Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-28
NO-LICENSE FIGHT
STRONGLY PRESSED
Rev. 7. w. Mckinney, Beaten
for Mayor of Coatesville,
Keeps UP War on Rum
ODDITIES AT HEARING
Witnesses Display Surprising Ig-
norance When Questioned
About Sale of Drink
By a stoD Correspondent

WEST CHESTER, Pa, Feb. 2s-Fresh
from his political defeat In Coatesville,
the Rev. T. W. Mckinney today is sitting
next to the chief of counsel for the dry
forces at the hearings in Common Pleas
Court here for license renewals
The militant Methodist clergyman yes
terday lost by 1856 votes the Coatesville
mayoralty to A. II. Swing. He heard the
news last night and went TO bed He got
up bright and early today and said to
some friends:
I'm going over to West Chester and sit
next to Bill Tregay to show them Cthem"
means his enemies) that l am still living
and the flags still up"
Bill Tregay is William Tregay, chief of
, counsel for the no-license element in Coates
willie.
Today the Hotel Taylor was first before
Judges Butler and Hause The Hotel
Coatesville is next on the list, and then
Downingtowns two drinking place. the
pennsylvania House ara the Swan Hotel.
AMAZING IGNORANCE
Some of the witnesses today were II. c.
Thomas and NJ. c. Davis. both Of oxford
Warren Webster of Coatesville, and others.
All were brought TO testify against the Ho-
tel Taylor.
The most interesting thing to an out
slider who does not know the familiar an
gles of the personal side that enters into
all these disputes is the amazing innocence
of the witnesses
Thomas w Pierce. the fierce cross-ex-
amlner. who is appearing as counsel for
the owners Of the Hotel Taylor, William
Harner and his brother. would ask most
of the witnesses:
well. what was he drinking" referring
to some one the witness said had been
drunk.
We'll. don't know" would come the
answer. but IL was something brown and
was poured from a bottle"
Or another one would say "I can't tell.
but II was poured in very small glass
and the man at the bar poured It himself"
But none of the witnesses seemingly ever
saw whisky so as to recognize IT,
Even Charles Freymoyer, Coatesville's
constable, said he couldn't recognize beer
when he saw 1t. though he could by tasting
IT, 1t looked like beer" to him, "or gin
ger ale."'
James Eppenheimer and Larue Frain.
both OF Downingtown. were witnesses
doubtful along this line. One noticed that
most OF the drunken men they said they
saw in the Taylor House drank only beer
Most OF the adverse testimony today
the defense had not yet been heard-had
10 do with the serving of intoxicants to
orunken men or men known to be inclined
that way. As yet, only one name has been
brought forward as a minor, one Webster
Gibson. His name was introduced by Otis
Beiderman. OF Coatesvllle. But 1t has yet
to be proved that he is a minor.
His elder brothers. Frank and Willis, do
not agree on this point. and the court has
not allowed the introduction of the family
Bible as evidence The father of the Gibson
boys teStified yesterday he might have been
. little mixed up in entering" the boys in
the Bible. Frank Gibson thought what is in
the Bible ought to be pretty near true"
even II II is written in. Judge Butler had
TO smile while the courtroom laughed.
PREACHER NOT WHOLE SHOW
The election of Coatesville yesterday is
almost as interesting here as it is in Coates
Vile, because of the holding OF the License
Court here at this time
The nature of Mr.. McKinney's vocation
has given many persons the impression that
he had a monopoly on the no-license crowd
but that doesn't conform with what one
hears here.
In West Chester one is reminded that
Swing three years ago was the star witness
for the no-lcense crowd and that yester-
day he got more no-icense votes than did
Mr.. Mckinney. The hotels it is said fig
ured very little In the election and did not
have their vote registered"
Mr.. Mckinney, in formal statement to
the Coatesville Record said the election
had been an excellent thing and that Coates
willie was fortunate to have secured as
Mayor such high calibered man as Mr..
Swing Besides the compliment to the sue
cessful candidate there is also the bald slap
at w. l., w. Jones' late Mayor of Coates
Vile. who recently was acquitted of en-
bezzlement while in that office.
The license hearings here, it is expected,
will last all week.