Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-08-20

A scathtnB denunclamenIo was ues
livered this morning by Assistant At
the East Grand Forks Brewery COM
pany, J. H. McInerny and co-defend-
ants in the criminal conspiracy case
which has been heard in it's preltmtn-
airy stages before Judge Phil Nc
Loughlin for the past 9-lO days.
Immediately after the opening Of
court Mr.. Bronson took the floor, and
spoke, in substance, as follows:
An Important Case.
'In this preliminary hearing the
state has produced 81 witnesses and
the record is quite long. Your honor
may wonder why we have gone so
deeply into details as we have, but the
circumstances r quite peculiar.
1.-THE situation which has been dis
cussed here, has been in existence for
some time, and it was rapidly spread
ing throughout the state. The defend
ants. backed by their wealth, and aid
ed by able counsel, have quite bitterly
attacked the testimony which we have
introduced to show that a violation Of
the law has taken place.
"The case Is Of considerable i'm
portance to North Dakota because it
strikes at the roots Of an evil which
Is threatening every home In the state.
1t Is particularly appropriate and 1m-
portant at this time Of a national crisis
that liquor laws should be respect
ed and enforced. We must uphold the
dignity and the sanctity Of the North
Dakota laws. And what do we find?
The Charges Against the Brewers.
GAS early as October, 1915, agents
and employees Of McInerny am into
this state to solicit contracts. They
have APPARENTLY solicited upward of
5000 contracts, that is, 1900 in this
city alone, 1000 in Grand Forks coun-
ty. The brewery pretends that it does
North Dakota business exclusively,
and the contracts as well as signs post
ed in the office over there disclaim any
Minnesota, transactions.
1.-The Photographic copies o~fyrecords
speak volumes of the character Of the
business, and we see, for instance,
that one day recently the brewery
did business to the extent Of $1,000.
w have shown that beer was be-
ing hauled into this state by draymen
and taxi drivers.
I'VE have shown that men could
obtain orders for beer from taxi driv-
ers n other, persons who had con-
tracts.
I'VE have shown, further, If your
honor please, that McInerny took o n
tracts from minors and openly and
continuously did business with minors.
Take the instance of William Wright
who gave his testimony here.
Minors, Soldiers and Blindpiggers,
"He was not only a minor-he was
also a soldier.-The photographed rec
ord of n page of the ,brewery's
books shows that o. one certain day
this minor obtained more beer than
any other, with possibly n exception.
Gordon Young, another minor. had
a contract with the brewery and had
beer delivered to him. The same holds
true with regard to Archie Mutchlar.
mot only this, but beer was freely
furnished to soldiers. Now, I ask: Is
such a condition conducive to the best
interests of our state at this time OF
our national crisis?
THE brewers also did business with
blindpiggers. Their contract pretends
that peer can be obtained only for per-
ample, Frank Hall received beer in
quite unusual quantities, and we have
also shown that C. L. Evans received
$135 worth Of beer within a period of
seven days.
Yet I presume that council will
come into this court and say: we
didn't know but what he used it all
IlliIlScl1. a&5E@Ei
Let me add that our testimony
shows that Mr.. Clendening of Belmont
avenue, this city, in the course Of five
days, received $500 worth Of beer
In other words. any person could get
beer and get 1t at any time. We estab-
lfshed the fact that a third party could
go to he brewery office and get beer
by simply having someone else sign
an order for him. McInerny recognized
this himself, for the testimony shows
that ]. Murphy had bee told by the
defendant to be careful with whom
he signs orders for Mr.. Watkins who
obtained beer on somebody else's or
der, got 1t despite the fact that he
said at the brewery office he had not
himself signed the order. MI. FinwalI
obtained beer in a similar tanner
Charges Many Violations.
we have proven that Deer was
Il