Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-10-16
COTTRELLS IN FLORIDA


"A good deal of surprise has h,
expressed by newspapers, " y man ,1e
has recently returned from Florida w. ny
to Il N. I. Tribune writer, that tb;a
fellow Cottrell, the fighting mavor 'n ~
Cedar Keys. should find it possible VI
terrorize and subiugate an entire TOW
AS he is said to have done. tn o.
who has lived in the small towns of Fly
southern part of Florida the sitnat;ou
is easily understood. There are fom
exceptions to the rule that the govern
ment of any people is just about wbst
a large class of the community i, oon
tented to have it. This holds good, in
my opinion, from the vast empire ot
Russia down to the little town of Cedar
Keys. And judge from the tvran.
meal policy pursued by the czar
end the outrageous boldness of tba
festive Cottrell that each has an eonaI'
~ large influential and admirinp hack
ing in proportion to the extent of his
domain.
Il have just been spending winter
IN growing town near the gulf coast
OF southern Florida county, wbers
there is just such clique in control of
municipal affairs as there must be in
Cedar Keys. This clique is led by the
county judge, however, and he main.
talns his authority, not by means of
the shotgun. but by the processes of
the court The rascally decisions he
gives in trumpedup suits against the
enemies of his gang would make dull
n la tn Al
Immediately interested in them, but
one case which had him decide N.Y.
self had IA grotesque touch of humor in
it.
cone of the supporters of the court
house gang, as the clique is called, hal
picked quarrel, by persistent effort
with one OF the opponents of the clique
and had drawn wicked looking knife
of great length and keen edge from
his bootleg, with which he attempted
to stab his opponent. The latter, see
ing the knife, drew a revolver, lev
eled it at the ruflian's head, and COM
manded him to put away his knife
The man did so and sneaked out of the
store. where scene occurred. without
saying another word. In the course
of ter minutes he came back with the
sheriff and the town marshal. They
arrested the man who had drawn the
revolver. lodged him in horribly hot
sitting Jail, where clouds of mosquitoes
and a wretched negro or two were his
only companions, and there left him
for the night
The next day about noon he was
brought before the Judge and charged
with carry NJ concealed and murderous
weapons about his person, within the
limits of the town. This is con-
vennnt law for the courthouse gang,
who all 90 armed and never enforce
the law except in regard to their
enemies. The prisoner was fined $40.
He paid it without saying word,
knowing how useless an appeal would
be, and then made similar charge
against his opponent for carrying the
knife in his bootleg The knife was
exhibited in court, and most murder
le II ~ q tool i va il - 1870
mans heart out, in fact; but the judge,
who seemed also to act as counsel Tor
the accused member of his gang, APP
peaIed to the crowd in the room, as a
sort of the jury, and said: DO you
call this a murderous weaponP No,
gentlemen. this is simple pruning
knife. peaceful tool of husbandry, a
mere agricultural instrument. Fine a
man for carrying the implements of
his avocation about himP Never, gen
tlemen. To punish gentleman for
carrying pruning-knife in Florida
would be IA blow at the great orange
growing industry of this state, when
it shall never be said / was the hrst
man to strike. The charge is dismissed
with s. costs to be paid by the com
plainant. ~