when whisky and beer saloons
are conducted under the very shadow of the
capitol, and are frequented by the very men
whose sworn duty it is to uphold, preserve
and enforce the laws.
Forty Drinking Joints.
iutTc hIt plcilVS VI uiNSo NhSIc uli SOllS VI
Intoxicating beverages can be had (for good
round price) within easy range of Governor
Larrabees glasses, and If he devoted tho
time it requires to tell the people of Nebraska
of the transcendant gories of Iowas
prohibitory laws to these Offend
ers, the atmosphere in the neighbor
hood of the state capitol might be a little
purer. 1t is said there are forty drinking
ttiOintS,.--J thp SluDp word .Spint bn-
cause it more forcibly expresses the charac-
ter of these establishments the east side
alone.
Among the most defiant of these houses
is the Capitol City hotel, where whisky and
beer can be had at any time. John Harty
runs this branch of the business and last
summer in a fight with party of search
ers,' who had evidently been denied "bit"
out of the business, he was shot down. But
he got up again. A forty-four bullet was not
big enough TO snuff John out, and now he is
driving thrlfter trade than ever in aqua
forts and slops.
Next in Importance IS Lew F'oey's Red
Eye barber shop He presides over ono of
the most notorious dives in the whole city
He has been raided and raided, but never
fails to bob up serenely, and the old still
goes on, and from the taste of Lewis best
ten-year-old Bourbon, should say that he
made it himself out OF the refuse in the cup
of the last man in tho barber's chair
Mrs. Days boarding house, on Sixth
street, just past Court avenue, is another
prolific source of drink and debauchery
Returning to the city proper, my friend
and l dropped into the Delmonico
corner of Locust and Fourth streets,
just across from the Savcry house, and
after hot decoctIon, sailed forth to see
what could be seen in the 2opulous business
centors of the city.
Tho DcimonicO.