Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-01-10


the local option law at the spring cleo
tons. Petitions for putting the liquor
question on the ballot at that time
are already in circulation and the min
listers state that they are experiencing
no difficulty in getting signers.
1t is sincerely to be hoped that Rock
Island will go dry, and that the liquor
interests which have the city in tight
embrace, will be driven out They are
running city which by right should be
one of the best in the middle west but
which they have made into sin hole
where drunkenness, lewdness, prostitu'
ton. thievery, burglary, highway rob
berry and murder do not even hide un'
der cover Of darkness but flourish
throughout the hours of light as we'll
The city Is the headquarters for
some of the biggest crooks in the west.
and In their wake; come the lesser
criminals who lack the ability to pull
off really big job and whose limit is
purse snatching and rolling" Be-
tween these two extremes comes a
horde Of dips" cadets" street walk
ers. and desperadoes who will stoop
to any crime which promises reward
of a few dollars. Theft is an every
day occurrence; burglaries are fire.
quent: holdups occur every week or
so; women are subject to insult or
assault if they appear on the streets
at night without an able bodied es-
cort: and murders are far from being
an unusual occurrence.
OF law and order there is little Sa-
looms for a long time openly violated
the Sunday closing laws and the
''joints" were open twenty-four hours
day. Many places had wine rooms
and stalls in connection with them and
prostitutes piled their trade openly.
The interests got such a grip that
they began to consider the violations
in the light of rights" and when spas
modic efforts were made by eXasperat-
ed citizens. honest officials or officials
who had not been seem to enforce
the law, the offenders flew to court
and fought bitterly any attempt to curb
their practices Here the rotten condi-
ton of the community became appar-
ent. Of justice there was but little.
Offenders got off with light fines or no
fines and returned to their places Of
business. Others were not convicted
and these returned in triumph to their
Joints. One notorious woman who con-
Quoted a bawdy house over her hus-
bands notorious saloon, was arrested
and tried by jury. The citizens
league which was behind the prosecu-
ton. produced witnesses who had &C.
tually visited the place as patrons, and
others who gave conclusive testimony
regarding it so that there could be no
doubt in the mind Of just person as
to the nature of the joint. And yet
the jury, sitting in court room from
which people-men and women-could
be seen entering and leaving the no.
torious joint, returned verdict of not
guilty.
After this signal victory for vice,
the word was passed around that
''juries won't convict" and every ar
rest-there we're few at that brought
a demand for open trial. Vice spread
eliminated in the riots of the spring
of 1912 when regiment Of Illinois
national guards had to patrol the
streets for week to preserve order.
Vice went under cover for time but
it still retained it's grip and of late,
conditions are becoming unbearable
to the better class of citizens and an
other effort is to be made to clean up
the city.
Liquor is what has made Rock Is-
land the cess pool Of crime. The city,
practically the size of Ottumwa, had
one hundred saloons up until a few
days when the city administration was
compelled by the women's club and
some of the respectable citizens, to re-
woke several licenses. The saloons
for the most part are run by brew cries
or agents Of brewers and those in per-
sonal charge evidently work under in
structions to get every cent out Of the
business that is possible. When sa-
loon goes too far and there is public
cutlery against it, the brewery installs
a new saloonkeeper and the public
supposes it's demands have been met.
How long the people of as good a
city as Rock Island will permit them
selves and their city officials to be
controlled, brow beaten, or
ignored by the liquor interests, how
long they will stand for their city be-
ing the "openest In the middle west"
and how long Rock Island will be look
ed upon by Iowa as the sewers mouth
from which booze flows into this state.
is a matter of conjecture, not unmixed
with the hope that the end of the reign
of vice in Rock Island Is at hand.