St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-27
DARK SIDE OF A CITY.
Rev. w. H. ButPiek EnlargeS
Upon the So-Called Great
Moral Victory.
He Numerically Scores the
Prize Fighters and Their
Friends,
And Holds Up a Terrible Piet-
ure Of the immortality
of st. Paul.
The NOn-ObSePVanee Of Laws
and the Policemen Who
The NOn-0bSePvanee Of Laws
and the Policemen Who
PandeP to Crime.

met ulutI the aus lCGS VI lllO AAihhO
sofa Athletic club. In his description
he took it for granted that the club was
a corporation, and that the members
had really become stockholders.
Mr.. Butrick said that st. Paul has re-
fused the doubtful honor of being called
the center of the sporting fraternity of
America and the headquarters of gam
bIers and thugs, and he wanted to see a
monument erected to the GLORIOUS vic
tory" in one of the public squares, an
honor to this generation and beacon
to the generations following. He pur-
sued:
But this great moral victory has been criti-
cised as TO its spirit and method, while the
plan Of the cOnspiratOrs finds some indOrse-
ment even among the lawabiding..
1t was claimed by some OF the Minnesota
Athletic club that this was to have been
respectable prize fight; that it was to bring
to st. Paul large numbers of respectable
citizens OF our country whose presence would
contribute to the material wealth ana the
moral dignity our city, This claim IS too
absurd to merit serious consideration. That
some Of our WhilOm visitors were gentle
manly in department IS certainly true. But
with euQal certainty the majority OF them
were gamblers and thugs of the most des-
perate character, as some of us can testify
who visited the Ryan rOtuuda during the
'late unpleasantness' or who were on the
outgoing trains OF Thursday or Friday.
He continued with a picturesque de-
scriptiOn of the gloves that were to be
worn by the contestants. This was in
rebuttal to the claim that the fight was
not to be brutal. He said abe had
never taken part in boxing, nor had lie
ever witnessed a contest, and he agreed
that he was better for it, but he had
seen boxing gloves. He COVE a word
painting of these
Implements of War
and likened them to a base ball cut in
two. and each half fastened over the
fist. 1t protects the hand from injury,
but is disastrous to the anatomy OF the
man receiving a blow from it. He then
said:
The defeated conspirators against law and
decency made a very pathetic appeal TO the
Sympathies of the public. They dldn know
the law. But, If they had turned to the Kelly
edition of the Minnesota statutes they would
have asceriained the law. for this official
edition of the Minnesota statutes includes in
the index and in the body of the book the
now famous law of 1889. And we may ask
again. why, if they supposed their proposed
mill was not c0ntrBry to law. did they take
such pains to secure the assurance of
the mayor that he would not interfere
with their innocent pastime; and why,
again, il printing their tickets, were they at
much pains 10 omit ali mention OF the char
acter Of the entertainment to which ticket
holders were entitled. Members of the club
assure us that they knew the proposed mill
was contrary to law as stated III the penal
code They lost money 1t is claimed. and
the people who broke up this fight should re
fund 1t. Whatever else Frank Shaw IS, l
feel safe in saying that this Is not his plea,
and that he is TOO much OF man TO plead
the baby act when the game goes against
him. Don't waste your sympathy, fellow
citizens.
II is said that the public protest wastoo
late.
Has a citizen Of st. Paul no right to expect
our municipal authorities to enforce the law?
Every right-mtnded person was justified in
expecting that this fight would be suppressed.
and not until the mayor had expressly re-
fused to enforce the law. and as expressly
avOwed his sympathy with the plans of the
sO-called athletic CLUB did the citizens rise in
protest. The protest came'at the right time
TO be effective, and the defeat of their plan,
with its pecuniary loss. is bat poetic justice.
They gambled Oh the suppOSltlon that pubic
sentiment was Gead in st. Paul, and they
lost. The real losers don't ''squeal."
It's said that We have injured the material
prospects of our city. Sufficient answer TO
this is the resolution of the chamber of COM
merce. These men do not share the pre-
tended fear of the mayor or the gambling
fraternity in this respect.
The Dead Beats.
Mr.. Butrick here narrated his per-
SOnal experiences with the visitors who
had come to witness the fight. He had
questioned the conductor on a Milwau-
kee train. Some were only able to
reach Lake City; others went as far as
Winona. and some had just money
enough to 90 as far as La Crosse. The
conductor told him that in one in
stance a conductor had kept mans
bag and given him money enough
to reach La Crosse. This was proof
OF the financial condition of the
men who had come from abroad.
Mr.. Butrick said that he sent Mr.. Will
Jams, a distinguished lawyer, to Sheriff
Bean, and the latter confessed that lie
did go to the governor and ask the help
he received to suppress or prevent the
fight
Then followed the sermon proper, the
text being taken from Eccl. viii, II. His
first subdivision was devoted to the law
IeSsness in the city. As far as violent
crimes 20, he said the city is safe, but in
the matter of certain more subtle
forms of vice. he charged, that
st. Paul is Open to most serious
criticism. The social evil. the illicit
sale of liquors, the more polite forms of
gambling are practically unbridled. He
had shortly ago visited one of the larger
mercantile houses on Jackson street,
and he was then shocked beyond meas
ure by what he saw at window across
the street. The proprietor of the store
told him it was necessary to keep the
curtains always drawn before the win
dowS of the upper stories because of the
Disgusting Conduct
OF the occupants of the upper stories
across the street. Said Mr.. Butrick:
A woman of the town" called upon re-
spectacle citizen, who occupies an Office in
this row of buildings. and offered him a con-
siderable bonus for his lease. because said
She i am assured by the authorities that
will not be mOlested in jackson street. -
Complaint was made 10 a proper officer, and
his reply was: I'VE cannot disturb them be-
cause the owners of these buildings find it
difficult to rent these rooms to other tenants,
and they must not lose their rent you
know This was said in all seriousness,
the officer apparently not seeing the disgust
ing irony of the situation.
Policemen of our city are liberal patrons of
barrooms l know whereof l speak and
challenge denial. Not all policemen, hap
PLY. Many of them, alas. thus openly violate
the municipal regulations. Liquor saloons
are freely open till 3 o'clock in the morning,
and the saloons and beer gardens. and con-
cert halls of our city make day and night
hideous i'll their vicinity throughout the en-
tire sabbath day, III unaisguised and con-
temptuOus violation Of law. 1t is useless TO
deny thai, gambling is freely allowed in our
city. Men of fortune bewail the heavy losses
of their hayward sons in these polite gam
bling places Gambling is permitted in most
of our saloons. said the recent grand jury,
and. by current well authenticated rumOrs,
the January grand jury came within few votes
of indieting some of our leading officials for
their violation of law in this and other re-
speets. And now 10 cap all, and far be-
yond anything we have hitherto supposed
possible, we find the mayor of this city, a
gentleman by instinct and by breeding, OPEN
~ encouraging the Athletic club to defy the
governors proclamation, even after the club
officers had gracefully Withdrawn" The
chief executive of the city, when asked by