The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1947-09-25

HAZEL
EYES
By Hmsl Hronnon

All Of you who think the Rain
bow Garden in Durant Is such q
mice" place are invited 10 read
the account Of a blackjacking that
took place there Saturday night.
September 10th.
You are invited to picture. IL you
al a group Of men knocking down
their victims and hitting them in
the head with blackjacks even af-
ter they have been laid out on the
ground.
This actually happened wit
nesses report.
We saw the victims &. . with
their head split open.
One might dismiss this incident by
saying they had no business going
to such a place.
This is true. No decent citizen
has any business patronizing such a
place any place that lawless-
ly sells whiskey and operates open
gambling.
Many of our citizens try to avert
any sense Of guilt for going to the
Rainbow Garden by saying "Oh, we
don't buy whiskey or drink out there
or gamble. We just play bingo."
That is just an easy way to try
to salve ones conscience. Any intel
ligent man or woman knows that no
place could indefinitely operate
bingo games and give away hundreds
of dollars in cash If it weren't for the
whiskey they sell and the gambling
tables they operate.
Any man or woman who plays
bingo at a joint is lending his or
her personal nod Of approval to the
place by frequenting 1t. BY going
to such places you are condoning
and approving their selling whiskey
and operating gambling. One can
not approve just certain features OF
a lawless place. If you approve one
you automatically show your appro-
val Of all Of them.
The story has already been cir
culated that the men who were
blackjacked Saturday night were
drunk and rowdy and had to be put
out Of the mice" Rainbow Garden.
That story is not true.
But if the victims were drunk
and if they were rowdy certainly
the management Of the Rainbow
Garden should have been able to
handle the matter without resorting
to violence, much less to b~lackjacks.
After all, any whiskey the victims
may have been drinking. was bought
at the Rainbow Garden and
the gambling was being done there
too
Any man who spends his money
for whiskey and gambling in a joint
certainly has every right to expect
the management to put up with a
little before being given the black
jack treatment.
There were witnesses present VINO
knew the victims and who know
they were not drunk reputable
citizens who will swear they talked
to them and know they were not
drunk.
So those people who are summon
ed before the grand Jury had better
tell the truth.
=
Sheriff Murtagh was called to
Durant to make arrests in the Sat
urday night fracas. He told the per-
son who called him that he would
be there in twenty of thirty minutes.
He never came.
He was called again and again
over the telephone but his residence
telephone refused to answer.
We have long since ceased to ex-
pect anything from Sheriff Murtagh
in the Acknowledgement line. He sim
ply can't or won't crack down on
these whiskey and gambling places
in Holmes County . / spite OF
the fact that Governor Wright only
several days ago called him on the
carpet in jackson.
If Holmes County gets any relief
whatsoever in the way of law-en-
forcement it is going to have to
come from a higher authority.