The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-07-14
town AROUSED BY
SALOON CRUSADERS.
War On at Centralia, in Which
Few Are Taking Neutral
Positions.

REpi BIC SPECIAL.
Centralia. ILL.,. July 13.-The war between
the W. c. T. U. and the saloon men Is still
on in this city, and, if anything. Is hotter
/ than the weather The result of this weak s
work has been one conviction for gambling,
| one conviction for keeping open on Sunday,
two acquittals and one case continued over
| until next month, when the owner of the
| saloon, who is away on a summer vacation
trip. will be home.
The crusade was commenced about June
! %. and nine convictions were secured in the
| first round. Then came one other convic-
| ton. and then one plea of guilty for gam
bling, and to-day two more. They have on
| the docket four cases for keeping saloons
open on Sunday, and one appealed case for
gambling. in which the defendant secured
the verdict.
Get Proper Witnesses.
The question of how the ladies secure the
names of the witnesses Is the one that
! proves the most puzzing. They decline TO
| tell. No one else seems to know. They sim
| ply go before a Justice OF the Peace and
swear out complaints. When trial is
asked for, they send down list of names
| for witnesses. These witnesses are, almost
without exception. the right persons. They
| have made few mistakes. The saloon
men condemn such a proceeding, and say
| themselves known are doing the work, and
| that the men are towards. The ladies SIM
ply SMILE. The saloon men all ask trials,
| and this causes their customers to be
| dragged into court. OF course. the CUSTOM
| er, especially when he is business man.
objects to this when he has to swear that
the place was open, and he never goes back
| there. He declines to go in any saloon on
| Sunday.
| The Mayors Position.
| Mayor Rohl promised better control OF
| saloons when he was elected He Is the
/ agent for brewery. and is open in his
denunciaticn of the methods now in use.
/ He denounced the method at the close of a
up the argument with him. They had quite
| a wrangie Later In the day MIR. Rohl ac-
cused E. G. Hewett. a former City Clerk
\ and prominent churchman, of being the
agent of these ladies. Hewett denied such
| honor. and then Mr.. Rohl accused him of
| net paying for two kegs Of beer used in
denied ordering any beer. Rohl called him a
| liar, and abused him to a considerable ex-
! tent. AS the affair took place on the most
street IN the city at noon It
Mayor Rohl apologtzed to Hewett for the
scene, and absOlved him from the charge of
owing him for the beer. Hewett is a strong
| temperance man and stands very high 1t
| has placed Rohl on record Of standing for
| the saloon men, who do not claim they are
| obeying the ordinances.
Mrs. May WEIGH, the head of the organt-
zation and the organizer of the w c. i. Z.
| raid. is a woman who was little known be-
| fore this matter came up. She is not n
| crank. and no one who knows her will call
| her so. She has always been interested In
| church work. Now she is pointed out as
a reformer. She pays little attention to the
notoriety and does nothing spectacular She
| never becomes ratified nor does she talk fol-
| the public
So far the saloonmen have paid in actual
! court costs and fines $3.50, and they have
some still ahead of them. While three ac-
but one mistake has been made in arrests
| All of the men arrested have been saloon.
men except two. and one Of them makes
cept that Of a gambler, and the other was
| charged with running gambling Joint in
| connection with his business as cigar and
news stand.