The Home and State (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 50, Ed. 1 Saturday, June 22, 1912 Page: 1 of 16
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DALLAS, TEXAS, JUNE 22, 1912
Uncle Sam Gives Bootleggers a Lesson
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U. S. MARSHAL DUPONT B. LYON,
Who Knows How to Catch Liquor
Lawbreakers.
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not desire that any of them should suffer, and the
duty that confronts me today is a painful one.
However, I have a public service to perform. You
have been convicted in this court of an infraction
of the Federal law and in violating the internal
revenue law you have also broken a State law. I
am not unmindful of the fact that this community
is a prohibition community; that the sovereign
people have voted this law on themselves, and
have a right to expect its enforcement. I have
gone to the bottom of each case before me, and
know the good and the bad of all of you. I do
not think there is a man among you but who, after
having served out your sentence, may return to
Sherman, face about and make a good citizen. The
man who does not quit violating the law and make
a good citizen is always the man who does not
want to. The man who wants to, can. I hope
to see every one of you make law-abiding, law-
loving citizens. Personally, I repeat, I hold no
prejudice against any of you, and would extend
a helping hand to any one of you, or all of you.”
Judge Russell then went briefly over his experi-
ence as a district attorney and district judge, four
years in the former office and nearly seven years
in the latter, and stated that he believed he could
safely say that seventy per cent of the cases prose-
cuted by him as district attorney and tried by him
while district judge could be traced directly or in-
directly to the immoderate use of alcoholic liquor.
Turning to the negroes who were before the
court to be sentenced, Judge Russell said in part:
“I note that about half of the men here to receive
sentence are colored men. It is a notable fact
that from 1861 to 1865, while the white men of
the South were at the front fighting for their con-
tentions, many families were practically left in
the hands of the colored slaves, and that during
the entire period no negro ever committed a crime
against any member of any family of which they
were left in charge. Today you can scarcely pick
up a newspaper that it does not contain an account
of some nameless crime committed by a black man
against a white woman. This is because the negro
has free access to whiskey, and the white man is
largely to blame for this. I hope every colored
man here will face about and make a better citi-
zen. I hope that they will spend their time of
service in making of themselves better citizens.”
When Frank Schwulst stood up for sentence,
Judge Russell said in part: “You are the predomi-
nating spirit in these violations; there is no ♦get-
ting around this. I have investigated the matter
thoroughly, and there is no question about it. Mr.
Schwulst, you are a leader of men, and your power
for good is as strong as your power for bad. You
can become a valuable citizen. The law reaches
low, you perhaps think, but it reaches as high
as it does low, and as long as it does high and low.
I hope you will return and make a good citizen;
you can and you should.”
Judge Russell then passed sentence on the fol-
lowing:
J. J. Mackey, negro, two years and a fine of $100.
Bob O’Rear, white, [wo years and a fine of $100
John Coker, white, one year and a fine of $100.
Ernest Muckelroy, white, one year and a fine of
$100.
Charles Kelly, negro, one year and a fine of $100.
Arch Watson, negro, one year and a fine of $100.
Wesley Kurn, negro, two years and a fine of $100.
Buster Sartin, white, two years and a fine of $100.
A. P. Bumbaugh, white, two years and a fine of
$100.
Charles H. Lewis, white, eighteen months and a
fine of $100.
R. L. Schmidt, negro, two years and a fine of $100.
Frank Schwulst, white, two years and a fine of
$1000.
John Hampton, negro, one year and a fine of $100.
He asked each of the men as they stood up
if they had any reason to suggest why sentence
should not be passed upon them. When Charles H.
Lewis stood up he stated to the court that he
thought he ought to receive a light sentence, for
he had been assured that he would be protected
when he went into the business, and thought he
was working under a system that was no violation
of the law.
Seventeen in all were sentenced to the Federal
penitentiary. Three appealed their cases, and
fourteen departed for their temporary prison homes
last Wednesday. A large crowd assembled at the
depot to “welcome their departure.”
Much credit is due to United States Marshal
Dupont Lyon, who initiated this campaign against
illicit liquor selling, and to his efficient assistant,
Captain Satterfield, who so successfully “bagged”
the indicted bunch; to District Attorney W. N.
Ownby, and his assistant, Judge Daley, and to
Judge Gordon Russell, the presiding judge, who
assessed the penalties.
The chief purpose in this recital is to enforce
some needful lessons which the incident teaches.
1. The wealthy “King Bee” of the hive of liquor
lawbreakers in Sherman received the highest
penalty—two years’ imprisonment and $1000 fine—
(Continued on page 5.)
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Volume 13. No. 50.
Q OMETHING happened at Sherman last week.
O The truth is something is always happening
at Sherman—that is the Sherman way. But
something happened there last week that is of
first page importance.
For six months or so, Sherman and Denison have
been the theater of outrageous liquor outlawry,
which local authorities did not seem able to cope
with. So defiant did these liquor lawbreakers be-
come that they even ignored Uncle Sam, and re-
fused to buy his permission to violate the local
prohibition law in Grayson County. And “thereby
hangs the tale” of their undoing.
Seeing that the government was being defrauded
out of its legitimate revenue, United States Mar
shal Dupont B. Lyon reported the matter to the
Icderal Revenu ■ Department, and requested that
a detective he scnt into hi ‘ district primarily to
catch the liquor violators and make them pay their
occupation taxes, as liquor dealers. The detective
came, and when caught, the liquor sellers took out
their “licenses,” dating back in some instances
more than six months, with the expectation of im-
muning themselves from prosecution for sales made
during .those prior months. The revenue collector
reported his collections and the detective reported
his findings.
Then the unexpected something happened that
caused "weeping and wailing, if not gnashing of
teeth,” in the liquor camp. The revenue collector
promptly reported the whole batch of these delin-
quent liquor sellers to the Department of Justice
for prosecution for liquor sales they had been
caught making before they paid their occupation
taxes. They were promptly indicted by the Federal
Grand Jury and before they suspected any danger
some twenty odd of them were under arrest and
reposing behind bars in the county jail.
It seems to have become the custom for local
revenue collectors when they catch men selling
liquor without Uncle Sam’s “license,” to present
to them the alternative of paying up or being
prosecuted. When cornered in this way the illicit
liquor dealers usually paid, having their “licenses”
dated back past what they knew to be the danger
point, and the incident was closed. So illicit liquor
sellers in Texas have got in the habit of beating
Uncle Sam out of his fees until trapped and then
heading off prosecution by taking out their “li-
censes” as liquor dealers, as it is usually styled.
They are further stimulated to do this in Texas
because under the Texas law possession of this
Federal liquor license is prima facie evidence that
the holder is engaged in the occupation of selling
liquor and in dry territory this lays the predicate
for trouble for the possessor of a Federal liquor
license.
For some unexplained reason the Federal Reve-
nue Department in this instance refused to allow
the tardy payment of the license fees, to cover
4 the multitude of back sales made in violation of
the law, and promptly reported the whole batch
of violators to the District Court at Sherman for
prosecution. Four of those arraigned resisted the
prosecution, and were convicted by juries. Then
thirteen threw up their hands and pleaded guilty.
The remaining cases were continued.
About 500 citizens of Sherman thronged the Fed-
eral court room last Monday to hear the presiding
judge, Hon. Gordon Russell, pass sentence upon
the convicted men. Before passing sentence upon
them, Judge Russell delivered a brief address,
which was a gem worthy of being reported ver-
batim, but as it was not so reported we can give
only a brief extract as published in the Denison
Herald, as follows:
“I desire to say that with one exception I do not
know of any of these men, and have not known
any of them before they were brought before this
court, and therefore could not possibly have any
prejudice against any of them. In my heart I do
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The Home and State (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 50, Ed. 1 Saturday, June 22, 1912, newspaper, June 22, 1912; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1569510/m1/1/?q=a+message+about+food+from+the+president: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Library and Archives Commission.