San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-02
Believes In Square Gambling
But Enforces Law Against 1t
Col. Sam Robertson of
Cameron County Also
Opposed to Prohibition
Runs Bootleggers Out Of
His Territory.

Out of sympathy with some of the
laws which he is sworn TO enforce but
true to his oath of office, Col. Sam
Robertson. sheriff of Cameron county
and world war veteran, is establishing
q record Of enforcement which at once
makes him one Of the outstanding fig
ures of the border country and one OF
its most picturesque. He doesn't be-
lieve in prohibition and he thinks
quiet game of draw or stud poker IS
not nearly SO harmful as playing the
stock market but since he became sher-
if a few months ago he has cleaned
GU the bootleggers of Cameron county
and has closed every gambling joint
Now he is out TO stop betting on base
ball games and this campaign has just
brought forth from the sheriff a re-
markable statement of policy winch
has caught the interest OF the border
country.
Sheriff Robertson stated frankly
during his campaign that he was OPP
posed TO prohibition; that he believ-
cd gambling was n lesser crime than
many of the vices the law winks at,
but he added that IF / am elected
| will do my utmost to chase every
bootlegger, gambler and other criminal
out of Cameron county if have. to
fill the county Jail SO full their legs
stick out of the windows"
Sheriff Robertson has lived on the
border since the early days, and there
was not a criminal in Cameron county
who did not know he would keep his
word. His first official act was 10
publish q notice 10 the gamblers to
move out-and they moved. There
was o general exodus of the frater-
nifty to the Matamoros side of the
Rio Grande, and the gambling dens OF
brownsville and other Cameron coun-
ty towns were closed without single
arrest. Since then n few of the most
hardy of the gamblers have attempted
to start their games in some of the
isolated communities, and several ar
rests were made. At the present time
even the monte games at the Mxlcan
bales have been closed.
Bootlggers Fast Disappearing.
Bootleggers and liquor smugglers,
who thrived during the first two or
three years of prohibition, are fast
disappearing. Sheriff Robertson was
the first officer in the state to invoke
the Dean law, and nearly a dozen OF
the old leaders of the bootleg gangs
are now serving terms in the peniten-
tiary. Smugglers and liquor vendors
who regarded the federal law as a
joke, and who smilingly paid their
fines when arraigned in federal court,
learned that the Dean law had real
| teeth in it when it was enforced by
an officer of Sheriff Robertson's cali
Der, and the great majority OF them
suspended operations. Dozens of ex-
liquor smugglers and bootleggers this
year planted cotton crops, performed
honest labor for the first time in their
lives, and the majority of them admit
that while raising cotton lacks the ex-
citement of liquor running, it is more
profitable than serving terms in the
state penitentiary.
Some of the liquor runners who
thought they might be immune because
of old friendships, formed during the
early days when Colonel Sam" was
building the st. L. b. & NJ. Railroad
into the valley or constructing the
first irrigation systems which proved
to the world that the valley was the
most fertile area in the United States.
soon learned that old friendships were
not considered when a law had been
violated. None were immune. All
law violators looked alike to "Colonel
SAM"
Colonel States His Position.
A few weeks ago the edict was issued
by Sheriff Robertson that any person
betting at ball games would be placed
under arrest. This aroused a storm
of protest from the fans. at will
break up the games" they stated. at
is the law" Sheriff Robertson retort-
ed-and betting at the ball games
stopped, and the games are enjoyed as
much by the fans as they were prior
to the sheriff's edict.
When the storm was at its worst.
Sheriff Robertson published the fol-
lowing letter in which he set forth his
position in the matter:
1T has been reported to me that
some of the baseball fans are outraged
and angry at me on account of my no
tice that l will make arrests of those
betting on ball games. l meant exact
ly what l said in that notice. But
let's chew the rag a little. Please
permit me TO give you my point of
view. You claim 10 be good sports.
Are you? If you are. you surely don't
want me to pinch the poker players.
the roulette players, the monte players,