Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-09-24
EDITORS MAY BE
 SENT ID JAIL Editor and Preacher Who Reformed Hot Springs to Be Given Another Trial by Judge Evans
OPINIONS ON REFORM
ls Not Disturbing Element, Business Men Say and They Are Now Lined Up in the Reform Ranks-Martyr. dom in Jail Will Aid Crusaders.

Hot Springs, Ark, Sept, 24.- Whether or not an editor and preacher will have to go once more behind the bars of the county jail as one of the unpleasant results of waging a reform movement will be decided during the term of court opened here today by Judge w. II. Evans. He has been called upon to decide whether or not County Judge Orlando H. Sumpter, one of the prominent members of the so- called Hot Springs gang has the power to again incarcerate k. Q. Schaefer, the managing editor of the Citizens Daily Bulletin, and the Rev. w. T. Amis, pastor of the First Baptist church, for contempt of court alleged to have been shown in articles and editorials appearing in the Daily Bulletin, admittedly ref1ecting upon the court and upon the judge personally.
 Schaefer and Amis have been the most conspicuous figures in fight for reform which has within a a. years time metamorphosed the famous Arkansas spa from ren- dezvous of gamblers, swindlers and municipal grafters into city free from gambling hells, pool rooms, wine rooms, confidence men and swindlers who formerly thrived by, preying upon the unfortunate lnA valids ana others who came by the thousands to heal themselves in the celebrated waters controlled by the United States government. From the widest open" town in America, where folly and iniquity held high revel Hot Springs has been trans formed into a comparatively re- spectable city. In years time twenty of the most famous gambling palaces in the United States have been forced to close their doors, eight thriving pool rooms where hundreds gambled daily on ponies galloping in all parts of the United States, have been driven out, two race cracks put out of commission and numerous reforms effected. Of the two tracks, Essex park was forced into bankruptcy, while Oak lawn, Dan Stuart's famous half-mil- lion dollar plant, has been turned to more legitimate uses as the headquarters of the Arkansas State Fair association.
 R. o. Schaefer, the youthful edi- tor of the Daily Bulletin, who is largely responsible for the accom- plishment of these reforms, is but 22 years old, and appears even, younger. That he has the courage of his convictions is shown by the fact that once before he went to jail, editing his paper from behind the bars, rather than pay fine inn posed for contempt of court Little Springs gang" was laughing up- roarOusly at what was considered the harmless enthusiasm of a calz low youth. Today the laughter has subsided to a sickly grin, and is likely to vanish entirely
 Tt is particularly gratifying to us,' said Schaefer, in an interview that the reform movement has been what might be termed com mercial success. Many prominent citizens and some of the reform ex- ponents, at that, actually believed that common decency and honesty would kill the resort. They believed that when the gamblers and the wealthy members of the sporting element who formerly filled this city during the winter season were giv- en the cold shoulder, that the city, depending as it does upon tourist patronage, would suffer irreparable damage. Others of more far seeing Judgement believed that thousands of respectable persons were being
 kept away from Hot Springs on account of it's notorious character 1T as a gambling resort, and have had their theory sustained to most
 gratifying degree As soon as the word went out that Hot Springs had