Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-01-04

according to the theory Of Professo
Hicks, by a conjuction of the planets
A temperance agitation had beer
started, but it was in the direction O
enforcing the somewhat rigid city or
dinances, which prohibited all sales O
liquor to be drank on the premises
where sold.
Saloons and drug stores had been sc
persistently raided, and their keepers
so heavily fned-and, in some in.
stances, imprisoned-tha all had
closed out but one. and he did business
strictly according to law. 1t you were
athirst and went into this gentleman s
places of business, you were confront
ed by some two or three hundred two
ounce Walls, neatly arranged in rows
on the bar behind the counter. On
the deposit OF ten cents, you were po-
litely handed vial and instructed to
retire to an ally in the rear to investi-
gate it's contents. If your thirs: re-
quired malt liquors for it's alleviation,
your only remedy was to crush the
growler,' as it has since been termed.
This, unquestionably, was an incon-
venience to a thirsty public, but it
helped the bottle trade, and, as it was
in strict conformity to law, no one
could fairly object.
There was pretty strong lodge of
Son of Temperance in the city, and
many of the old topers, when their ac-
customed haunts had been closed
against them, began to resort to the
hall of this society. For time it did
a thriving business. Every meeting
night found applicants for admission
from nearly all grades of society cool
ing their heels in it's ante-room. The
only saloon keeper saw that a moral
cyclone was at hand, and took in sail
and made himself snug below and
aloft, and waited for it to blow over.
The new accessions to the ranks Of the
Sons of Temperance were treated by
him with the utmost cordiality and
consideration. No allusion was made
to the little bill remaining on his
books unpaid. He had an abiding
faith that the genial sunshine of May
| would compensate him for his Decem-
Der losses, and when the prodigals re-
turned for their morning nip, he de-
sired that there should be no need for
uncomfortable explanations. The writ
er of this article felt sure that a moral
cataclysm was approaching, and he in
dulged in speculations as to whether it
would assume the character of a relig-
ious revival or a Temperance Reform
movement. The chances, to his mind,
were about even, when the fire broke
out at Washington Court House and
turned loose on an expectant public |!
Mother Stuart, Van Pelt, Aunt Jane
Jones, and Dio Lewis, with other lights
of less Importance. The saloons of
Washington Court House were closed !
by bands of praying women. Van
Pelt, the saloon keeper of New Viena,
a man supposed to be tough enough
for all ordinary purposes, surrendered
after brief but very pyrotechnic re-
and joined the ranks of the
Crusaders. He had been induced to
take the rOstrum in behalf OF his new
faith, and proved quite an attraction
while he lasted. When his saloon was
first visited he had knelt down in the
midst of the Crusaders aud offered up
petitions so sacreligious in their nature
as to cause the good women who sur
him to look for thunderbolt {
of divine wrath to fall upon him; but,
as no thunderbolt fell, and as he sur |
rendered, and espoused their cause, he ;
was regarded as brand plucked from
the burning, and his conversion as a
miracle expressive of divine approval ,
Of the methods of the women; so that 1
when he came upon the platform he |
found himself amply advertised and
people came to see and hear him, very t
much as they would come to see the t
ions that ministered to Saint Antony Y
IN the Desert. In fact, Barnum could t
1ot have handled the most attractive I
IF his natural curiosities to the advan- I
age of his bank account better than t
lid these ladies handle Van Pelt to the t
ldvantage of their new Increment. c
Bands of praying women went from 3
own to town. At their advent church !
,ells were rung, the women of the local r
ty fiocked to their standard, business t
anne to a stand-still. PROFESSIONS of g
women and children marched the n
treets, singing religious and temper n
nee songs.
The saloon keeper, if he were a wise 1
aan, closed up, and patiently awaited
he subsistence of the storm. The daily o
apers had reporters at the scene of n
ction; long accounts of the doings Il
nd sayings of DIR. Lewis, Van Pelt, Il
Iother Stuart, and others of the heroes Ii
nd heroines Of the crusade, appeared t.
a their telegraphic columns each day; "
nd Southwestern Ohio assumed very ii
,,ob the annearance it had assumed s1