Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1902-11-28
NEGROES USED
AS CATSPAWS
WHITE MEN OWN BLIND Tt
GERS; DARKEYS RUN THEFT
GET THE WORST OF IT
Some Proposed Liquor Laws Sale
of Illicit Whiskey Captured
rIay be Authorized.

jackson, Miss. Nov. PA new
phase of the blind tiger question is
now occupying the attention of the
courts and julies in Mississippi.
In majority of instances where the
illicit liquor joints are raided by
oificers it is found that some lonely
negro is i'll charsge of the premises,
and if evidence of sale is secured it is
| invariably the case that the negro is
made the victim OF the vindioation of
justice, whereas he is merely the
agent or servant of some white man
who uses him as oatspaw, or shield,
to prevent him from the punishment
of the law
AS an illustration of this, a few
days since the largest blind tiger in
one of the northern counties was raid
ed and the negro servant who was dis
pensing the drinks placed under ar
rest The court fined him $500 and
three months on the county farm.
The negro will also have to work out
the fine, which means an imprison-
ment of two years, while the white
man, who owns the Illicit joint and
receives the profits therefrom, will
pursue the even tenor of his way and
hire another negro to perform che
menial work of handing out the
drinks.
An instance similar to this is on
record in Jackson. A blind tiger that
for more than a year has sold more
whiskey than any three places in the
town combined, employed negro
BARTENDER who took all the risk and
received none of the profits, working
for a meagre salary and constantly
lodging the officers who made fire.
quent raids. Thus far he has been
lucky enough not to be caught In the
act of making sale, but of course it
is only question of time until some
officer will get evidence of sale, and
the unluoky darky goes-to the county
farm while the man who has made
few thousand out Of the business will
stay at home and enjoy the profits.
There is hardly any doubt that near
ly every blind tiger in Mississippi op-
Grated by negro has some white man
behind it, who is furnishing the capt.
tai for the business, og directly super
vises the sale of liquor, yet it rarely
happens that white man is caught
and convicted of the offense
The suggestion has been made, and
it ia attracting considerable favorable
attention. that the law should be so
amended that when blind tiger is
discovered on the premises tenanted
by white man, regardless of who Is
arrested for running it, that it shall
he taken as prima facie evidence of
the white man S participation therein,
and form good grounds for conviction.
Another suggestion made regarding
the liquor laws is for an act authoriz-
ing the sale of illicit liquor captured
instead OF having it destroyed. as at
present the case under the Dinsmore
raiding law, with the further provi
sion that the liquor be shipped out of
the state, disposed of to some whole
sale dealer, and the proceeds placed
into the treasury of the town where
captured.
All over the state the circuit judges
and Justices of the peace are making
the punishment for illicit retailing
more stringent, and many of the
judges are iRflicting the maximum
penalty where conviction is secured,
following the theory that the only
way to break up the traffic is TO make
the punishment greater than the pro-