The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-26

legal liquor selling and yet under the form of legal procedure the officials who have been party to this trans | action have utterly ignored the intent of this statute. I understand that their excuse has been that by this method | they were getting money into the | town treasury and that there has been good deal said about the fact that | the treasury is richer one thousand dollars than if those places had been closed during the summer
 Is that a valid excuse for this | thing? Is the town of Milford to set up brokerage office for the commits sion of offenses here? I understand | that another excuse is that 1t has been | done for years and that it is but fol- | lowing the custom of the town and that leading and influential men of | the town have also advised it. do not | care what excuse may be offered the | system is wrong and vicious in it's in- fluence and do not believe that it has been sanctioned by the decent citizen ship of this town. The Law and Order League is a state organization. Our l dSGulS dIG dppulHltu py lilC SON VI iApA and have power to serve process and make arrest in any part of the state and when called upon by responsible citizens in any town 1t is our duty to act.
 Some weeks ago was approached by certain gentlemen, who, if their names | were mentioned, would be recognized as among the best citizens of Milford. | My advice was sought as to the best l method to follow in an attempt to stop the open violation of law referred to. l told them 1t was the policy of the league to work through and with the regularly appointed officials wherever and whenever it was possible.
 I told them that if sufficient evidence were procured that I had every reason to believe that the prosecuting agent for this district and the trial justice of this town would do all that could be asked of them in an effort to enforce the law. I was urged to secure the ev- idence and proceed at once through the regular channels Money being fur nished by our petitioners, I sent two re- liable detectives to Meadows End, and while common rumor showed a bad state of affairs the actual condition was much worse than I had even l dreamed.
 There were eight full-fedged bar rooms we'll stocked with all kinds of H. quors, and on Sunday, when the law prohibits sales of intoxicating liquors everywhere, these places were running wide open with two bartenders In most | of them, and the rooms and grove filled with disorderly assemblage. sent for the prosecuting agent. and when he called at my office I showed him the report of our agents and told him I had been appealed to by citi- zens of Milford and urged that he take the matter up immediately upon the 1 evidence that I could furnish, secure search warrants, and, with our assis- tance, make raids upon all the places and prosecute every individual em- ployed in this illegal business. In oth- CT words, I urged him to do exactly what was subsequently done in another way. He said he didn't think favora- ply of making the raids. as 1t would be expensive, without accomplishing any more than by prosecuting without raids. I pointed out as best I could the advantages of making the raids chief among which was that it woulc expose the condition of affairs dowr there. He promised to act as soon a. possible, but said he preferred to sec the county commissioners first. wrote to one of the gentlemen who ha6 called on me and outlined the situation [ and advised waiting for some days tc | see what the prosecuting agent would l do
 We waited two weeks before any, | thing further was done. In the mean time I called upon the county commis sioners and told them how things were going on down here. They appeared surprised and said it must be looked into. About the same time we re ceived two petitions from the people o Milford (Here the speaker read tht petitions which have already been pub lished, and proceeding sad)
 We could not ignore such call ant proceeded vigorously with the resul already known. The violators of lav have paid or agreed to pay, one thou sand three hundred and fifty-sevei dollars in penalties, an average of near ly one hundred dollars apiece for eacl of fourteen, and as the proprietors hat to pay the bills, it means about on hundred and seventy dollars apiece fo them in fines and costs.
 A jail penalty would have beel urged in every case but for the fac which is generally understood, tha while the accused have been openly vi plating the law they have not been de fiantly doing so, as they fully under stood that so long as they paid tn monthly penalty they would not b further interfered with. I am prepare to answer any question which any on may wish to ask concerning any fea l ture of this work from beginning t end. I think it well to state that tn whole business has been conducted S far as possible upon strictly bushes | basis; that is, we were dealing wit the citizens of Milford represented b. . these petitioners and personally repre- scented by certain gentlemen who hay dealt with us. They guaranteed tn payment of the expenses, and advance | the money to do the work and hay been charged stipulated price for al I that has been done, and have bee \ A11 lN