The Daily Alaska empire., 1930-01-14
Facts on Prohibition Killings.
(Washington, D. C., Herald0

Washington D. C., Herald) 1 The weekly clip sheet of the Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Mora, edited by the Rev Deets Pickett, Research Secretary, in | it's issue of December 30, publishes article of which the following is the opening sentence: The Washington Herald recently printed some anti-prohibition propaganda supplied by a wet organization, in which it al- legged that 1860 deaths have occurred in
 connection with prohibition enforcement in the last ten years.
 The Rev. Deets Pickett, as official spokesman for the Methodist Board, makes a deliberate mis- statement of fact when he says the Herald's list of 1860 prohibition enforcement fatalities anti prohibition propaganda supplied by a wet organ- zation."
 { When the publication of the record of these killings begun on December l, the Herald printed in bold and conspicuous type that the records on which the compilation based file in the Herald office and open to the Inspection of any interested organization person who might wish to verify the accuracy of authenticity of any statement fact set forth in this series of articles
 Neither the Rev. MT Pickett any other person connected with his organization has seen fit to take advantage of this invitation to visit the Herald office and see these records Had he done so he could not, without utter disregard for the truth, have made the statemnt that the Heralds published record of killings was "propa- ganda supplied by wet organization"
 The Rev. MT. Pickett rather than take the trouble to ascertain where the Herald obtained it's information, jumped to his own imaginative con- cuson, without any investigation, and said the vets did it.
 If that were the case then every one of the more than 39oo responsible City, County and State officials, who mailed individual reports to the Herald from. every State in the Union was a sinister secret agent Of this mysterious and unnamed wet organization that the Rev Mir Pickett says sun piled the Herald with this "anti-prohbition nrona ganda" Or
 Likewise there would be included in this con- splracy the Federal Prohibition Bureau which sent to the Herald from its own offices in wasbinoto, oIclal copies Of its own latest enforcement killings records thirty days before they were released to the press for publication
 And likewise also, would have to be included in the conspiracy those officials of the United States Customs Service the Coast Guard the Im- migration Bureau and the Indian Bureau who op- ened up the records in their offices to members of the Herald staff
 No part of the whole record as printed in the Herald was supplied by any wet organization" of any kind. or description, and the Herald challenges the Rev Deets Pickett to substantiate any part Of his reckless and unreliable statement The Rev. erend Pickett's conclusion is wrong in general and wrong in detail
 Continuing to quote from the Reverend Pickett's clip-sheet article
 It was stated that in these 1860 deaths
 prohibition enforcement was directly at is
 sue The Denver Post of December 5 ob-
 served that eight of these killings" were
 hsteo as having occurred in Denver and SO
 it conoucted quiet local Investigation of
 US own and came to the conclusion that
 the Herald has been grievously misinformed
 me cup sheet further says, quoting in part from the Denver paper:
 The incontrovertible fact is that prohibi-
 ton had nothing to do with at least four
 of the fatalities.
 The Herald has received two copies of the Den yer papers article, sent in by an anonymous prohibitionst and one by anti-prohibtionist who was not afraid to sign his name. The Herald has cnecked back on its own record of the four ques- tioned cases
 The Heralds report on these cases came from the office of the City Clerk of the City of Denver the envelope being postmarked at the Denver post oIilce at o:3o D. m, August 13, 1929 The City Clerks report, despite the Posts and the Rev MT Picketts efforts to discredt the Heralds records shows conclusvely direct tie-up between each of these four questioned deaths and prohibition en- forcement.