Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-11-23
Local Comment

If the pottery plant should begin
advertising for fifty men, people in
Marshalltown would not believe hard
times were coming.
A telegram will cancel goods bought
on a high market for future shipment.
but it will not move the stock on
hand. That requires advertising.
-
There may be breakers ahead altho
most business men believe that If
timid ones would sit still the boat
would not rock, however, the local
buggy factory which is now at work
on goods ordered for spring ship
ment, has not yet received single
cancellation.
The managers of the furnace factory
say that the many expressions of gen.
uine sympathy and concern for them
owing to their fire loss, has convinced
them that the business men of Mar
shalltown really appreciate the i'm
portance of employment for their ITO
workmen.
This protracted open weather has
been joy to the builders and corn
pickers, but woe to the man with
heavy underwear to sell.
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The verdict Of twelve men in the
case Of Bert Pell, charged with MUIR
der, has met with general approval.
Whether or not Pell premeditated the
act, and it is more than likely he
cid not, the fact remains that John
Lepley Is dead, and that he died from
blow administered by Pell. The
community is better off with a man
of Pelps caliber behind penitentiary
walls than mingling with his fellows.
If he was so Incorporate as to be-
come crazed with drink, and strike
down companion, he would be likely
to do the same thing again when an
occasion arose. Pell and his ilk have
run the "levee" with a high hand for
a good many years. It is time an ex-
ample was made. While the police
have maintained order, 1t has not been
done without large annual cost to
the public. The occasional arrests for
intoxication and petty offenses have
had no lasting effect; they have only
given the culprits the opportunity to
sober up for a few days at time.
The moral effect Of the Pen verdict, if
properly applied by some of PelIs
friends, should prove "a good one, yet to
some others Of this same gang nothing
short of the penitentiary itself is likely
to put quietus on misconduct.
y
From the evidence given by Pell and
other witnesses for the defence, the
murder came about naturally and as q
result Of selling liquor to men already
drunk enough to be beyond any SEM
blance of self control. Pell says he
was drunk. Other witnesses said he
was drunk. This condition does not
seem to have prevented him from call
ing up the drinks or to have stayed the
saloonkeeper from serving them. The
men got the drinks. The row was over
who should pay. Then a man was
killed on the streets. The murder was
directly traceable to a saloon that sold
liquor to men already drunk and I'M
comfortable owing to the inflammation
of a murderous instinct by liquor. Who
believes that murder would have been
done except thru drunkenness? And
who sold tough character whisky
after he was drunk and dangerous.
That saloon and the person or per-
sons who own and conduct it should
be put out of business in Marshall
town Immediately and without delay.
The common safety demands it. The
mayor and the city council now have
some evidence on record with which
to teach saloon keepers not to sell to
intoxicated men.
But that isn't enough. Lepley is
dead and Peu in prison. They are the