The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-28
lSBURY HITTING THE BOOZE.
orrlN GROVE SCENTS 1T A MILE
mr. AID THERE'S TROUBLE.
r,,,ccn Hotel PrOprictOrs Arrested for
selling Liquor More Arrests to Follow
,ln,Or Vas Forced TO Take Action
The Hotel Keepers Will Fight.


AsprRy PARK, n. j., July 27.-Certain
..,insnt citizens of this city by the sea are
landing on the shore Of Wesley Lake
,n.nipht looking across at the Ocean Grove
lido where the big auditorium Of the ia
mo,,s camp meeting stands out strongly
.sains, the evening sky. They are wish
10, thu. Ocean Grove were just mile
fnrther away. Some OF them are Wishing
ina, il vas on an island In the middle OF the
atlantic. where the thirsty would cease
from troubling it and the w. c. 7. u might
be at rest
For Ocean Grove, "a preceptor OF the
morals of this community, brought 1t up
9TH round turn to-day. Asbury Park
hos been backslding. 1t has been hitting
the booze" Within hearing Of the great
auditorium. whose rafters this week have
been set ringing with anathemas directed
AGAINST the vice Of alcohol. nightly has been
heard the sound Of popping corks and the
g,rgle of the settler siphon discharged into
the hghball glass. Sounds Of revelry by
night have drifted across the quiet waters
Of the lake, bringing with 1t an odor Of
rum
The edict has gone forth that the back
alder must stop backsliding and that the
soda water fountains must regain their lost
supremacy. To-day the proprietors OF
fifteen Of the largest hotels Of Asbury Park
we're arrested for selling liquor in defiance
Of the law that has stood for years on the
statute books prohibiting its sale any
where within mile Of Ocean Grove. They
have waived examination and have all
given bail for appearance before the Grand
Jury. which meets at Freehold in October.
The sound of popping cocks has not
ceased, but it has diminished. Brilliantly
lighted hotel cafes. whose doors stood wide
oren last night to the thirsty, tonight
have only few persons in them and these
are guests. Strangers walk thirsty through
the streets for the first time in several
years.
The rroprietors we're arrested in the gen.
tlest manner possible. They we're told
BY the Chief of Police, acting on the advise
Of the Mayor. himself hotel proprietor.
that it would be nice II they could get up
some time during the day to Justice Borden's
court, where certain evidence lay awaiting
action. Thither, throughout the day, there
came the proprietors, singly and in groups,
but in such a manner that their absence
from their caravansaries was unnoticed by
the guests.
Several Of them were women running
hotels considered very exclusive. Among
the others were Frank B. Conover. pro-
pietor of the Coleman House and presi-
dent of the Seacoast Bank A. r. Parsons,
proprietor Of the Hotel Brunswick and
Mrs Sarah Bly, of the Plaza, all large hotels.
Bail was fixed anywhere from 500 to $500,
depending on the number Of charges.
Mayor Ten Brock, proprietor OF the West
End, sat on his hotel piazza and saw his
friends take their dose and said he was
very sorry. He has been selling to guests
only.
forced TO get the evidence against his friend
under threat that he would be indicted
The failed to do so. and tonight the Mayor
among those looking across the placid
lake to the camp meeting, whence come
oil their troubles. But the Mayor was
outspoken to-day, in saying that the hotel
proprietors had brought 1t on themselves
by permitting it to become widely known
that Asbury Park stood wide open to the
thirsty.
1t began several years ago. Prior to
that people got booze, but they had to work
to get it. They had to 60 down into queer
cellars, after strange winks from the bell
terious apertures and have the black bottle
suddenly thrust out at them and as quickly
vhlsked away. But they got 1t; that is.
Il they were known. That was even in
Founder Bradley's time.
Founder Bradley had ideas as to booze
regarding bathing suits. He believed that
a hotel might cater to the thirsty incon-
spicuously To be sure. the law stood then
as il stands now, forced on the statute
books by the Camp Meeting Association,
Asbury Parks powerful neighbor. 1t was
declared unconstitutional once, but re-
enacted eight years ago in corrected form.
No legislator up to date has ever dared get
up and declaim against it.
Asbury Park has changed since the good
old days. Its citizens then had hatred OF
drink. The multitude Of pleasure seekers
came, and they were thirsty. THE drug
stores saw it first. Drinks with strange
fountains. The hotel proprietors followed
suit All this WAS all right says Mayor
Ten Brock. It wasn't right, says the
Mayor, that guests should go thirsty: Law
or no law, that was inconsistent with human
liberty, says the Mayor. Once in while
the State excise officers would swoop down
on restaurant or on very small hotel
and make an arrest. but that was all.
Last year change began to be noted.
II was little easier to get drink. The
hotel proprietors were warned, but that
was all. This year Asbury Park became
the ideal spot OF the earth for those whose
thirst is for alcoholic beverages. Old
guests arrived at the seashore city to find
that the day Of winks and tips had passed.
1t was no longer necessary to grope ones
way to the keg in the cellar.
They found large rooms awaiting them
hlled with small tables. and white-aproned
walters ready to serve them from the buffet.
At the Coleman house the hotel cafe &C
commodates 300 persons. Across the street,
at the Plaza, almost as many could be served,
and great electric signs pointed the way to
the cafe
Asbury Park had the Bowery beaten
mile With a law against liquor selling
mat the hotel proprietors decided wasn't
law, there were no prescribed hours for
Closing no need to close doors on Sunday. 1
Under such conditions how did Sunday
diner from the rest Of the week? said tho
bropHetors. Asbury Park has been" hitting
the booze, not I'M way that caused drunken
ness in the streets, but in an easy way that
seemed to presage one long summer OF
sweet content. Only the drug stores
suffered, but they didn't dare to complain.
People in Asbury Park had almost for
gotten that Ocean Grove was the guardian
OF Its morals. But Ocean Grove hadn't.
u caught that smell bore by ocean breezes
IRON ITS reiRhbor and it acted quickly
ana ad sunmarily Supreme Court Justice
TFifl LrIx ~.