The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-09
ssSPoTTERSs HAVE BEEN EFFECTIVE IN SOME CASES
Whiskey Men Do Their Duty on ; the Juries.
sh<rfa Hisds. Tells of Diaaeulties
 whiek Cenfront HI. osee--
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sY CHARLEs ,. nARoLp.

Birfninghaps. Feb. s.--tspsciai. )--- Obstacles In the way of. securing com victions under the prohibition law are greeter than in other forms of viola tions; That is' strongiy taught in Bfr-
 Many and ingenious have been the efforts of 5hsrifr Higdon to srout the blind tigers from the county lIinits His and low degree to the he Bar .o Of Justice. M ss {. There hsAs bsea- instances of prominent and ihiaentiaf citizens.conA vtcted Of violating the prohibition law. These are. however, rather isolated.
 Without doubt the most efkecttye sys- tenn of running down fhe blind tigers 90 Tar used iss the employment of :spotters !. Whether directed by the Law and Order Lsagus ot by the sher- t6. these .ispotterE' have been doing excellent service gsince prvhibitlon went Into effect in Jefyerbon County. The hire of *spotters has been severely criticized as e eofttemptpotis busfneas. It Is not the entire public, though. that tndulges h thfk crieictsm. It is fe- ooEnized as tiiesrtght Of the ekecutive officsrs of the State to adopt such means of ferrsting out and pnnishing violaftons Of fhe law s@z
 Judge DanieIsA, Greene, of the Crirn- sinai Court of kiie county, vas asked if the court did not look, with suspi- eion on testimony Of s.spotters.
 The rule hes been laid down by fhs G,iprefne. Court said < he, sthat such evidenee must be admitted, hut should be taken for what 1t is worth :. We inform the jury that they have . right to look upon the. testimony of ;spottars' with suspicion. ' By farsthe grgeter number of con of@ffkvsw Ia eNssf fsrfe.4HffNsap "a prohibition law has been brought about by the use Of .spotters,' do not be- iieve. however. that more thanre per cent. of the mem arrested and tried here are convicted, Many Cnsen en DocISets. #
 This per cefItage may be increased when the record of another year Is available. The docket of the Criminal Court ia heavily cunbered with cases 1908 more so. but thS pages thereof are nnonotonously dottAd with the signiH. cant mol proaao." It seems to prove tliat the evidence on which the 0ficers and solicitor based their hopes of con viction slipped from their hands or 4ell down under the severe cross exam nation on trial. .s <
 The Sheriff has he'd spptters SdO ape parentiy. valiant worksin the Hnagnifi. :. cent jnHid. that spreAds through the blg mining district. They have walked In the gpiss of patrons into the mouth of the blind tiger. have made their cczl- victing purehasess of liquor, and have reported with pride to the Sheriff. The arrests follow. Bond is made. The ease is set for trial It may be, con- tinued- II usually is, turning upon some dilatory feature of the law. But at last 1t is called for trial. The de-' tendant stands ready, Then. with die- appointment writ on his face. Solicitor H. P. Hefin, or one of hlg assistants J. B. Aird or Frank Cahalan, arises Go reqaiest a Eloiie@prosae. That loyal and astute son of "spotter" knight hood has stolen away. He came not again. ! He had done. hts work well and swiftly, but he had net appeared Co testify The court has no patience with . silent bottle. j. The Eherifra label thereon describing In brief the source. and giving the date of purchase counts for naught without the man who dId tfe buying. "A,
 ;. Judge Greene ssatd he knew of many instances of defaulting "Spotters !" In many instances they are imported bee cause they are as strangers more yal- uable for their secret mission than the friends of the Sheriff or heads of the Law and Order League. As to their krustworthiness. the Sheriff and other employers have to take -the chances. Many have done good work and are doing good work still. Their identity, however, is becoming more and more recognized by the. beldest Of blind ti- gers and thus the longer they serve the less becomes the value of their services,
 Asked if he is satisfied with the per- formances of the suries since he has had hand, in the prosecution of pro- hibltion vioiatiops,. Assistant Solicitor Aird answered that he had no com plaint. He hadfnot experienced . ease which with evidepce convincing of the guilt of the defendant resulted in an aeQuittAl. .9 fsd.
 whIskey 1Eem on Juries.
 ''I and a fairly wholesome senti- nnent in favor of enfoTcing the prohi. bition law" said Mir. Aird. '.It is more favorable than expected because witnessed the sharp and bitter hBhs between the vets and 'drys' when they voted on prohibition. I had imagined that there might be an obstacle in the way of enforcing the law on eais ae. count. That has pleasantly surprised me by it's iabsefices can say that I have seen many convictions for vlo-