Arizona republican., 1915-07-05


 viction shall be a fine and a jail
 sentence. and this judge will enforce 1 that statute and impose both a fine
 and a jail sentence. as I have in the past. l have suspended sentence in | the few cases in Whlcn sufficient nit | igating circumstances appeared, and | I have imposed reasonable fines and jail sentences in cases where mitigat- ing circumstances did not appear
 If that makes this judge biased and | prejudiced, then l am biased and preiudiced judge in every case, civil
 and criminal that may be brought
 before me; for my oath of office re-
 quires me to uphold the laws of this
 state, civil and criminal, and the liquor law, together with the punish
 ment is one of those laws, and it is one that I shall uphold.
 Tt is perfectly plain and patent
 to me and must be plain and patent
 to anyone who is not blind. that the
 offer on the part of these defen-
 dants, that they be allowed to re- ! ceive a fine and escape the jail sen tence would allow anyone who might | indefinitely. for the fine simply amounts to license. and as long as [ the jail sentence can be escaped, the conducting of an illegal business may continue. It is for that reason that I must enforce the law in it's spirit and in it's letter. My oath Of office requires me to enforce all laws, with out any discrimination: not to select the laws that l may desire to en- force but to enforce them all equally, because that is the only protection society has But I should enforce this law. not only for that reason, but as mark of appreciation and respect and honor to the men who were in the saloon business to the first day of January and who quit. We have many such citizens in this county. | Moreover. I believe in enforcing the law for another reason A vast amount of liquor brought in here during the month of April is what was familiarity known in my home l state, Illinois, as rot-gut whisky 1 that IS. whisky that is run from the | distillery and bottled up immediate ly; whisky about a year and a half l old. warranted to knock a squirrel out of a tree at forty rods. one drink of it would make a man fight ! his mother-in-law. T want to say, while I am making | this statement, that I endorse the at titude of the sheriff of Yavapai | county in enforcing this law from to z. The mere fact that it may have been necessary to bring subma- rines into this warfare to get little | evidence is no reason why any criti- cism ought to rest on the sheriff | The liquor business could not exist, 1 of course without customers. Now, 1 have not noticed that the grass has | been worn out to the sheriffs office | across the courthouse plaza, by any one to give information concerning l these violations of the law, nor have the stairs in the Bank of Arizona 1 building been worn out by men going | up to the county attorneys office | with information. The only way the | sheriff could get at the bottom of | this matter was by bringing in a few | detectives and spotters,. and all this | talk about criticizing the sheriff upon | that ground is simply twaddle to stir up the dust and cloud the issue | which is simply this: Are there men in this county that are bigger than the law? That is the whole ques- tion.
 There have been many threats and suggestions and innuendoes of all kinds and characters presented to me during; the last two weeks i threat sof recall and suggestions of physical violence. and so on. I pass by all these things as idle bunk. bus l am here to say that, so far as I am concerned, death is preferable to dis honor; and after a man has served through a period of time as judge | of the superior court of this state, he may look forward with pIeasur- able anticipation to a little sleep and rest in pine box on an Arizona hill side. After the experience I have had during the last two weeks in connection with these liquor cases, ] am fully prepared to state that hell itself is an endurable place of residence.
 The question is, whether the citi Zens of this county propose to allow the name of Yavapai county to go out over this state and nation with a stench attached to it as a place where men can openly and flagrantly violate the law. Must I step to the windows of this very courthouse and see men stagger from saloons upon I the row across the street and be l> silent when I know that the law is being violated? Am I to sit here and be silent in this very building, the bricks and stones of which have been dedicated to the upholding of law and order. and see violations oc- clIr daily around ne9 Thf. lima