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ie Newark Lynching

CAUSES and RESULTS

AN ADDRESS

Delivered by

' AYNE B. WHEELER, Esq.

Superintendent of Ohio

and Attorney of the Anti-Saloon League of America

At

Westerville, Ohio November 17, 1910

PUBLISHED BY

he American Issue Publishing Co. Westerville, Ohio

THIS ADDRESS

Was delivered by Mr. Wheeler at the Superintend- ents and Workers Confer- ence of the Eastern and Central Districts of the Anti-Saloon League of America, held at Wester- vd'liej OJito,ii>JqtWfbi>r •! 5- 1*8, 1910* and 'is' published of tftai'.Cori*

THE NEWARK LYNCHING

An Address

By WAYNE B. WHEELER, Esq.

The lynching of Officer Carl Ether - ington, at Newark, was the logical re- sultant of years of permitted and of- iicially protected lawlessness. For many years before the county voted "dry," the regulative liquor laws on the statute books were not enforced. An attempt was made at one time to enforce the Sunday Closing law, but it was unsuccessful. The liquor interests not only were organized to defy the law, but gained such control of the city that the officials protected them in their lawlessness.

Liquor Dealers Admit a "Working

Agreement" With Mayor. Mayor Atherton had been elected several times in that city, backed by the law - breaking element, and he gave them official protection. The term used by the law-breakers for this anarchistic arrangement was called a "working agreement." By turning to page 27 of the 1910 Brewers' Year Book, you will find a statement to the effect that the liquor dealers, prior to the date when the county voted "dry," had a working agreement with the mayor not to enforce certain of the laws and ordinances. In other words, the liquor dealers admitted that under the regulative system, which was in force before the county option election,

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• Uie: -"lay/.s1 AXXT'O hot or.i'orced, and the officers agreed to it. Secret service officers learned from the joint keepers and the dives that in figuring up their income and their expenses, they count- ed a certain number of dollars per week for administrative protection. Mayor Ath- erton had re- ceived sup- port and oth- er favors from these law-breakers so long, that he was afraid to enforce law against them. He knew that if he did, they might give the facts a- bout him, and he, in turn, would suffer.

Mayor Atherton,

Responsible for the Lynching.

For considerable time before the lynching, secret service officers were in Newark in close touch with the offi- cials. Their reports read like a story from the lowest pit of the under- world, rather than an account of the action of officers in a civilized com- munity. These signed reports show the almost unbelievable conditions which existed in that city.

A secret service officer visited a speakeasy the day before the rioting and lynching, and when he complained 2

of the quality of the beer served, the bartender replied: "Why, the mayor drops in here and drinks that kind of beer every day, so it ought to be good enough for you."

Mayor and Police Encouraged Law- Breakers.

The mayor was perfectly at home in the houses of ill repute, according to the testimony of the inmates, and in some of these places he was called by the familiar nickname of "Hub." These denizens of the under-world seemed to be pleased with the way they were treated under the Atherton administration, as they said they were never compelled to pay any fines. This was probably because of the money paid by these houses for police pro- tection.

Quite naturally, the police were as blind as the mayor to law violations when the saloon gang and the gam- blers were the violators. Before the lynching a secret service officer in conversation with a policeman, said: "I would ask you to have a drink with me were you not on duty." "That makes no difference," was the reply, "we go anywhere wre please." The same policeman directed the secret service officer where he could find a faro bank and other gambling resorts, and after taking a drink of whisky with him, proceeded to cover his beat. Even when the mob was lynching Of- ficer Etherington, a policeman ordered some men on the outskirts of the mob 3

to "move 011" but paid no attention to the lynching.

Facts Showing Newark's Shame.

On Sunday, preceding the riot and lynching, a special officer was in a Newark speakeasy and after ordering a drink asked about playing the elec- tric piano. "Certainly, play it," said the proprietor, "what do you suppose we pay $10 a week protection money for?"

That the houses of ill repute were also held up for protection, was proved by a secret service officer who wormed himself into the confidence of an in- mate of one of these houses on the pretense that he was thinking of start- ing a rooming house, and wanted an estimate of what it would cost. The woman of her own free will wrote out the following estimate based on the cost of the house in which she was staying:

Eight room house $800

Parlor set 175

Revenue license 25

For protection to Newark police (each month) 25

From this it is seen each house paid $300 a year for protection.

For years Newark was the paradise of the gambler. All kinds of games were run openly and the limit was re- moved. Members of the gambling fra- ternity flocked there from as far as New York and Chicago. As one of the city officials under Atherton put it, "You never saw such a good town in

your life for sport; it is a little New

York."

A Certificate of Iniquity.

A secret service officer with years of experience in the large cities of the country, after an investigation into Newark conditions while that city was under the control of the saloon gang, had this to say of the town:

"I made the rounds of the saloons. I had expected to find a number of places open but was not prepared to meet the scenes I witnessed on every hand. PJverywhere was a shocking disregard of state laws and city ordi- nances, and in some of the places I visited there were situations more shocking than I had ever witnessed even in the vice quarters of our largest cities."

In each of the dozen places visited he found from ten to thirty persons lined up at the bar drinking, many of them boys in their teens, and all with- out any regard for the laws supposed to govern the community. In these places were picture machines showing the filthiest, vilest and most obscene pictures the imagination can conceive.

A short time before the lynching of Etherington, Mayor Atherton made the rounds of a number of speakeasies drinking liquor. The mayor talked freely with various men regarding the "wet*' and "dry" situation in Newark. One man told the mayor of a conven- tion of some kind which would not come to Newark because the town was "dry." "Why didn't you tell them something?" said the mayor. In sev-

eral saloons the mayor talked with bartenders and proprietors regarding the expected raids, rumors of which were all about town. The mayor said he did not believe there was anything in the rumors, but advised the saloon- keepers to be cautious until the storm blew over, which he thought would be in a few days. This was the day be- fore the raids and lynching. Prize Fights and White Slave Traffic.

On July 4th, four days before the lynching, a prize fight was pulled off in the center of Newark. The fight was promoted by one of the saloon- keepers who ran the town, and the mayor. When the saloonist was asked if the mayor allowed prize fights, the answer was, "Yes, we can do anything here if we want to." Two fights were pulled off that afternoon.

From evidence secured by the detec- tives, it seems that Newark did con- siderable business in the white slave traffic, and several girls were brought to the town from as far away as West Virginia. There was a close alliance, if not a working agreement, between the houses of ill repute and the sa- loons managed by the men who also controlled the city administration.

On July 5th, three days before the lynching, when there were rumors of raids, Bolton, the recognized leader of the saloon gang, declared he would not close his saloon, neither would he go to jail or pay a fine. Bolton explained by saying the sheriff, prosecuting at- G

torncy, mayor and police force were friends of his and would refuse to lock him up, and referring to Judge Seward,

Judge beware!.

said: "Seward will get put out of business in a day or two if he keeps this up."

Evidence of Graft.

A Newark official under Atherton was telling a friend of the graft in the administration. Among the soft

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jobs, he mentioned the one held by the captain of police. The captain, he said, only got $90 a month but the job is good for $3,000 a year easy. The chief of police, he said, received $1,500 a year, but his job is worth $4,000 or $5,000. Then this official went on to tell of the saloons, gambling houses and houses of ill repute, all of them paying tribute to the administration. The official closed by remarking to a bystander, "I will take you around in a night or two and show you some real sights. You never saw a real sporty town until you came to Newark."

After sizing up Newark under the domination of the saloon gang, headed by Bolton, a secret service man with a prophetic vision said a few days before the raid: "All the hell and lawlessness is here and easy to be found. But look out if you bump these fellows. They will shoot to kill. They will in- jure, intimidate and murder. Yes, I say murder."

The long arm of the gang reached the county court house and had its grip on the sheriff. Before the raids, the prisoners in the county jail, if they were known to be "wet" sympathizers, received favor. It was this same Sheriff Linke, who, on the night of the lynching, when the mob gathered in front of the jail, facetiously remarked, "that is some mob." But when the mob attacked the jail, the sheriff did not lift a hand in defense of the build- ing and the prisoners. S

Bolton Defies the Mayor.

One of the worst law-breakers in that county, who ran a speakeasy, and is now (Dec. 1, 1910) under indictment for lirst degree murder, showed the relationship of the law-breaking ele- ment to the mayor shortly before the lynching. He became irritated at the mayor because the mayor offered to give police protection to a traveling salesman who was being assailed by some law-breakers. He walked into one of the principal hotels where the mayor happened to be at the time, and called him every vile name which the English language could manufacture. He then turned to those present and said, "You don't hear him denying it, do you?" The mayor was afraid to order him arrested. He had been their servile agent and tool for so long, that he dare not raise his hand to protect either life or property when the law- breakers of the city told him "to keep hands off.

It is very manifest that with such a mayor, the police department was not only inclined to encourage but to par- ticipate in the same policy which the mayor had sanctioned and encouraged. The condition at Newark does not dif- fer much from the average saloon city in this country where the liquor deal- ers dictate the policy of law-enforce- ment. If we could get at all the facts, we would be able to prove in practi- cally every "wet" city of the country:

Condition in Every "Wet" City.

First: That the regulative laws in "wet" territory are enforced less hon- estly than the prohibitory laws in "dry" territory.

Second: That there are more speak- easies in the "wet" territory than in "dry" territory.

Third: That the policy which per- mits and sanctions the liquor traffic, encourages and increases lawlessness; while the policy which prohibits the 'liquor traffic decreases and eventually almost eliminates open lawlessness.

We must not expect that a traffic whose whole history shows its in- herent lawlessness, will become sud- denly law-abiding, when the county or any other unit of government votes "dry." When Licking county voted "dry" by a majority of about 800, any person who was familiar with the facts, anticipated trouble. The timid good were naturally fearful. A goodly portion of the citizenship cried, "Peace, peace, or we will have bloodshed." Brave Men Make a Stand.

A few determined citizens said, "There can be no peace here in this city and county, which is to be pur- chased at the price of silence, in the presence of lawlessness. While it has been permitted in the past, and law- lessness has been the rule, we will never be stronger to face organized law-breaking than at present." These law-abiding citizens met and organiz- ed a Law-Enforcement League. They 10

fought against terrific odds. They found many people in Newark making the usual mistake of thinking the light over at the close of election day, when the saloons were voted out. This was the real beginning of the struggle, for often it is easier to vote saloons out than it is to enforce law7 against them. In addition to the fact that the city administration was op- posed to the enforcement of the law, the press in one instance was indif- ferent, and in the other its influence was thrown against the building up of public sentiment favorable to the "dry" cause, or law-enforcement. The first steps taken were the ordinary ones to appeal to the officers of the law to do their duty.

The mayor turned a deaf ear to any appeal to him to fulfill his oath of office and do the work for which he was paid. His hands were tied by his past record.

The county prosecutor whose special duty it was to enforce law, was then appealed to and he had ample means at his command for gathering evidence and prosecuting law-breakers. He played with the proposition just enough to mislead some fairly good people for many months. Then it be- came so manifest that he was neglect- ing to do his duty that the County Law-Enforcement League realized that they must take the matter into their own hands and take the initiative. They appealed to the Anti- Saloon 11

-League to send them secret service officers to gather the evidence. A storm of protest from the lawless element arose against this because they were outsiders, as if an offense is less a crime when uncovered by a citizen not a resident. Men, who frequented the speakeasies were subpoenaed before the Grand Jury, being oft' guard, they told the truth in many instances and some- thing like forty indictments were re- turned for illicit selling of liquor. However, between the adjournment of the Grand Jury and the trial before the judge some of the witnesses dis- appeared, others forgot their story or learned a new one, or so weakened their evidence that an unwilling prose- cutor secured only a few convictions. This hurt the cause. It disheartened the "dry" forces of the county. The opposition press pointed out that a great burden had been incurred by the taxpayers without any results.

Next the League sought out men who lived in the city who would dare to secure the evidence and go on the witness stand. They found them and one would have supposed they would be commended for this volunteer ser- vice in detecting crimes. But not so. As the trial day drew near, one was caught at night in the outskirts of the city by three men and beaten. Twice on the day of trial were witnesses struck in the corridor of the court house within forty feet of the judge's bench. Another was held up at the

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noon hour and warned not to appear in court that afternoon. He did ap- pear. That night the fruit trees in his rear yard were girdled and his grape arbor destroyed. The home of the league's attorney was visited and his door and windows were broken in with brick bats and cobble stones. Threat- ening letters against active workers multiplied, and the president of the League on his way home one night was held up by Lewis Bolton and cursed and bitterly threatened, and two weeks later in the early evening was assaulted and badly beaten within twleve feet of his door. For several months this desultory warfare was carried on. Threats were made against the common pleas judge of the county. Beer bottles were thrown through his windows at night time. It was the be- ginning of a reign of terror. It closed in the tragedy of the lynching of Of- ficer Etherington. These law-breakers were so well organized that many of the secret service officers were ap- proached openly with offers to buy them off after the evidence was se- cured.

As a last resort it was decided at a conference between James White, one of the League's attorneys, and Mr. J. H. Miller, chairman of the Law and Order League, that we get a force of secret service officers from a point so far distant from the city of Newark that it would be difficult for the liquor dealers to learn of their coming, or to

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J. H. Miller,

Head of Law and

Order League.

reach them after they had secured the evidence. Arrangements were made for twenty secret service offic- ers from Cleveland to come to Lick- ing county and be sworn in as officers of the law by the mayor of Granville, and serve war- rants upon four or five of the worst liq- uor joints in the city. After the usual delays and difficulties which had to be met, these men were given police authority to make the raids.

On their arrival at Newark, they found conditions even worse than they anticipated. The law-breakers, think- ing the raid was going to be made against them sooner or later, organiz- ed to resist it. The force of twenty of- ficers were divided up into three com- panies. Captain Fort, as he was call- ed, with three other men, proceeded to Lewis Bolton's saloon or speakeasy, and no sooner had they entered until it seemed simultaneously a mob gathered at the place. The Bolton place looked more like an arsenal than 14

an ordinary speakeasy. Fire-arms were stored in it, with the threat that if an attempt was made to raid it, there would be cold lead put into the

Lou Bolton's Saloon.

man who made the attempt. At once there was a clash, and Bolton's partner or bartender assaulted Captain Fort and cut an ugly wound in his forehead. 15

The blood spurted over the affidavit and the search warrant until it looked as though the whole warrant had been printed in blood. The officers kept their heads, and by sheer physical force took two of the men who had led in the assault across the way to the county jail, thinking, of course, they would be held there under the charges filed against them.

The deputies in charge of the jail refused to accept one of them, and turned the other one loose before the officers could get back to the place of the raid. Captain Fort stepped across the way to the hotel to get a room, to bind up his wound, but at the dictation of Bolton, the law-breaker, the clerk denied him admittance. The chief of police, who had come up to Bolton's saloon during the trouble, in the presence of the mob, asked these offi- cers what they were doing. They showed him their authority to act, and the warrants which they were serving as officers of the law, with the same power to act that any sheriff or police- man in the county had. Yet in spite of this well recognized authority, the chief of police said to these men, "You have no business here, you ought to leave." This encouraged 'the mob, and left the special officers practically helpless. A short time afterwards, the chief of police, with other officers, called the patrol wagon and arrested twelve of the twenty special deputies, and took them to the city prison. The

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tVv rrinViiiing officers knew it was re- treat or sudden .violence.

Officer Etherington and his men were raiding a joint some distance from the Bolton saloon. They attempted to re- treat and avoid further trouble. The mob started after them and chased them two miles before the shooting occurred. Mr. Howard, the saloon- keeper who was shot, ran a joint some distance from the central portion of the city. They had not been near his place that day, but when the mob were passing near by the joint, in spite of the protest of his wife, he joined in the pursuit, and being a little fresher than the others, finally overtook Etherington near the city limits. He seized him by the collar and began b'eating him over the head with a blackjack and would, doubtless, have killed him had not Officer Etherington pulled a revolver and shot Howard in self defense. Two by-standers said to Etherington, "We are officers, sur- render yourself and you will be taken to the county jail and there protected." Exhausted, he surrendered his weapon and they took it and beat him over the head, and doubtless would have killed him at once had it not been for the timely interference of some citizens who were standing by. He was taken to the county jail, and from that time on, the city was in the hands of the mob. The officers of the city knew it, and yet refused the means that were

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provided to give the prisoner protection.

The mayor of the city was accused of actually encouraging the mob. After he had been besieged by many people, he finally stepped out before the mob, and in a puerile, pusillani- mous appeal asked them to go home and be good. They simply laughed at him; he had played with lawlessness so long, the law-breakers had no con- fidence in any statement which he would make. The sheriff of the county,, whose duty it was to protect the pris- oner, and to call for help if he could not do so, remained inactive, and when the mob was battering down the jail door, a woman called from the jail window to give her his gun and she would see that the mob did not get into the jail. That jail is built so that a single officer from the inside with proper fire-arms could prevent any jail delivery. But Sheriff Linke, with a liquid spine, stood there and permitted this lawlessness in his very presence.

As soon as the mob entered the jail,, they had easy access to young Ether - ington. He was beaten and kicked and cuffed and hammered on the head with, a large hammer, until he was practi- cally dead before he was strung up. You read in some of the daily papers that he stood on a block with the rope around his neck and delivered an address to young men present, ad- vising them not to become secret service officers, as he had done. There is not a word of truth in it. He could 18

not have made a speech had he wanted to, he was beaten practically into in- sensibility when they reached the pole from which he was hanged. When he was being taken from the jail, he was asked by one of the men whether he had anything to say, and he replied, ^'Tell my mother that I died trying to do my duty." This was the message sent back to his old Kentucky home. The mob intended to lynch Ethering- ton in the Court House Square, but the trees were so large they could not climb them to throw the rope over the limb. The leaders then said, "Let's take him down to Judge Seward's yard and hang him, and then hang Judge Seward," (the only county official who had done his duty,) and I believe they would have done so had the plan not been diverted by a false alarm. When they swung out into the street on their way to the judge's home, the crowd that had been near the city prison learned that the jail had been entered and Etherington seized. They came up the street at double quick. The tramp of their feet sounded some- thing like the tramp of the militia. All evening rumors had gone out that the militia were on their way to New- ark, and some one called out, "The militia is coming." One of the leaders said, "Well, we will hang him up here," and they did so. He hung there almost twenty minutes before any officer or any one else removed him. While this disgraceful tragedy was going on, ac- 19

cording to the mayor's own statement, he was home and in bed.

The chief of police, whose duty it is to enforce law, by evidence produced, shows that he was in a corner saloon playing cards. Other police officers were silent, or covertly encouraging the law-breakers. After Etherington was lynched every effort possible wa& made by the League to save the other secret service officers, but just before midnight, when the mob was at the height of its fury those derelict city officials turned the twelve officers into the street, first taking their fire-arms, from them and telling them to get out. of town the best way they could. It is- simply miraculous that any of them escaped, but by scattering in different directions and going into the country,, and waiting for trains at little towns and interurban stations, they came' back to the city, and by noon the next day, League headquarters at Columbus, knew that all but one or two of them were safe.

In the morning papers the League- charged that Mayor Atherton was pri- marily responsible for the lynching be- cause he had refused to do his duty and enforce the law. A storm of pro- test came up from the liquor journals of the state, charging the Anti- Saloon League with being responsible lor the lynching. Scores of anonymous let- ters and threatening articles appeared in the papers, and even editorial de- mands upon the governor to appoint a

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• .ummittee to investigate the practice of the League of using secret service «»iik-i-rs. The secretary of the Brewers' Vigilance Committee, and officers of the Personal Liberty League broke in- to print at once charging the League with being the primary cause of the disturbance, and using the incident as the reason why the county option law should be amended or repealed.

If the temperance people had not been prepared for some such emergency as this, it might have been a blow to the temperance cause. In the first place if the law giving jurisdiction to a number of officers in the county to enforce the law had not been enacted the city would have remained abso- lutely in the grip of the law-breakers with not even a chance to start a fight against them.

Had the temperance forces not se- cured the passage of the Blind Tiger law to raid these speakeasies, they could not have made anything like a creditable showing even though a goodly number of officers had jurisdic- tion to try the case after the evidence was secured.

If there had not been laws on the statute books of Ohio to provide for the removal of derelict officials, such as the mayor and sheriff, that city and county would still be in the hands of official law-breakers, and anarchy would still control the city.

When charges were filed against the mayor, and the sheriff, and these men

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realized the kind of evidence which they would have to face, when it came to the hearing, even the liberal element joined in the effort to get them to re- sign, fearing the effects of the hear- ing. The officers finally resigned before any hearing occurred. The mayor left the county and the state, and went to California. In the words of the facetious poet:

"True patriot he as patriot should, Left his country for his country's good." Results of the Lynching.

The lynching at Newark was a ter- rible price to pay for bettering the con- ditions of that community, but there is no sane man but will admit .that Newark is in infinitely better condition from every viewpoint, and especially from the standpoint of law-enforce- ment, than at any time in its history. Immediate Results.

The new mayor, Hon. John Ankele, has taken hold of the situation with a de- termination to do his duty. Several of the derelict policemen have been re- moved and better men put in their places. The prohibitory law is far better enforc- ed in Newark today than the regulative laws in the average "wet" city of Ohio. It proves that a mayor, or any other of- ficer, can, when he is so inclined, en- force the law. It is not a question of ability in most cases, it is simply a matter of inclination.

Lynchers Apprehended.

Following the lynching, the grand jury made a rigid investigation and 22

«>\fi- Uvt-nty indictments were returned tor first degree murder, and more than twenty for assault and battery, riot- ing and lesser offenses. At the request of the Governor of the state, the at- torney general of Ohio took charge of the investigation, and Mr. William Miller, first assistant attorney general, has been on the job most of the time. About a dozen cases have been tried on indictments, and in every instance thus far there have been convictions, or pleas of guilty. Montelle Watha was the first of the lynchers tried for mur- der. He was convicted of man- slaughter and sentenced to 20 years in the penitentiary. It will probably be a year before all the cases are disposed of.

Indirect Results.

Business conditions are much better than they have been for a long time. Mills and factories are running, most of them to their fullest capacity. Dwellings for rent are almost impos- sible to find, and even the local un- sympathetic paper, The Newark Ad- vocate, points out that Newark is in a flourishing condition, and is looking forward to the future with larger hope than ever before. The whole com- munity is beginning to realize that the largest financial prosperity for a com- munity is based upon sound public morality and the policy of law-en- forcement. This means that the saloon, and its silent partner, the speakasy, must move out.

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Civic Awakening.

It has loosened party ties in a .strong partisan county so that men who have always voted a straight ticket, realize the future welfare of that county is to be determined by men who will rise above partisanship, and vote for officers who will do their duty as legislators and executives. At the recent election, the "wet" candi- dates all ran behind their ticket in the county, and the "dry" candidates ahead of their party ticket. The advice given them by the grand jury is wholesome and is having its effect.

The grand jury in making its report, said:

"We are constrained to say in this report that while these officers, who, by reason of their absolute failure to perform their duty, are responsible for the lawlessness and rioting which oc- curred upon that day, yet this fact brings some censure to the citizens of Newark and Licking county, clothed with authority as electors should feel responsible for the election of public officers.

Had the citizens of Licking county elected a competent man to the office of sheriff, this lynching would never have occurred.

Had the electors of the city of New- ark elected a competent man to the office of mayor, the scenes of lawless- ness in this city on the 8th day of July would never have been enacted.

Had there been a competent man at the head of the police force, no acts of lawlessness and disorder would have been committed.'

It is further disclosed in this in- vestigation that the sheriff, mayor and chief of police did not favor law-en-

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forcement, and that they were under the control and domination of a law- less element from which the mob was composed that perpetuated these out- rages against the law.

If the law is to remain supreme, it must be enforced. Unfortunately, un- der the laws of this state, cowardice and incompetency are not crimes, therefore, as against these officials no criminal indictments are returned, and the recurrence of such conduct on the part of public officials can only be pre- vented by the selection of honest, courageous and competent men to public offices."

THE LYNCHING HAS LOCATED THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR LAW- LESSNESS WHERE IT BELONGS, UPON THE LIQUOR DEALERS.

Judge Seward, in charging the grand jury which investigated the lynching, had this to say:

"The court ventures to. say that the immediate cause of the terrible tragedy was the fact that quite a number of men engaged in the retail liquor busi- ness in this county, made up their minds to disregard and prevent the enforcement of a law on that subject, passed by both houses of the legisla- ture, approved by the governor and ratified by a majority of more than 700 of the legal voters of the county. An attempt by some of the citizens to enforce this law resulted in an assault on witnesses almost in the immediate presence of the court; in an assault upon attorneys who were assisting in the prosecution of the case; in an as- sault upon the house occupied by the court; in threats of death and destruc- tion of the homes and loved ones of those who were engaged in the prose- cution, if they did not desist, and final- ly in the shooting of Howard and the lynching of Etherington."

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The Tolerated Lawless Liquor Traffic Leads to Anarchy.

The lynching at Newark has im- pressed upon every thoughtful citizen the fact that the longer the lawless liquor traffic is tolerated, the harder it is to bring it under the control of the law. The saloon is the school - house for lawlessness; it educates its constituency to regard lawlessness lightly. It is the rendezvous of the criminal. Every city in the United States that permits the liquor traffic to violate law, is headed in the direction of anarchy and scenes such as were enacted at Newark. When some out- break comes which turns this lawless horde loose upon the community, it is far wide of the mark to say that it just happened, or that the immediate in- cident which' brought on the riot was the sole cause. It comes as the re- sultant of a tendency which has been permitted by the people, under the false notion that evil can be regulated better than it can be eliminated. The longer a source of evil and lawlessness remains, the greater will be the con- flict when an effort is put forth in good faith to put an end to it. When law- abiding citizens face this task, and officials give protection to law-break- ers, there is a conflict. The people will be divided into two classes, one stand- ing for law and order and the other for lawlessness. The sympathizers of the liquor traffic, "wet" papers, and cheap politicians, will try and shift the 26

blame for the conflict upon those who stand for law and order. This is an old trick on the part of those who stand for wrong things. Ahab led Israel into the depths of sin and shame and then charged Elijah with troubling Israel. Paul preached righteousness until his hearers could stand it no longer, and then they arrested Paul and hired Tertulus (who I think was a speakeasy lawyer) to prosecute him, charging him with being a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among the Jews.

The Prince of Peace said, "I come not to send peace but the sword." The history of every great reform move- ment shows it is useless to expect any great iniquity to be overthrown with- out a conflict. Evil can never be re- moved by letting it alone. An aggres- sive effort must be made against it.

The Policy of the Anti-Saloon League.

The Anti- Saloon League, through these laws and their enforcement, does not try to import alien morality upon cities like Newark, as suggested by an article in the November Cosmopolitan. Nor does it try to make men good by law. The whole effort is to try and prevent the government from perpetu- ating a system which makes men bad, and lawless, by law. Every sane man realizes that you cannot make potatoes grow directly by using paris green, but you put paris green on the potatoes to kill the bugs so the potatoes can have 27

a fair chance to grow when the bugs are killed.

These local option and p rohibitory laws kill the saloon bugs in a com- munity, and give the boys and the girls a fair chance to grow up into the stature of sober, upright, law-abiding manhood and womanhood. Such con- flicts against wrong and lawlessness for a time bring on troublesome days, but conditions will never be better un- til the root of the lawlessness is elimi- nated. Agitation may reveal the fact that we have a low standard of official ability and citizenship in a community, but the source of crime attacked, and not the attack itself, or the method of attack, produce low standards. The agitation against graft in this country does not increase graft, it simply re- veals it and ultimately eliminates it.

A Call for Militant Manhood.

Newark has not had a cleaner gov- ernment for years than it has had since the riot, and the moral awaken- ing caused by the riot is the real cause of improvement in the local govern- ment. To remove an intrenched evil, always brings conflict. More than one good citizen will die with his boots on In these fights to sustain law, and root out evils like the liquor traffic, but this is no reason why a patriotic citizen should shirk his duty. The days of the martyr have not gone by, and the time will come when the brave men who are leading the fight for law and

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order and the suppression of vice, will be looked upon as public benefactors, and the men who are excusing vice and trying1 to place the blame for the conflict in these storm centers upon those who stand for law and order, will be forgotten. Unless law is sus- tained and enforced, government itself will cease to endure. The call to patri- otic duty was never clearer in the sixties than it is today. Lawlessness and anarchy must and will be stamped out by the stalwart citizenship of the state and nation.

Law-Abiding Citizenship Not Developed Quickly.

The Newark lynching is but an- other illustration of the fact that a high grade-citizenship is not developed in a day, or a year, or even a decade. It is the resultant of long years of ef- fort on the part of good citizens to eliminate wrong and safeguard right tendencies.

It is strange how greatly two cities may differ although separated only by a short distance. How different the history of Newark and Granville. Is it not significant that the college town of Granville, only six miles from New- ark, has the honor of being the place where the first temperance society west of the Allegheny mountains was formed. It was also at Granville that the first anti-slavery convention was held in the western reserve. For thirty years Granville has not had a saloon and it was the mayor of that munici-

29

pality long' nutured in the best in- fluences of the church and state, who issued the warrants which led to the tragedy that sounded the death knell of Newark's lawlessnes.

Had the first settlers of Newark been as thoughtful of the moral wel- fare of -the town as were those who settled at Granville where the first structure was a church in which to worship, the recent tragedy would never have occurred. Years passed in Newark after the first settlers came before a church could be established. The first pastor sent out by a mis- sionary society in 1803 was dragged out of his bed at the log Inn by some drunken rowdies who had gathered for a horse race, who demanded that he go to the bar and drink with them, or they would duck him under a pump, an example of which they proceeded to give by using one of their drunken number. He escaped from them and went to the home of the only Presby- terian family in the town, a very poor family, and slept the remainder of the night upon the floor.

When we stop to consider the ten- dencies which were set in motion from the very beginning in these two com- munities and their result, we can readily see the importance of every community using its utmost endeavor to secure and develop the highest pos- sible grade of citizenship. Newark today is in marked contrast to the Newark of the past. She has been re- 30

deemed even though at an awful' costj * and now enjoys freedom she has never known. The change is agreeable to the people, and they are impressing on the city and county officials that never again will the old order be tolerated.

Organized Righteousness a Necessity.

Another lesson which the Newark lynching teaches is that there must be an organization of the friends of law and order in every community and every loyal citizen should give such an organization his influence and support. Too often many good meaning people who want the laws enforced are not willing to do their reasonable part in supporting those whom they have chosen to carry forward their plans. The lawless element will take alarm when the law-abiding people learn to stand together and demand that the law shall be obeyed. The education of public sentiment to want tem- perance laws is just the beginning. The securing of the law to eliminate saloons or to give the people the right to do so is but a second advance step.

When the saloons are voted out the work is only about half done. To en- force that sentiment which has been crystallized into law is the supreme test of the program for the solution of the saloon problem. With an agency in the state like the league which co- operates effectively with these local organizations, and presents a compre- hensive program for the securing and enforcing of law, the temperance 31

movement will not be as our enemies claim, a spasmodic, unstable effort moving forward and receding with each wave of sentiment. A business- like, sane plan such as the League presents will bring each year its ad- vancement until the last vestige of the liquor traffic has been removed.

The Newark lynching should also impress upon every temperance worker that if we are going to successfully cope with the lawless liquor traffic in cities, within the borders of counties or states that have voted "dry," we must provide for law-enforcement machin- ery to handle extraordinary situations, such as the friends of law and order met in this case.

Revival of Activity for Law Enforce- ment.

There should be a revival for law- enforcement all over this country. Through it we will catch the Lincoln vision of the necessity and importance of this work. He put it as follows:

"Let reverence for law be taught in schools and colleges, be written in primer and spelling books, be pub- lished from the pulpits and proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in the courts of justice. In short, let it become the political religion of the Nation." %

In closing I would say; Let us teach it, talk it, write it, and print it. until

"The sovereign law, the states' collect- ed will,

Shall sit as Empress, crowning good and repressing ill."

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Newark, O., Nov. 30th. 1910. The undersigned have read the fore- going address, and we hereby certify that the statements made as to the conditions in Newark are substantially correct.

J. H. MILLER, Atty., President Law and Order League of Licking county.

DR. J. A. BENNETT, Pastor Fifth St. Baptist Church, New- ark.

ANDREW S. MITCHELL, Atty. Secretary of Law and Order League of Licking county.

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