The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1901-06-28
DOES PROHIBITION PROHIBITq
PABsT BREWING COMPANY SUES VAN BUREN
COUNTY CUSTOMER FOR BALANCE OF
BILL.

For the past IL years Van Buren, county
has been under the operation OF the To-
cal option law, and during all that time
there has been no such thing as an open
saloon in the county 1t is equally true,
and nobody will attempt to gainsay It,
that during all those IL years the blind
tigers" have made their lairs in various
parts of the county, and that those
animals are still abundant, notwith-
standing the vigilant efforts - the eX-
ecutiye officers of the county to eyter-
inmate them.
Van Buren, enjoys the unique distinc-
ton of having been the first county to put
the local option law into operation, ana
il never has been revoked, every effort to
repeale it-and there have been several
of them-having met with overwhelming
defeat.
At the present time this county is the
only one in the state where the law Is IN
force, its opponents having been power
full enough in every other locality where IL
has been tried to secure its overthrow.
That the law has accomplished some
good is no doubt true, but 1t has fallen
short of what its more sanguine trlehdS
had hoped for it. The reason for TINS
cannot be that the public officials nave
not tried to do their duty, for during the
time the law has been in force 100 per-
sons have been prosecuted for having
violated it's wholesome provisions. vi
these 100 cases 122 resulted in conviction,
"a were mol. pros'd or otherwise disposed
of before coming to trial and Ii were
acquitted by verdicts of juries. Inns Is
an unprecedented per cent of convictions,
and yet the local option law is more per
sistently and constantly violated than
any other criminal law on the statute
books.
The prosecutions have resulted IN
placing thousands of dollars in the pub
lie treasury by way of fines and costs
and, in the aggregate, in years OF I'M
prisonment in the penal institutions OF
the county and state, and still the tigers
seem to be as abundant as ever.
A recent suit begun in the circuit
court by the Pabst Brewing company
against the notorious Capt. f. b. Napier
of South Haven throws some light on
the situation
1t will be remembered that during the
year 1900 this same man Napier was six
times convicted of having violated the
local option law and that he paid IN
fines and costs the sum of 55Sl, and that
there are now pending against him two
other cases in which he made futile
attempts to get change of venue on
the ground that be could not have fair
trial In this county because the people
were so prejudiced against him.
IN the suit just brought, the secretary
of the Pabst Brewing company makes
oath that from September, 1899, to Octo-
Der, 1900 Napier bought wet goods OF
company to the amount of nearly $4,000.
The sworn bill shows the purchase 1856
dozen quarts, kind of liquor not stated
possibly cold tea. probably beer 5
pints of tonic, hardly worth mentioning,
and $3.50 worth of glasses, the exact
amount of the entire bill being s., 73345,
on which Mr.. Napier has credit for
cash and "empties" returned-he didn't
return any "fulls"--the balance claimed to
be due amounting to 593l05, and for the
recovery of which this suit is brought.
OF course Mr. Napier did not sell these wet
goods in violation of law, but only for
medicinal, sacramental and scientific
purposes.
When we take into consideration the
fact that the doughty captain was only
one of a dozen, more or less parties en-
gagged in the drug" business at Van
Buren's famous resort town, it becomes
quite evident that, while it is not likely
that many of these quarts" were used
for sacramental purposes, there must
have been considerable sickness" there
as well as superabundance of science
And it is not alone in the resort town
that some interesting disclosures could
be made if access could be had to the
wholesale liquor dealers books Six
thousand dollars. wholesale price, Is q
pretty lively business in the wet goods
trade.
Imitators have been many. Thought