The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-26
SUNDAY LAW VIOLATIONS.
"Fair Citizen" Criticises the Sum-
ming Tour of GoOde, Ritter, EFT Al.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
1 have been very much interested in the
newspaper and pulpit discussions about the
Observation-Disclosures tour Of investiga-
ton Of the enforcement of the Sunday laws
by the police Of the city. I am one of those
good citizens who believe in fair play
and in giving the devil his dues, even
though he be a police officer. No one &C
quainted with the devious ways prepared
and the many annexes and appliances pro-
vided for successfully violating the Sunday
law would attempt to go about as a spying
committee and seek to gain admittance to
saloons without help. No one knew this
better than the gentleman CD who was
so deeply interested in good citizenship, who
gave the alarming information to Mr.. Goode
that "he could show him fifty saloons wide
open and as unrestricted as any other
business on Sunday the gentleman whose
identity Mr.. G.. so adroitly conceals until
the court orders him otherwise.) He knew,
and knew 1t very well. that Messrs. Goode
and Ritter could not on their own account
gain admittance to these places, so 1t was
arranged that Mr.. Hagerdorn, a Demo-
cratic ex-police sergeant, a man who had
kept a saloon, and whom any of the sa-
loon men would recognize as an habitual
QrlIhtr, SllOulQ accompany them In OrQer
that these nefarious saloon keepers might
be deceived and permit the committee to
lay a temptation before them to violate the
law. Ever the reporter who started out
with these Good-e citizens became dis
gusted with this class of deception and left
after entering three places and witnessing
the glaring hypocrisy of these champions of
Christian thought and virtue.
The News. whose emissary the reporter
was, In its endeavor to bolster up the prac-
tice of this shoddy committee, says "they
have proved that the Sunday liquor law
was not being strictly enforced, as the
Mayor and police superintendent believed 1t
account given by the News on the 18th
inst, they proved the very opposite: that is,
so strictly that they had to get an ex-
policeman and ex-saloon keeper well known
TO the liquor men to go with them to gain
their admittance TO Eminger's. The saloon
itself. was deserted, but open (no law to
compel its closing) A German guide, with
series Of locked doors into the billiard
room. where liquor was supplied over an
improvised bar of chair backs and straight
boards. viii any sane man say If the law
was not being enforced that such a route
would have been necessary to get a drink
at this deserted but open bar room?
Again, the committee went to the Ger
mania House. Entrance was obtained at
a side door in the rear of the saloon. At
who stood as sentinel" ETC., and directed
the mmit to the right door. The COM
mittee was made TO stand In line BEHIND
was not being strictly enforced why all
this precaution and the necessity Of humil-
iating this Good.e committee by making
ing allowed to taste" the I'M
clean thing? Good citizens. how
m mady at an Gf honest eg en wa a to en thgSw
law by lining up behind an ice box and buy
ing the very liquor which your brother is
prohibited from selling under penalty, and
for which ha mnsf nnu- ha nrnfchaI wrAf1~
you go scot free because there is no law to
punish you, although equally guilty, as I
believe, in the eyes of God.
The committee went to the DeniSOn Hotel.
and found the bar closed, but their infallible
guide knew where they could be accom-
modated, and up stairs, In a private room,
enforced why the necessity of climbing the
stairway OF the hotel? They could have
tasted" the cordial down stairs at the
bar.
They then went to Moran's, where their
appearance surprised the bartender who
was supplying a couple OF customers. "and
not knowing the newcomers he seized the
glasses and dashed their contents into the
waste water" This Christian ommitt
explained that its purpose was to procure
the same thing, and the bartender served
the drinks all around" Was il the purpose
TO procure the same thing? They merely
tasted" and their purpose was not to
catch the saloon keeper, but the police. II
the law was not being enforced IL would
not have been necessary TO deceive the
bartender by explaining that they wanted
the same thing.
In every instance. though In but one as
reported, the saloon was attached to a no.
tel or eating ~house-places which 1t is i'm
possible to close.
The News in its commentator of the
work of this committee refers to DIR.
Parkhurst in his crusade against vice and
immortality in New York, but DR.. Park
hurst did not stoop 50 low as to partake OF
the vices he found but was content with
observing what was going on. 1t is said IL
was not the object OF the to
catch the saloon keepers; they were after
the police. Is II necessary that Christian
gentlemen should so out on a spying
tour, Summing under the guise OF friends
OF a customer OF saloons. to be guided
through circuitous routes into Railways, Up
stairways into rear rooms TO catch the
police, when by so doing they admit that
the police could not do what they did, be-