The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-12-08
PROHIBITION IN pENoBscor.
every Liquor Dealer will 60 to JAIL, Saw
the County Attorney.Elect.

Every Liquor Dealer will go to JAIL" Saw
the County Attorney.Elect.
Following is the substance of state.
ment made by Harvey H. Patten, county
attorney-elect of Penobscot county to
the Bangor Daily News last Thursday
afternoon:
Il believe that have been elected to
enforce the prohibitory law, and during
my administration it will be enforced
to the very best of my ability. At the
February term of the Supreme Court,
every liquor dealer in Bangor will either
| file demurrer or 60 to Jail. Those who
demur, if they have not left the city in
the meantime, will receive a Jail sent
ence at the August term. There will
be no fines of any kind; there will be no
return to the old Bangor plan; there
| will be no halfway measures and no
more technical evasions of the law;
henceforth the liquor dealers of the
| city will receive common punishment,
and one punishment only-they will be
sent to JAIL
II have no desire whatever" said Mr..
Patten, "tO pose as a reformer. The
present situation, to my mind, is very
simple one. The people of the State,
as evidenced by the election last Sep
TENDER, desire a rigid enforcement of
the prohibitory law, and with this en-
forcement | have been entrusted, so
far as Penobscot county is concerned. /
shall not personally swear out warrants
for search and seizures, for [ believe,
and have further been told by the JUS
tees of the supreme Court, that this is
Sheriff Gilman's duty, not mine: but
each rumseller brought before the court
is going to be prosecuted, and for each
conviction shall ask the court to i'm
pose the utmost penalty of the law. In
fact, the liquor dealers of the city may
expect at my hands full justice, but no
mercy.
cat the coming session Of the Supreme
Court each of the $50 or more liquor
dealers of Bangor will be indicted on
the strength of his United States reve-
nue. stamp. The possession of this
stamp alone will be sufficient to convict.
1t is all that is required: l shall need no
further evidence. Every holder of a
United States stamp must necessarily
plead guilty, and every person pleading
guilty will be given Jail sentence. OF
course, those who have already filed de-
murrers will be immediately sentenced,
and / am willing to be quoted as saying
that certain notorious violators of the
law, against whom there are all kinds
of cases pending, may expect to receive
the entire limit Of punishment on each
individual count
At this point Mr.. Patten made an in
teresting and sensational statement.
He said:
You will doubtless wonder why l am
able to assert 60 confidently that the
rumsellers of Penobscot county will be
sent to jail, even if am able to secure
their conviction. The explanation is
extremely simple. The Supreme Court
justices of the State have agreed to i'm
pose Jail sentences in the future, and to
back me up, fully and completely, in
every detail of my work The liquor
dealer, convicted on the evidence of his
United States revenue stamp, has, of
course, the privilege of filing demur-
rer now, as he has had in the past; but
as the law court will already have reach
ed decision in the matter, and as l am
determined that the six months delay
shall do no one the slightest good
what then would be the use? Better
for the liquor dealer to take his sent
ence at once, and have it over with