The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-22

boys" Chief Sweets seems to take on new spirit with such encourage ment and the ten patrolmen st his beck get busy. It may have been un just to Chief Sweets to intimate that l he needs command on the enforce ment of the prohibition law or that he | needs lecture.
 | We are not letting any vioiators oI the prohibition law go unmolested II we can help it." said he. we nave | two plain clothes men who are as signed to this kind of work alone. All I the men are instructed to keep close watch-out for violations of prohibi- ton. I believe that the blind tigers ] In this city are few. In my opinion, they are practically confined to low class whites who do business in their rooms or dwellings and to negroes who bootleg 1t on the streets or also sell 1t In concealment at home. But even this business is little and desultory." / | Officials Cooperate. The police chief is a great admirer of the mayor. They cooperate with zeal rarely witnessed in another muni- cipality. Such a league has actually done more to drive the blind tigers from the city limits than any other factor.
 While convictions in police court are not uncommon here there arc many. who. of course. appeal their cases. Those who can make bond do so in- variably. Then there is the call for trial by jury in the city court. And here again Is the mightiest obstruc- ton in the way of enforcing the pro- hibition law. Th6-nightiest obstacle and yet in theory the bulwark of our freedom! It is . paradox brought on by prohibition that was no doubt fore seen by the men who conceived and ad- vocated prohibition. but the writer dares say 1t was not expected with a | true estimate.
 That is to say, the average jury in Calhoun County will not convict for violation of the prohibition law. May be 1t were better to qualify and say defendant in the penitentiary for an other misdemeanor will meet stone wall in a jury of his peers sitting on the trial of blind tigering."
 Court. gives 1t as his disinterested obs servation that juries are inclined to He turns in his files to several in- and to but two cases of conviction. One of the latter was a white man and the other a black. The testimony is said to have been unassailable and the defendants were men of practically no friends in the community. Also. 1t happened that the witnesses who in the one cass convicted in the Record- CTS Court. did not vanish. and who. in not vanish. before the jury trial.
 This fact perhaps relieves the jury of part of the blame that,is often laid upon them .Ss tasR wor K thy of a Napoleon to follow q case from Police Court or grand jury on through the trial by jury without losing the ''p on preiminsry ry'iss Rearing as sse % so ready and positive to testify against the blind tiger "backslide" or skip when 1t comes to toe the line with judge
 VioIators Fear Judge.
 l The violators. while confiding in . jury, fear much the judge. who in this Instance happens to be T.. W. Cole Supreme Court. That was demonstrat- ed only last Saturday when the writer sat in his court to see the trial of an arraigned violator of prohibition. He was a young white man who seems te have seen more roses in peddline liquor than plying the mou1der's trade He was convicted very promptly or the evidence of two policemen whe made the arrest and claim to have wit messed the transactipn which took place in the rear of e local pool room as 1t was alleged.
 preme Court. But t6ss defendant Is ts this moment deplorins the mistake oI counsel not applying TOT. a jury trial It was an oversight such as rarelI the remark was heard at intervals "Why didn't he ask for a jury. He, crazy" The inadvertance cost hin just S1oo and thirty days. white fellow of promise. now work ing out Q sentence of twelve months 1T the mines. was asked the question why he did not trust his peers: He Is sais |! was a fool that's all I've got to say. He had pleaded guilty of bootleggins booze in four cases. His mother wish a says a1 frankly Vi that her son n had % pad d' sd vice." referring to the pleas of guilty The Solicitor played In the hard luci of having both jury convictions re yerssd by the Supreme Court on on tech @ conviction stands today in Calhoun County for violation of the prohibition iaw.
 ble in telling of his methods He hal ceased to import detectives to run dowr we tried bringing foreign @ aetec tenn failed. 1t didn't take us long t see thst The most effective way f. to employ local men. The tigers vii not sell to strangers. And even tn local .spotters' we can use now onl! | once."
 It Is @ we'll known fact here tha \ when a man is arraigned as Q blin, | tiger in the Police Court there will be a good crowd on hand. And in tha
 crowd it~is said are to be found no alone those who flock there from idl curiosity, but those who wish to spot flyers his testimony he is useless fo further duties in that line.
 Record of Homicfdes.
 sherir LeGrand recalls six homi
 cides in the last six months in Cal houn County. This is a higher aver | age than was usual even in the we reign, but he himself says that but on of them is traceable' to whiskey. The
 were negroes who fought with gun
 and knives in brawls of women jeel | ousy.
 The feen bill of the Sheriff has faliel off about 25 per cent, according to hi estimate. His arrests are probably 5
 per cent: fewer in prohibition than Il
 saloon times.
 enness during January were only eight
 though in the first twenty days of Feb ! ruary they were eleven. This is abou u maintaining the average of last yea as in January, 1908, the arrests fo
 drunkenness were thirteen and for al
 were eighty eight and for the frs
 twenty days of February they wer
 sixty eight.
 The loss in revenue to the city O ' Anniston in saloon licenses caused b
 prohibition was s1s20o. The loss Q
 this account: however. eo,s, is nesrl rl
 Court fines. However we'll it speak
 for the peace and obedience of tn
 community. the deficit Is smartly fel by the treasury. It is roughly esti
 mated by Mayor .Kilhy that the reduce