Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-01-14
SALOON HEARING
IS SENSATIONAL
Philpot Declares He Will
Decide Case Oh Merit, Not
tTeohnicalities.
GOING INTO SLGNERS
Census Figures oi Liquor Men ans.
Pr0hibitiOniStS Do Not
Tally.

The second days session of the
liquor license case, being heard Ill
the Jefferson county court before
Judge c. NJ. Philpot, was produc
tive of some rathes interesting de-
velopments Tuesday. After Judge
Ihilpot lverruled demurrer of At
tornevs w 4 Sorrells and j. NJ.
Shaw, which sought TO have the petit
ton for lsror license thrown out of
court because for 1914 had Ueen
omitted from the petition asking for
the liquor licenses" counsel for the
Prohibitionists sought to discredit
sigaers On the petition and introduce
ed testimony to offset the census
figures OF Judge W. D. Jones, coun-
sci for the saloon men, fixing the
white adultr population of Pine
Bluff.
During the afternoon session a
sensation was sprung when Judge
~
A. "Toula" Hughes, witness for
the resmonstrants, asked her II she
had ever been convicted of crime.
Attorneys Sorreils and Shaw pro-
tested against her being compelled to
answer the question, but JudSe
Philpot ruled that if Judge Jones
sought to discredit the witness, he
had a right under the law to ask the
question. The woman admitted that
she had been convicted OF assault
and battery on an adopted child and
also that she had been at one time
prisoner in the county jail here.
She aow lives at Thornton, Ark.
Will Decide Case on Merits
In ovelruling the motion for dis
missal OF the petition because it did
not contain 1914" on the printed
request for liquor license, Judge
Philpot, al the morning session, said
81 do not believe there is man
or woman who signed this petition
but who knew and was fully advised
that the petitioners wanted licenses
granted this year-1914. l believe
there are some illegal signers on the
petition and if there is evidence tc
show them illegal, they will be
stricken off. l am going to decide
this case on its merits, not on tech
nicalities The higher court can
pass on the technical features of thi:
case"
City Engineer Frank F. Allen was
the first witness called by petition
ers. He testified that the white adul
population of Pine Bluff is, taking thu
census figures as a basis and addin.
| the per centage of increase for tn
three years since the 1910 census
adopted by the Department OF Cen
sus, is $685.. The petition contain
3.71S signatures. The census taker
of the Prohibitionists were introduc
ed later and testified that there wer
6,443 adult white residents in thi
city.
Names Are Challenged
| The names OF about thirty signer
were challenged during the day
hearing. A great many of thes
were challenged during the tim
Mrs. Hughes was on the stand, tn
woman testifying that she knew a
of them and that they were duplica
ed signed to the petition by others
The witness claimed to know post
: yely that the persons whose nam
appear on the petitions were n
residents of the numbers given, We
signed two or more times and tn
nothing but negroes live in Il
houses. Some of them, she sal
were now living in Argeata. She d
clared that she would not sign tt
petition and that Johnny Moustach
told her, when he asked her to sii
the petition, that he was grtting
cents a name and that "aay 9th
name could be signed" by her.
E. P. Unsell, whose name appea
on the petition and whose signatu
was indentical to that he present
On "loege card" for comparise
emphaticaily denied that he h
signed the petition. He was on t
witness stand only a few minute
Judge Philpot did not pass on 7