Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-03-09
POINTS out EVILS
OF OPEN TOWN
REV. E. j. SHOOK IN ELOQUENT
DISCOURSE PICTURES oTTUM-
WA IN PAST TWO YEARS.
SHOWS SIX RESULTS
Willard Street Edifice Crowded With
Eager Congregation to Hear
Strong Sermon-Grills
City Officials.

From Mondays DaiiS.
o
+ ain the last two years we
( have had eleven convictions for
: gambling, and in the matter of
finding the offenders and prov
ing their offense, not one of the
= city officers had hand. In the
last two years, we have had
= eight indictments for the illegal
= sale of liquors, and two addition
& al cases brought before the fed
= eraI court. In the ten cases
= some fellow from the outside
4 had to get the work done, for
y not city officers had finger in
+ the pie. At least twenty injunc-
= tions against places of various
u kinds have been secured within
- the last two years and of the
Is twenty cases, not city officer
- has had ~hand in the good
* work. We have had two or
* three convictions for bawdy
= houses, and in these not city
y officer hao had any part. And
s. now in the city of OttunlWa
" some eight or ten bawdy houses :
= and numerous lesser institu-
* tions of sin are running, and
s. after the notorious cleaning up
y following the widely heraIded y
= proclamation, there are only
two empty houses in the row :"
- In the last two weeks the Law *
and Order league has gotten out y
ten warrants in succession, and y
of the ten warrants issued, not =
man has been captured. One x
= member of the league was offer
ed $50 month if he would give *
= the gamblers tip and let them
alone. Such is the neglect or y
failure to enforce the law In an =
open town poIcy."-Rev. E. j.
50 Shook.
"Six Results of an Open Town." in
which were shown beyond any fear OF
reasonable contradiction that some
times the fruits Of the pudding are not
found in the making, but in the diges'
ton, were told to an immense congre,
cation yesterday morning in the Will
lard Street Methodist Episcopal
church by the pastor, Rev r. j
Shook. Branding the officials who
now control the city of Ottumwa anc
have for. the past two years as either
neglectful or grossly failing to enforce
the laws. the minister eloquently de
scribed to his hearer some of the
notorious crimes of this common
wealth, and he concluded his forcefu
discourse by plainly picturing way to
restore Ottumwa to that state wherein
10 loe.c nSninnn11c Inv its
absence.
Edifice is Crowded.
DESPITE the fact that it was not gen
orally known that the subject to DC
treated by the pastor was of an un
usual nature, the main portion of the
edifice was crowded long before the
appointed hour for the discourse. Rev
Shook made no public announcement
of his sermon, and in fact there wa:
really no title to it, except that i
dealt with civic righteousness. Fol
lowing the preliminary words Of the
pastor, he Immediately delved into the
body OF his subject with the announce
ment that he would endeavor to shov
six results of an open town. That HI
succeeded there is no doubt, for a
numerous periods, he was interrupted
| by coinciding EXPLANATIONS from thu
congregation which came as the re
suit of the strong impression his SCI
mon made.
| The discourse was divided into 81!
parts, each dealing with some PAL
ticular result Of the open town.
First Result.
"a CONTEMPT FOR LAW AS
TYRANNY OF RESTRICTIONS Oh
PERSONAL LIBERTY" was pointe
out as the first result and explaine
by the speaker as follows: "a chit
growing up is taught to respect tn
law. but the open town regime teache
the offender to regard the law as
tyranny of restrictions of his persona
liberty. The offender feels that he
the hurt party, and that his libert
has been restricted instead Of his viz
lating the law.
| Second Result.
THE OPEN TOWN DEMANDS O
THE OFFICER THE VIOLATION o
HIS OATH OF OFFICE. His self-r'
spect is wilfully impaired The of
Ger of the law is constantly throw
into an environment Of temptatio
! que W IuS III oil ODG
i town.
Third Result.
"a RESULT OF THE OPEN TOW,
/ IS WINKING AT LAW BREAKING
A policeman says. I know wher
there are thirty gallons of liquors b.
inb bootlegged.' Why didn't he q
busy? Another policeman says,
know where they are bootlegging, b,
don't want to report for fear L
lose my job Another policeman sal
before the grand jury, had ever
reason to believe gambling was goin
on in those places, but l had no il
structions to investigate PerhaI
the officer thought that by the pa
ment of rake-off or certain licens
the Chamber would be protected A
other policeman says, We see all v
want to see, and In fact that plat
raided last Friday where a good COT
was made is in all probability co
trolled by one of our city officials, ar
thus these men sworn to enforce Il