USA > Ohio > Memories of the crusade a thrilling account of the great uprising of the women of Ohio in 1873, against the liquor crime > Part 4
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CHAPTER III.
In Court-Exciting and Affecting Scenes.
N THURSDAY, October 16, by previous arrangement, we appeared in the Mayor's court to prosecute our suit. Several ladies were also present. But the defense, using their prerogative, had the case adjourned over to the next Tuesday, the 21st., which was all in our favor, however, as the reporters made quite a sensation of the affair, especially mentioning the fact that a large delegation of ladies of promi- nence in the churches and in society was present.
My next move, in the interim, was to write out something over thirty copies of a petition to the City Council, praying them to exercise the author- ity vested in them by the law known as the " McConnelsville Ordinance," to close up or abate all tippling houses or places of habitual resort for drinking purposes, as nuisances. With the utmost difficulty I succeeded in enlisting ladies to circulate these petitions. At this day, after the women have had so thorough a training of over thirteen years, it will hardly be possible to realize what were the obstacles to be overcome in those first days of the work.
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When the next day for trying our case came, a company of ladies went with me to the lawyer's office where we met our friend and her children and escorted them to the court room. The first light snow of the season had fallen, making the air raw and bleak and the walking bad by the mixture of snow and mud. My poor friend was dressed in a very light, faded, though scrupulously clean calico dress, and noticing the other ladies warmly clothed in black, she expressed her mor- tification to me. I told her not to mind, it was just as I would have it. The case had by this time attracted much attention. The room outside the bar was crowded with men and there was an increased number of ladies in attendance. My ministerial friends failed to appear, except Rev. A. Meharry, then our Presiding Elder, who has since gone to his reward, and Rev. Weatherby, of the Baptist church, whom I had not known before. But I noticed him, as the case went on, standing and watching with deep interest, while the tears ran down his manly face. We succeeded, in spite of the opposition, in getting a good, honest jury impanneled. The attorney for the defense evi- dently felt far from comfortable ; I fancied his knees shook just a little. The fact was, he had not only to face that jury of respectable citizens on the wrong side of a very bad case, but a whole array of Christian ladies besides. A gentleman present remarked that Mr. W- had rather have seen ten lawyers at the table than Mother Stewart. The probability is if I had been young
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and handsome, it would have altered the case. Noticing that he attempted to confuse and irritate, with the hope of throwing me off my balance, the ladies became very indignant, and sending to me to come to them, told me not to mind him ; I had as good a right to examine the witnesses as he had. I told them not to be alarmed, but to continue in prayer; everything was going in our favor. I wrote on a slip of paper, "Oh, do pray for us," and sent it to Mr. Meharry, who sat at the Mayor's side. By request of my col- league, I made the opening charge and the open- ing plea to the jury. In my plea I did not forget to remind them of the woman's scantand unsea- sonable garb, pointing also to the poor, ragged shoes of the youngest child-a pair of her sister's old cloth shoes, too large and no protection against the snow and mud, while the man who had robbed them of their protector and provider, sat there so comfortably muffled up in his heavy overcoat.
The case wore on till time to adjourn for tea. The attorney for the defense expressed the hope that we might have a good, quiet time after tea, as the visitors-by which we understood him to mean the ladies-would most probably not return.
But instead of the ladies not returning, more came, and indeed some were so interested that they did not go home to tea, but remained in the court-room. A little after ten o'clock the case was given to the jury, who, after fifteen or twenty minutes retirement, returned, and the foreman
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reported a verdict for the plaintiff of $300, the amount sued for.
Mr. Rawlins remarked to me that he did not know what we should do for our juror's fees. He supposed they would have to wait till we could collect the money. One of the gentlemen started out saying, "I donate my fee." The next followed, saying, "I donate mine." The ladies just then saw where the cheer came in, and made a lively closing by waving of handkerchiefs and clapping of hands, and the men outside the bar took it up and gave three rousing hurrahs ! But early next morning the liquor men were out in force, and pledged themselves to sustain the saloon-keeper in appealing his case. And it was nearly four years before a final decision was reached, which did, however, sustain the Mayor's Court.
What an outcry is made by those tender- hearted gentlemen about taking the bread out of the mouths of their wives and children if there is any encroachment made upon their murder-mills.
The Springfield Republic of the next day gave the following report of the case :
ANOTHER DEALER IN BLUE RUIN BROUGHT TO GRIEF UNDER THE ADAIR LAW.
The case wherein Mrs. Anna Saurbier sues Karl Niehaus and his sister, Mrs. Busjam, for damages in $300, by reason of liquor sold to her husband. Jacob Sourbear, the defendants running a low gin mill with the usual grocery attachment on East Main street, came to trial before the Mayor on yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, consuming the time from two until eleven
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o'clock, P. M. The lobby of the court-room was crowded, and, notwithstanding the forbidding aspect of the weather, a large number of ladies found seats within the bar, and seemed to regard the proceedings with feelings of the deepest interest and sympathy, nearly all remaining until the end was reached late in the evening.
The presence of these Christian ladies, represent- ing some of the best families of our city, was a new and pleasant feature, and was no doubt a pleasure and support to the suffering woman obliged to pass through such a painful ordeal. The persistency and patience with which they sat through the long hours of the afternoon and evening, and the close attention paid to the testimony (often extremely affecting), the long-winded and purely technical arguments of coun- sel on disputed points, and the cross-firing of dull details of law. showed conspicuously that their attend- ance was purely a matter of principle, and their inter- est in the case and cause real and unfeigned. The plaintiff was also present with her little ones, three in number, aged respectively fifteen, twelve and nine. The woman Busjam and her brother Niehaus sat beside their attorney, seeming not best to relish their position, and no wonder. The jury consisted of Messrs. Charles Rabbitts, E. S. S. Rouse, T. B. Peet, J. R. Squire, Chas. H. Peirce and C. B. Hauk.
Witnesses were first examined to show that Mr. Sourbear was a good mechanic, capable of supporting his family if he stuck to business, but through habits of intoxication he had lost one place after another, and had become a sot, scarcely knowing what it was to go to bed sober.
The plaintiff herself was put upon the stand. Hers was that old, old story, heard in magistrates' courts any day and many times a day. Born and brought up in good circumstances, as she herself said " never to know what want was;" married with good pros- pects, but after a few years reduced to wretched poverty ; forced, although in very delicate health, to labor unceasingly ; obliged to send her young children among strangers, thus depriving her of the only gleam of light on her dark pathway ; all, through the dissipated habits, lack of resolution and unfaithfulness
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of one who had sworn to love, cherish and support her and hers; who was good, kind and attentive when sober and in his right mind, but who had seem- ingly yielded to the wiles of the tempter past the power of resistance, until he was a burden upon the already overburdened woman.
The little children, a boy and two girls, bright, pretty and interesting, also gave in their testimony in their own artless way, telling how, time after time, they had been to take their father away from the place where he got his poison, often before their eyes, having just as much as they could do to get him home. When warned to desist and furnish him no more liquor, the saloon-keepers laughed scornfully and said, "If the Mayor and all the lawyers were there, they would sell him liquor as long as he paid." By their own testi- mony, it was only after the ruin was accomplished, and the victim unable to "pay," that he was thrust out and told to go home to his family.
In fact, the testimony of the children made the case. The boy, particularly, was to the point; he could neither be confused nor made to contradict himself under the most adroit cross-examination.
Once the elder daughter broke down in her testi- mony, and was obliged to leave the stand in a fit of weeping. At six o'clock a recess was taken for supper, and the hearing resumed at half-past seven. The testimony for the defense was soon got through with, consisting chiefly of simple denials of statements on the other side. Mrs. E. D. Stewart then addressed the jury, opening for the plaintiff, setting forth in language that went to the heart of every listener, the situation of affairs as shown by the evidence, and appealing for justice for the unfortunate and deeply injured woman and her children then in court. E. S. Wallace, Esq., counsel for the defense, followed. Mr. Wallace's position was rather an unenviable and undesirable one, but as a lawyer he made the best presentation possible for his client, and at least from a professional standpoint acquitted himself without discredit.
George C. Rawlins, Esq., closed for the plaintiff. His effort was a fine one; points well taken and well put, and inspired by the righteousness of his cause
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and the sympathy of his audience, made an eloquent and powerful appeal. Mayor Hanna then presented the case to the jury, who retired and after an absence of fifteen or twenty minutes, returned a verdict through their foreman, Mr. Chas. Rabbitts, in favor of the plaintiff for the full amount of damages claimed. Counsel for the defense gave notice of an appeal.
i next prepared a paper for the ministers of the city in the form of a pledge, to the effect that they would preach, simultaneously, each from his own pulpit, unannounced, morning or evening, from the text, "Am I my brother's keeper ? " This I took and handed in to the Pastors' Monday morning meeting, but was too modest to go in myself and explain my motive, (have grown some since), which was sensational, to arouse the Christian people. I hoped they might all preach at the same hour, and when this came to be known, and that they had all preached from the same text, it would create not a little excitement and discussion. Upon com- paring notes, they found that it would not be convenient to preach at the same time. However, they did agree to preach a temperance sermon, and I think all, white and colored-with perhaps a single exception-preached from my text.
"O the anxi us voices calling From the mountain Seir to-day ; From the trodden down and fettered From the ranks in Rum's affray. Watchman, is hope's banner there, High above this dark despair ?
" Back the watchman sends the answer, "Out beyond the darkest night, Lo! the day breaks in its splendor ; Help is coming, right is might ! Soon will sound from sea to sea, Seir's inhabitants are free !"
CHAPTER IV.
Visit to a Saloon on the Sabbath.
'T THIS time it became necessary to col- lect my petitions, for I felt hurried to get the work on as fast as possible. I put a card in the paper, asking the ladies having the petitions to leave them in care of Mrs. R., a clerk in the Republic office. But, no indeed, they presumed I was going to publish their names and they could not think of such a thing. So I had to travel all over the city to gather them up. One lady had only obtained one name to hers. Another had taken hers some where and forgotten it, and so on. Nevertheless when I got them gathered up, I found 600 had given their names. A great many gentlemen were eager to sign, but I was impressed that this work was for the women. If I had taken more time I have no doubt but I could have procured twice as many names. But oh, the weariness and labor of it all. The world sees the result of benevolent or philanthropic effort, and if it proves successful they applaud. Little do they dream what it costs. I was slowly coming up out of a long experience of invalidism,
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when I had not expected ever to be able to walk a quarter of a mile again. Of course the exertion laid me on my bed again, but only for a few days. I could not afford to be ill now. ] invited another committee of ladies, members of the various churches, to accompany me to the Council Chamber to present our petitions. And again I exhorted them to continue in prayer. Indeed I asked whoever I could reach to help us with their prayers. I was so exercised on the subject that I was ready to call on everybody to help. I now think of a young man that I appealed to in the Council Chamber, as I passed him, to pray for us. He looked startled for a moment, then with much seriousness replied, " Yes, I will." I give below the report of our visit to the Council, as found in the Springfield Republic of the next day :
THE CITY FATHERS VISITED BY THE MOTHERS.
The City Council chamber, at the regular meeting of the municipal legislature on last (Tuesday) evening, was the scene of a remarkable gathering and pro- ceedings. Remarkable in some points of view and in others not at all so.
Just before the commencement of business, a dele- gation of about 25 women, representing the wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of our fair city, appeared and were assigned seats in the lobby of the house. After the usual routine of opening had been accomplished, a member announced their presence, and moved a suspension of the rules of Council in order to give the visitors an audience. The motion was carried, and stepping within the bar, Mrs. E. D. Stewart proceeded to address the members, stating that she held in her hand, and would present for the consideration and action of Council, a petition signad
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by over 600 women of the city, praying Council to use all means in their power to close the liquor saloons in the city, and put a stop to the traffic carried on in them. The petition is as follows :
We, whose names are under written, ladies of the city of Springfield, respectfully call upon you for the immediate suppression of "all ale, beer and porter houses and all houses or places of notorious or habit- ual resort for tippling or intemperance " within the city limits, and we invite your attention to the 199th section of the Municipal Code, which we believe ex- plicitly clothes you with this authority.
By the provisions of the 199th section of the Municipal Code-under the 5th head, Porter Houses, etc., -Councils of incorporated cities are author- ized to regulate, restrain and prohibit ale, beer and porter houses or shops, and houses and places of noto- rious or habitual resort for tippling or intemperance.
Mrs. Stewart accompanied the presentation of the petition with an address, using strong language and indisputable facts and arguments to impress upon the minds of the gentlemen the extent of the evil of in- temperance in our midst at the present time, and the rapid strides it was making among the young men of the city, who are through this agency going to ruin.
Mrs. Stewart claimed that the business was illegal and illegitimate and ought to be suppressed. The lady had no faith in the license law. We have in Springfield seventy-five or more saloons, each doing its share in the work of destruction. Close them up, and our beautiful city would become famous the country through as a temperance town, and desir- able as a place of residence to the best class of peo- ple. Men of means and intelligence would be attracted here from all quarters; property would materially increase in value,and our prosperity would be assured from that hour. Mrs. Stewart said that she had been approached by women in agony because of their sons who frequent these places. One who had walked the streets at the midnight hour in search of her own son, had said that many an unsus- pecting mother would be surprised if she could look into these places, as she had done, and see who were there. Some had proposed to take the law into their
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own hands, and execute summary justice by " clean- ing out " the pestiferous holes, but they had with diffi- culty been dissuaded from a course as sure to injure only themselves.
The times are hard and money scarce. Why not stop this tremendous drain and worse than waste, when money is so much needed for the necessaries of life. Mrs. Stewart said that while she spoke, many good men and women all over the city were praying for the success of the movement, and closed by appealing to the Council to earnestly and carefully consider the petition.
Mrs. Guy, who accompanied the above named lady, was then introduced and presented a supple- mentary petition to same effect as the first, bearing the names of sixty ladies and gentlemen, also lead- ing citizens, making some remarks of a fitting nature.
Mr. Thomas moved to refer the petition to a select committee of three members. Mr. Smith wished to refer it to the Police Committee. Mr. Thomas' motion was carried, and the President named that gentle- man, Mr. Stewart and Mr. Grant as such committee. Thereupon the ladies retired and Council proceeded with regular business.
While we were treated most courteously and a committee appointed to which the petition was referred, it was not to be expected, since one of the councilmen was a Distiller, another a Brewer, and a third a Lawyer, that any action would be taken on it. My object was to arouse the people and this much was accomplished.
But as I copied the above, a sadness that no words of mine can express came over me. Oh, if that body of municipal lawmakers had heeded the prayer of that nearly 700 of the best citizens of Springfield, how different would be the situa- tion to-day to what it is, and what a long list of crime, murders, suicide, woe, poverty and
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wretchedness would have been averted. To-day (1887) we have more than double the number of saloons, crime of every sort is on the increase, and one of those men-yes, I think two, if not more-that I addressed that night might be living to-day if they had heeded the appeal and banished the curse from the city.
There seemed to be a little danger of the press giving too much credit to one individual for the interest of the cause. I knew very well that if it should seem to the public that this agitation was only a little tempest in a teapot by one woman, it would not command the attention it would if it should seem to be an uprising of the people, and would soon blow over. I went to my good friend, the editor, and asked him to please keep me in the background-(he naively remarked that he did not think that could be done)-let it seem that everybody had risen up against the business. And I asked him to pray for me. He seemed surprised and touched, and looking up he said, "Yes, I will, Charley (the local) and I both will, and we will help you other- wise too." Oh, how from my heart I thanked him. How encouraged and strenghthened I went away, he little knew. And he and Charlie kept the promise. Some time after this, upon going to the office, my friend said, "Oh, see here, I promised to pray for you ; at first I forgot, but afterwards I did." Not a solitary instance of forgetfulness, I reckon.
To make it seem that it was a spontaneous
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aprising of the people, I urged other ladies to write on the subject. One lady, Mrs. J. A. S. Guy, to whom I sent a note requesting her to write, after taking the subject under prayerful con- sideration, passing a sleepless night over it, arose the next morning and prepared a paper which she presented to the City Benevolent Society, of which she was Secretary, at the next session. This was to the effect that, in conse- quence of the poverty and want of so many families in the city, almost entirely due to the liquor traffic, as had come to our knowledge in our benevolent work, a committee be appointed to wait on the ministers at their Monday morn- ing meeting and request their co-operation in inaugurating a series of public mass meetings, more effectually to arouse and enlist the citizens in a warfare against the liquor business. A com- mittee of three ladies was accordingly appointed, Mrs. Guy, Mrs. Cathcart, and Miss Mary Cloakey. The conference was most satisfactory ; the min- isters pledged themselves to sustain and assist the ladies in any measure they might deem wise to inaugurate.
I was called away from the city for a few days at this time, and was not at this conference. Upon my return, I found the ladies arranging for their first mass meeting, which was accord- ingly held in Mr. Hamma's Church, the English Lutheran, on the night of the 2nd of December. The plan adopted and so successfully carried out for many months, was to have a good choir
(5)
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of singers under a competent leader ; a presiding officer, who should conduct the services, which were singing, reading of Scripture, one or more prayers, with two or three brief addresses on some phase of the temperance question by gen- tlemen or ladies, as should happen to be arranged by the committee appointed to take charge of this work. On the programs prepared for these meetings were found ministers, lawyers, physi- cians and prominent business men, and also many ladies who astonished themselves not less than everybody else with their well considered, well written, and gracefully delivered essays or lectures.
Of a goodly list of these ladies I now recall, Mrs. Jason Phillips, Mrs. S. M. Foos, Mrs. Thos. Bean, Mrs. Rev. Dutton, of the Univer- salist Church; Mrs. R. Thomas, Miss Ogden, Mrs. M. W. Baines. The latter lady, who had already attracted some attention by her pen, I remember was, after a good deal of persuasion by Mrs. Guy and myself, induced to prepare a paper early in the course. It was not long till she was called into the field as one of the most popular lecturers, and has since made herself a praiseworthy record in the temperance cause,both on the platform and with her pen. The con- tagion from our revival was beginning to spread to adjacent towns, and I was being called to " come, wake up the women." The impression seemed to be deepening and spreading. that somehow through the influence of women the
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fight must be made against this terrible enemy that had so long defied men, whether arraigned by law or gospel, and was day by day growing stronger, bolder and more defiant.
On the first of December a committee was sent by the citizens of Osborn, a flourishing vil- lage in the adjoining county of Greene, to invite me to come and arouse their women. I went down and found the people, under the leadership of that devoted man of God, Rev. Cummings, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, much stirred up on the subject and ready for action.
Here is an item of history, which has escaped the notice of the various chroniclers of the rise and fall (?) of the Crusade, which is, that to Osborn belongs the credit of forming the first regularly organized Woman's Union, or League, as we called our organizations at first, with offi- cers and constitution, in the State.
I sat down and prepared a constitution just before going to the meeting, and at the close of the meeting, with the assistance of the pastor, we organized by electing Mrs. A. B. Lee, a refined and estimable lady, as President, and Mrs. Hargrave, also a lady of fine education and good position, as Secretary, with a full list of minor officers and a very large list of members.
Feeling much encouraged by the success of my meeting, I proposed to return to the city to be present at our first mass meeting; but the minister and friends insisted that I must remain over, as they had use for me the next night also.
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One of the ministers of the city had been invited to lecture on the next evening, which he did to the great satisfaction of the people, using with some alteration the sermon he had recently
preached on the subject in his own pulpit.
I
followed him, narrating some quite touching incidents that friends had written me. The minister was quite reanimated himself by his effort and the evident gratification of his audi- ence, and on the following Sabbath, in his own pulpit, again preached on temperance, to a very large audience, quite eclipsing his former effort. I heard much comment and eulogy of the sermon. " Especially," said one, "those incidents he related, wer'n't they touching ? There was hardly a dry eye in the house." What were they ? Humph ! Had stolen my thunder. I leave it to the court to say if it was quite fair. And especially when my stock in hand at that time was rather limited, and not quite so well assorted as I have been enabled to collect in the course of the succeeding years. I think I may as well tell another little incident here, though it occured several months later.
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