The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-07-19
STOP BEER SALES
County Attorney Schenck Opens
War on Wholesalers.
Would Shut Off the Supply to
Druggists.
ARRESTS ARE MADE.
Cash" Curtis and Charles
Rigby the Victims.
The Notorious ShOaf Resort Is
Also Raided.

Preliminaries, in what promises to be
one of the most important liquor cases
which has been handled by John
Schenck, the county attorney, and Johr
Wilkerson. the sheriff, were consummat-
ed last evening by Sheriff Wilkerson and
his deputies when they took into Gus
tody c. w. Curtis, Familiarity known as
Cash. and Charles H. Rigby on a war
rant issued on information to the effect
that they have been rnultitudinous vfo-
lators of the prohibitory law. This infor-
nation is also against Willis Clough,
who could not be located by the sheriff
last night, and Matt Cave, who was too
i'll to be arrested. He will be taken up as
soon as he RECEIVERS .-.-....
There are forty-nine counts in the in
formation against these four men for
making illegal sales of liquor and an
additional count charging them with
maintaining a nuisance in the building
at 609 North Kansas avenue, which has
been used as a sort of distributing head
quarters for beer and liquor. None was
found on the premises when the raid
was made last night but 1T has not been
the habit of late of these men to keep
much beer or liquor on hand. They go
to the railroad stations and freight
houses and get 1t out of storage there.
The number of counts against Curtis
and his colleagues is one of the largest
that has ever been made in the efforts
of Shawnee county officers to enforce
the prohibitory law. Under the provis-
ions of the law the court must impose
minimum sentence of thirty days in Jail
and a fine of 800 for a conviction on a
count such as these. The court has the
discretion of imposing maximum sem
tence of six months in Jail and fine of
six hundred dollars. Should Curtis and
the others charged with him in the in
formation, be convicted on all of the
fifty counts, each of them would get at
least the minimum sentence of fifty
months, or four and quarter years in
Jail, and a fine of $1,000 each. If the
court used it's discretion an imprison-
ment Of three hundred months, or TWEEN
ty-five years, and a fine of 100000 might
be imposed on each of the men con-
victed.
Behind the charges made in the in
formation are the efforts of Mr.. Schenck
and Mr. Wilkerson to make Shawnee
county the "driest" spot on the face of
the earth. They have put the joints in
the city out of business to all practical
purposes and now this move against
Curtis Is the beginning of a crusade to
prevent the druggists of the city from
purchasing beer and liquor at random
from agents in the city and then retail
ing it out to customers who are willing
to attach their names to the application
blanks to the effect that they want
liquor for medicinal purposes.
If this latest crusade of the county
that the druggist who wishes to accom-
modate his customers with beer and
liquor will have to order his samples d.
rect from breweries and liquor dealers
without the state and have them ship
ped direct to him. This is the purpose
of the prohfbitory law in these premises
but it has not beer the general practice
Of the druggists to operate in this way.
as to beer especially. A good many of
them do order their whisky and other
liquors directly from houses in other
states. AS to the beer, however. 1T has
been the custom of the druggists even
in dry times to get all they wanted from
brewery agents who have handled the
beer from cars to storage and other re-
positories and dealt it out to the drug
gists in three or four or more cases at
a time
This sort of a trade has never been
interfered with before by the local or
county authorities. One of the reasons
for this has been the difficulty to OBJ
tain evidence of a convicting character
against persons plying the trade, But
Mr.. Schenck and Mr.. Wilkerson have
been working hard along this line for
some time and believe that they have
a perfect case against Curtis and; his
pals. And this case against Curtis is
only the beginning NfNof the ii crusade.
There are numbers Of other gangs of
men in the city engaged in the same