The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-01-06
Tory SQUAD ACTIVE
N ENFORCING Law
Seattle Handles Men Who Violate Pro-
hibition Statute and Does 1t
Speedily and Effectively.

Seattle, Wash. Jan. 5.-On April
nam was placed in charge of the dry
squad by Chief Of Police c. l.. Beck
ingham. and since that date 61s ar
rests have been recorded by the
agents under his direct supervision,
of which number so per cent have
already been convicted. only % per
cent of the arrests have been dis
missed by the trial judges or exoner-
ated by juries, while IA per cent of
the cases are still pending.
This briefly summarizes the work
of Seattle's now celebrated dry
squad" brought into active service
shortly after this, the largest city in
the United States to have abolished
the open saloon, became dry. The
figures quoted here do not include
the arrests and convictions prior to
the assumption OF the work by Ser
geant Putnum, who was selected for
the task shortly after Chief Of Po-
lice Rockingham succeeded Louis M.
Lang as head of the Police Depart
ment.
Sergeant Putnam encountered q
difficult task in handling this portion
of police work. When he formed
his dry squad" practically SO per
cent of the former saloons in Sc
attic were operated under the guise
OF soft-drink parlors or as drug
stores, and he Immediately COM
menced a war against the bootleg
ging under any and all DISCUSSES.
War to the Hit.
It was virtually war TO the hilt"
between the dry squad and the Illicit
dealers in liquor. Many OF the re-
sorts. the proprietors of which have
been arrested, tried and convicted.
have been raided repeatedly since.
and on each succeeding visit Of the
police a new proprietor has been
found in charge. In some instances
these men have been caught two or
three times, but seldom more than
twice. due, no doubt. to tho prac-
tice OF the police magistrates of In
ficting a Jail sentence on top Of the
customary fine, for the second or
third offense. They have seemingly
had but little difficulty. however. in
managers of these former saloons,
and It is this phase of the crusade
that has proven most difficult TO the
law enforcement squad.
Several places located south of
Yesler way have been wrecked or
chopped up. by the police wrecking
squad. sanctioned by Mayor GIL, in
the effort to stamp out the industry,
yet such places have Immediately re-
opened upon the debris being re-
moved. Temporary bars or furnish
ings have been installed, only to be
reduced to kindiing wood upon a sec
ond or third visit by the dry squad.
From April cath to May 3lst
he AZ 70 ha
partment show that seventy eight ar
rests were made for violations OF the
liquor-selling law by Putnam's squad.
OF this number fifty were convicted
and paid their fines twenty-one were
dismissed, while seven OF the cases
are still pending for Anal decision.
Five Still Undecided.
During the month of June the num-
Der of arrests grew to eigthy-s!x, of
which sixty were convicted and
twenty-one dismissed. while five cases
are still undecided.
In july and August total of
seventy-three arrests for violations OF
the liquor ordinances were made each
month. of which forty-hve convictions
were secured In the former month
and fifty during August In July
twenty-six were dismissed. while in
August only twelve escaped convic-
ton. while two cases are still pend
Ing OF the July arrests, and nine OF
those during August.
In September there was only fifty
eight arrests. out of which there were
but twenty-five convictions and thir-
teen of the complaints are still pend
Ing. while twenty charges of viola
tions were dismissed.
October was the banner month OF
eighty-five OF which resulted in con-
viction. During this month only
twenty-nine OF the total charges were
dismissed. while seventeen cases are
still pending. November was notable
for 100 arrests with total OF seventy
four convictions and twenty-five cases
pending. leaving only fourteen per-
sons accused to be freed by dismissal Is
by the trial courts