Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-04-22
First Court in
Leonard Wood Co

justices Of the peace of the county
to make their quarterly reports and
to pay over funds collected by them
as is by law provided.
We find that only two OF the JUS,
tees Of the peace Of this county nave
o3eyed this law, and that the other
justices have wholly failed even 70
make reports and that there is moth
ing to show that any Of them have
ever turned over any Of the funds col
lected by them. We believe that the
hoard Of county commissioners is the
proper body to deal with this matter,
and Ne recommend that il the com
missioners find conditions to be as
NE have ascertained them, that the
justices who have failed to make re-
ports and pay yer the funds collect.
ed by them, be summarilg removed
from Office.
We find that practically all OF the
persons doing business which BY law
is required to be licensed, have taken
out such licenses. In two cases where
saloons have been conducted without
the necessary license. We have re-
turned indictments. We have also
ascertained that a few years ago az
the time Of the construction Of the
railroad through this country, a very
large number OF saloons were con-
Quoted which do not appear by the re-
cords to have been licensed. In as
much, however, as the majority Of
sthe persons at that time running such
saloons, have now left the county, n
their whereabouts are now unknown,
We have not thoroughly examined in
10 these violations.
We furthermore respectfully report
to the court, that in u opinion, a
large part Of the disorder prevailing
in our county during the past few
years has been due to the unwilling
ness or at least failure of the peace
officers of the county to enforce the
law. Many of the laws Of the terri
tory creating minor offenses have
been openly violated, in some in
stances In the very presence of those
who were worn to enforce such laws.
We particularly would call the atten-
ton of the peace officers Of this
county to the many violations of the
law governing the sales of liquor.
These laws we find are openly violat.
ed day by day. There has apparent.
~ been no attempt made to prevent
the lettering of minors in saloons, and
even the purchase of intoxicating
liquors by such minors.
We also find that in many OF the
precincts of the county, particularly
in the town Of Santa Rosa, lewd wo-
men are continually allowed to enter
saloons and dance-halls, and to loiter
therein.
The law providing for the observa-
ton of the Sabbath-day is also openly
broken and defied in certain precincts
of this county, both by those engaged
In the sale of intoxicating liquors, and
by many persons engaged in the sale
of merchandise. But, owing to the
difficulties in obtaining definite testi-
mony on which to found an indictment
we did not feel warranted in return.
ing true bills for these offenses.
In the precinct Of Santa Rosa. there
are now residing a large number Of
lewd women, and houses Of prostitu-
ton are being openly conducted in the
town. An extremely bad example is
thereby given to the youth Of that
community, ami we would recommend
that the peace officers of the county
be instructed to suppress this disorder.
A committee Of the grand jury, act
ing under instructions Of our body.
visited several of these houses on one
night during this term, and found
conditions existing there truly deplor.
able and appalling. We saw there not
less than ten young men, of,ages from
IA to 16 years, dancing with these wo-
men, and many Of them 50 %intoxicat
ed that they could hardly stand. This
Is a condition Of things which should
not be allowel in a community Of cit.
liens as intelligent and respectable as
those of the town Of Santa Rosa, and
we ask that the attention Of the peace
officers Of the county be especially
called to 1t.
Notwithstanding the fact that we
have not been able to deal with more
than a small proportion OF the cases
called to our attention, WI neyerthe-
less believe that the holding Of the
present term Of court by Your Honor