The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-25

but would not obey her. The polite
 clerk, who had no acquaintance what
 ever with the lady, nor with ner hus-
 band, nevertheless courtecusly prom. ised her to keep a lookout for a cen tleman of the above enumerated at- l tributes, habits and proclivities, and | the lady departed. Some weeks later. | the husband having again fallen off the 1 water wagon and mounted still higher
 on the bay rum vehicle, the wife re- ported the matter to the censocial de- pertinent of the city government, who consulted ex-Chief C. W. Austin, the Sherlock Holmes of policedom, who inn
 mediately recalled that in empty bot ties redolent of bay rum around divers pool room dives of the city he had
 "smelt a rat" and this he at once pro-
 posed to nip in the bud" Repairing | in all directions to said pool rooms. the ex-chief discovered in sundfy bas- kets and boxes in the backs or other rearward parts of said premises, sev- | eral dozens of small empty bottles with l druggists scales blown in the glass, | which either smelt of bay rum or bore labels with the legend. Bay Rum.' as | well as other labels showing they had
 emanated from Parker's drug store, 1 Barbers drug store, and other drug l stores in town, though Parker's 1abel, 1 like Ben Adkins name. led all the rest. | These. the eX-chief collected and 1 brought to court. MT. Sadler trum- | phantly selected the Parker bottles and | spread them along the front edge of the bench before the mortified eyes of | the court, as exhibits A, B, c. and so l following, where they confronted , Messrs Armstrong and Walpole, the l prisoners at the bar MT. Sadler then 1 proved by the bibulous husband that l he had purchased a 25-cent bottle os | at Pa rlS ha .f | not identify either of the defendants as l having waited on him) since the time l his wife had informed the clerks of | his habits. and had used it as a bever- l age, though he had not disclosed his | proposed use to any of the clerks l having simply asked for a Quarters worth of bay rum" received it without | question or comment, paid for it and l walked out with it, and never drank | any on the premises ! On examination by the recorder him. | self, the young clerks admitted that
 they mad noticed some increase in ths sales Of bay rum since the prohibition 1 laws went into effect last June. and in 1 their opinion such sales had more than | doubled; but they did not ask and did l not know whether any of the purchas- l CTS 1mbibed it instead of using it for the toilet purposes for which they ex- pected 1t to be used when thev sold if
 
 consider there was any evidence oe | sui!t against his clients. and hat he | would submit the case for decision without argument. MT. Sadler pointed with pride to the exhibits of bottle. arrayed along the edge of the bench. l ana eloquently exclaimed. Your bonor l these are our witnesses" The court then held in effect. as correct | apphcation of the prohibition law. the fol. | lowing propositions:
 u That the defendant clerks were guilty Of the knowledge that nurcba Soc Ui pay rum had materially increased at | Farker' drug store since prohibition Iaws were enacted in Alabama. @ That as members of the statewide | committee on public safety and terner- atce winch Is now committee of the whole, embracing the entire citizenshin ana In which membership is compulsorv uhoer the prohibition statutes enacted in | .e .He wisoom ana patriotism of the hand pickeo legislature, that defendants had at least been guilty of neglect of duty as such members, which negligence amounted to positive crime.
 No( mat the information given at Par kers drug store by the wife of the bibu. ious gentleman as to his bay rum habits and proclivities had legally imposed tbs outles upon the clerks at that store of a 1 special guardianship over a gentleman WItn bald head, full beard, rum com pleXlon and bay rum breath, and made if their legal duty, although they did not Know him, to "stop, look and listen" for ms appearance, and see that he got no more pay rum, and bayed the moon and disobeyed his wife no more
 (4 That the defendant clerks had mis- erably failed in this duty of special guar. dlanship of the bibulous husband. and nad further failed to observe the implied requirement. of the prohibition laws that | drug clerks should intuitiveIy know when purchaser desires bay rum for internal | consumption or combustion instead of external application or saturation.
 (o) That 1t is a conclusive presumption Of prohibition law, that in the hands of | bibulous buyer with a perverted taste for liquor, to whom a Virginia mint julep from the banks of ''The Jeems" is Tn the same class with Jamaica ginger, that bay rum, aqua fortis, nux yomica sulphureted hydrogen, or furniture pol ish all come within the very terms of the prohibition statutes as prohibited beyer- ages.
 (6) That usage makes law, and the use or these articles by abnormal individuals who will drink wood alcohol or methyl alcohol if they can get nothing else. makes them prohibited beverages. re- gardless of their normal purposes and uses, if internal use of them will produce drunkenness, or any condition similar to | drunkenness.
 CD That under the familiar maxim of ignorantia legis neminem. excusat Ohej law excuses no ignorance of itselD, the defendants were. as a matter of law guilty of the knowledge that the un- known, but bald bearded, and bibulous | gentleman had the concealed purpose and l intent in his mind when he bought the | bay rum, to use it for internal combus- tion, and not for external application.
 G) That the scriptural doctrine, that | i've are our brothers keepers" is ex- tended and vitalized by the Alabama 1 prohibition statutes, and that as the law i should keep pace with human ingenuity, no citizen should be excused from keep. l
 ing pace with the ingenuity of ingenious | gentlemen of bibulous proclvities; who will, in spite of the prohibition laws im- bibe anything intoxicating they can get l out of drug store, a grocery store, | from bay rum to wild asses milk or | vodka. Wherefore, following the modern | method of reasoning from effect to cause, | which seems to be growing in vogue with | some of the courts since the modern | method of judicial selection results in l placing those lawyers on the bench whose | |