Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-01-20
CUT RATES FOR VICE.

The hold that organized vice Cdu
get upon city when permitted to
grow unrestrained for years. is Well
illustrated this week in Rock Island.
where the resort keepers and those
who protect them are unafraid despite
the crusade that has been started
against them by a few of the exas-
perated citizens. With the better
class Of people rallying to the support
OF the local option move and rumors
of a recall for public officials all but
verified, the Joint keepers, one would
naturally suppose, would hunt cover
until the storm blows over, but vice
has gone untrammeled so long that 1t
is now an open battle. with vice out
in the open, boldly and brazenly de-
manding its rights"
Early this week, two newspaper re-
porters from the adjoining city OF
Moline received instructions from
their ch:ef to visit one OF the ROCK
Island resorts and expose conditions.
They did so. Pretending to be from
Peoria. they convinced the proprietor
tat they were "all right and sue
ceeded in purchasing what they are
sure was beer and in being shown to
a room in which they were entertained
by two girls in kimonas. Having
satisfied themselves as to the char
acter Of the place, they made their
getaway and their expose resulted in
the arrest of the hotel proprietor on
charges Of selling liquor without a
license and for keeping a house OF
prostitution.
There was a trial in a police court
and the proprietor was represented by
an attorney who branded the expose
an outrage against his client and who
harangued the reporters for coming to
Rock Island to do their Investigating
7s4hen in his opinion they could have
found resorts In Moline to visit II
they had seen fit. There was no evil
dence introduced to contradict the re-
porters' staten ents and one would
naturally suppose that in such case the
defendant, being a notorious character
and running notorious joint, would
have been given the limit fine on both
charges That would have cost him
about $500 or several months in jail
or both at the discretion of the court.
Was vice in Rock Island strong
enough to extricate itself from such
an embarrassing situation?
1t was. The charge of selling liquor
without license was dismissed be-
cause the court did not consider the
testimony of the two witnesses sufti-
Gent For keeping house of i'll fame
the hotel keeper was fined $40 and
costs.
It surely savors of cut rates for vice,
when the liquor interests are in the
saddle.
Added to this incident are several
other happenings of the week to bear
out the statement that vice loses all
caution when given free rein. The
grand jury which meets three or four
times year, returned partial re-
port this week-a partial one mind
you-and then went back with the an
nounced intention Of keeping on the
lob probably until the end Of the
month because of the numerous
cases up for consideration And if
all the crimes were committed that
are charged in the indictments re-
turned in that partial report, it shows
the great. difference between crime
conditions in a dry town and one con-
trolled by liquor. That partial re-
port indicted the sheriff Of Rock Is
land county on five charges comprising
escape of prisoner, embezzlement,
bribery and larceny; 1t indicted five
men for larceny, one for highway rob-
berry, one for malicious mischief, three
for burglary, one for crime against
children. one for rape, one for resist
ing an officer, two for assault with a
deadly weapon and one for assault
with intent to murder
Some Of the very best people in the
town went on the sheriff's bond and
the charge is made that his indict-
ment was melted by the vice ring
itself.
All in all, Rock Island is glaring ex-
ample Of a city controlled by and for
the liquor interests.