The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-03-18
JOINT" KEEPING IN KANSAS.
Why Mrs. Nation Met So Little Opposi-
 tion

Why Mrs. Nation Met So Little Opposi 1 tion.
 "The reason Mrs. Nation and others
 have encountered so slight opposition
 at the joints they have smashed,
 said man from Kansas, lis because
 the joint keepers have been in a state
 of blue funk for years. They know they
 are running in direct violation of the
 law, and the feeling that they would
 have no protection in the event n'
 trouble has sapped their nerve in a way that is really Imaginable. remem- | Der, years ago, I happened to be ir | Wichita one hot day, and dropped into | handsome bar in the business center | to get glass of beer. I was served at side table, and while I was sipping the stuff burly, morose looking fellow strode in and asked abruptly wheth- CT his watch charm had been found It | appeared he had lost 1t there a few nights before, and when the proprietor replied that it hadn't turned up he in- sisted upon an immediate settlement. Such a demand would have been laugh ed at anywhere else, but the saloon man who was purring and rubbing his hands and all for peace and conciia- tion, assured him that 1t would be all right if he would only get an estimate of the value of the trinket from the jeweler who sold it. The burly chap chose to construe that simple request as a reflection on his integrity and, xxytf I< !, r,,1l yrI T
 denly over to the cigar case, splintered the top to fragments with single blow of his cane, and filled his pockets from the choicest boxes. guess that will about even us up' he remarked, and walked out, smoking one of the captur- ed perfectos. While this lively footing was in progress" continued the Kan san, 'the face of the saloonkeeper WAS study. Wrath, consternation, appeal, despair and several other emotions we're curiously intermingled, but he made no real effort to stop the wrecking. I was amazed. You're surely not going to stand that are you?' asked. He shrugged his shoulders tearfully. What can I do?" he said. If I tried to make him the least trouble he'd have me be- fore the courts under the prohibition law, and that would mean $250 sure. It comes cheaper to put in new glass That was twelve years ago, and incl dents of the same kind have been going on at intervals ever since.
 "In the smaller places the joint keep CTS are even more panicky," the speak, CT went on, smiling, "and I shall never forget an experience I had few years ago at flourish town in the eastern ming openly at the time, but a friend assured me that plenty were hourishng under the rose, and proposed visit to typical blind tiger He led the way into very respectable looking grocery, down flight of stairs, across cellar through a subterranean passage, and finally stopped before a massive oak door and scratched on the panel with his knife. Some one thereupon admit ted us to very diminutive barroom, in which perhaps a dozen men were about a rough wooden counter. They were evidently respectable citi- zens, yet gang of burglars plotting a bank robbery couldn't have looked more
 
 orders, and while they were being filled, the crowd was suddenly struck stiff with terror by three thunderous knocks on the big oak door. For moment everybody stood transfXed and thrill ing; then the bartender leaped over to what I supposed to be fire place, tore out fake sheet iron back and disclos- ed sort of brick chute leading at an Incline up to daylight. There is certain y nothing so contagious as panic for had violated no law and had absolute y no occasion to run; yet in the gen. sral consternation of the moment was scrambled up that rough filthy chute with all the agility of a chimney sweep. It landed us in the back yard of cheap hotel, full of ashes, tin cans, broken bottles and snarlS of wire, and by the lime we reached the street we were 8 spectacle for the gods. At the corner we met the proprietor of the tiger who assured us generally that it was false alarm. An old gentleman, who misun- lerstood the directions had been allow d to go downstairs, he explained, and lad knocked with his cane instead of | scratching. He was sorry, very sorry indeed, and urged us to return and lave something at the expense of the louse, but I begged to be excused. The | ,are possibility of another scramble | trough that horrible chute made my lair bristle on my head and l mention 1 he episode as one of the drawbacks to | oint keeping as a profession in the | reat state of Kansas. The fact is that | he nervous system of the joint keeper las become so thoroughly undermined " incidents such as I have described | hat he has no more combativeness left n him than a scared rabbit. I'm not that Mrs. Nation and her cru aders have had it virtually their own 'ay."-New Orleans Times Democrat.