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ATTICA1st ward.........wet 2212d ward..........wet 1343d ward..........wet 85dry 140 dry 112 dry 168Total 440Majority... 204201st ward.........wet 842d ward..........wet 1093d ward..........wet 122dry 89 dry 80 dry 107Total 315Majority.. 39276VEEDERSBURG1st ward.........wet62dry432d ward..........wet55dry483d ward..........wet75dry 123Total192214Majority..22Attica;and Saloon Licenses.Since we are to again have saloons in Attica the question of what the license fee will be has been freely dis-cust on the street. Under the new Proctor restrictive measure as it goes to the governor for his signature the city license will be $200 but it provides that the city council may, if done within thirty days, raise the license to $300 which goes into the general fund. Unless the raise is made within thirty days the present council or any succeeding council capnot- change it. Inasmuch as the council and mayor are decidedly dry there is little question but what the license will be shifted to the highest notch at the next meeting.Besides the city license there is a county license of $200 and a government license of $40, so the total license to be paid by each saloon operated in Attica will be $540 annually.-The first liquor license fee for Attica was made by the council, July 16, 1866.Attica and Covington Go We?t By Small MarginVEEDERSBURG DRY BY22Election Passes Quietly in Attica but Zeal of Saloon Men at Covington Gpts Democratic Politician in Bad.Concluding a campaign that for earnestness and intensity has never been exceeded here, the cities of Attica and Covington on Wednesday voted to reinstate the saloons and next week Fountain county will be wet again after having been dry since October 6,1909, a period of seventeen months. Veedersburg remained dry by a majority of 22 votes. The wet majority in Attica was but 20, while in Covington it was 40.Altho the campaign has been in progress during all the month of February it has been pursued in a desultory way until the latter part of last week when both sides got busy in earnest and never relaxt until the polls closed at 6:00 o’clock Wednesday evening. Saturday morning the city was flooded with printed matter by the wets and this continued at intervals until the eve of the election. The drys used this same method but not to the extent that it was emplyed by the advocates of the saloon. Most of the matter was issued anonymously and was devoted to a discussion of the business conditions that have prevailed in the city since the saloons went out as compared with other years. Careful polls were made and a most earnest effort was put forth to round up every available voter.The election day dawned clear and the bright sunshine stimulated the workers to begin early. The votes began to come in early and followed in a steady stream all day. Automobiles were prest into service by both sides and were kept busy,in several instances making long trips into the country after voters who were temporarily away from home. At 8:00 o’clock the National Car Coupler plant shut down to give all its employes an opportunity to vote and for an hour they thronged the polls. There was keen competition between the two sides and each watched the other like hawks, altho be it said to the credit of all concerned there were but few altercations and less ill-feeling engendered \han during the ordinary political elections. There were a number of voters brought in, especially by the wets, who had not Been in Attica for some time, and most of them were formally challenged, but in every instance but five or six they made affadavits that this city is their permanent home, and were permitted to vote.It was early apparent that the vote would be a very large one and when the count was finished it was found that tt was larger by 41 than that cast for mayor at the last municipal election Nov. 2, 1909. The total vote amounted to 860 and there were 9 mutilated votes.It was recognized from the beginning that the election would be close and many who were in touch with the situation had predicted that the majority would be less than twenty-five, no matter which way it went. As the devel-opements of the afternoon made this all the more certain the effort to get in every vote was redoubled and there were very few that had not been ac-c ounted for when the polls closed. Altho the women of the city Bad taken an earnest interest in the campaign they were not in evidence dn the streets or about the polls on election day and aside from the personal influence exerted in their homes, took no part in the conflict.At Covington and Veedersburg the contest waxt even hotter than it did here. About the polls in that city there were numerous wordy altercations over the rights of men who were brought in to vote and there were many challenges. The larger part of theBe were sworn in and it is charged by the drys that a number of these were illegal. A man named Shanks was qworn in by Alex Hetfield, one of the pirominent workers among the wetsand when it was found that Shanks was not legally a voter Hetfield was arrested on a warrant charging perjury. When arraigned before Justice James Slim he waived examination and was bound over to the circuit court under $ 2,000 bond. It is charged also by the opponents of the saloon that there w ere many votes bought and as therei s a disposition'to follow up this phase of the matter it is not improbable that there may be more developements along this line.It is said that after Hetfield had sworn that Shanks had resided at a certain house in Covington for six months a committee went to the place and the woman of the house declared that altho the fellow had stayed the night previous in the house she had never seen him until the evening before. For many years Mr. Hetfield has been one of the most active workers in the democratic ranks at Covington both in city and county politics, being county chairman during the campaign of 1908. It is recognized at Covington that he is in a pretty tight box and his trial is being lookt forward to with interest. -At Veedersburg there was the same: strenuous effort to get out every vote in the city and as a result the vote was the largest ever polled in the city, exceeding by 75 the vote for mayor at the last city election. Since the local o ption election two years ago the Hub had been regarded as one of the strongholds of anti-saloon sentiment in the county, and the fact that it showed a dry majority of only 22 votes was more of a surprise than the result either here or at Covington. Even the wets themselves were surprised as the preliminary polls had showed from 75 to 150 majority dry. VanBuren township two years ago gave a majority against the saloons of 445. A number of the members of the local horsethief detective association were used as constables about the polls and anticipating trouble Fred Storms, one of the election sheriffs for the drys, had armed himself with a revolver. When the wets discovered this they swore out a warrant for his arrest but when it was found that he was legally authorized to carry arms the matter was dropt.A peculiar phase of the matter at Veedersburg is that there were 38 ballots thrown out as mutilated. As most of these were wet votes it indicates that had the partisans of the saloon known just how to mark their ballots it is possible that the city would have gone wet.It is probable that saloons may reopeh in Attica and Covington next Tuesday, altho this may depend upon what is done by the legislature yesterday, and today. The Proctor regulative bill prescribing under what conditions licenses shall be issued has been pending for several days and as a conference committee of the senate and house reacht an agreement Thursday it was ex-pectee that the house amendments would be concurred in yesterday and the bill sent to the governor for his signature. As the provisions of this law are not yet understood thruout the state it may result in the licenses being held up until the restrictions it provides are understood clearly. As changed by the house it limits the number of saloons in cities of this class to one for each 500 inhabitants. Under this rule Attica will get seven and Covington four. The seven men who have given notice , that they will apply for license are Anton Schmid, Newman-Russell, Henry Quinn, Edward C. Rutledge, Ed Reidlinger, Wm. M. Lippold and Jacob Weinman. Altho the commissioners meet on Monday it is probable that they will adhere to their old rule and not consider the license question until Tuesday.At this meeting a motion to make the license $50.00 was lost, by a majority of one vote. The license was then made $30.00 by the same majority, but the council met in adjourned session on J uly 23, 1866 and passed a resolution suspending tile publication of the ordinance fixing the $30.00 fee until “The people could be heard from.’’ The council was called in special session on July 30, 1866 to dispose of the question. J. D. McDonald moved that the license be made $100.00 per year. Motion was lost by tie vote, the mayor, John Gass, voting “No.” The fee was then fixtat $40.00 per year by a tie vote, the mayor voting “Yes.” The license remained $40.00 per year until May 11, 1868, when the council fixt the fee at $100.00 by a vote of 4 to 2. No other proceedings were had until May 24, 1869 when 9 saloon keepers petitioned the council to reduce the license fee, claiming that the charge of $100.00 was unfair and unjust. 'The petition was referred to a special committee of 3 with instructions to report their recommendation at the next meeting, On June, 24, 1869 a remonstrance against reducing the license fee was presented, signed by 246 voters and also a petition to have the license fee increased to $400.00, upon the filing of which “Mr. William Green left the council room, leaving the council without a quorum, and all further business was suspended.” At the council meeting of June 28, 1869, the petition asking to have the fee fixt at $400.00 was refiled. This petition was signed by 158 names. Mr. Peacock moved to refer the petition to a special committee heretofore appointed. The motion was lost by a tie vote, Mayor Gass voting “No. ” The petition was then laid on the table until the next regular meeting. No actiop was taken upon either the petition 1 or remonstrance, and the license fee seems to have remained at $100.00 until the council meeting of March 11, 1878, at which meeting the councilman Frank Feuerstein, suggested that the liquor license should be reduced to $50.00, with a reasonable fee for tables. No action was taken. On May 13, 1878, a petition signed by seven “Retail Liquor Dealers” was presented asking that the license fee be ^educed at least one-half and that no license fee be charged on pool or billiard tables. Councilman Frank Feuerstein moved that the saloon license be reduced to $50.00 and that no charge be made on pool or billiard tables. The motion was carried and an ordinance was past making license $50.00 at the next Council meeting, two members of the council being absent. On May 12, 1879 a motion to make the license fee $100.00 was lost by a tie vote, Mayor Schoonover voting “No.” On June 9, 1879, however the council changed its mind and past an ordinance by a unanimous vote fixing the fee at $72.00. On May 10, 1888, a petition signed by 200 citizens askt that the license fee be placed at $100.00, and an ordinance was past creating this fee at the same meeting. On June 27, 1881, the saloon keepers again petitioned to have the license fee reduced. At the next council meeting the petition was laid on the table indefinitely.On May 27th, 1889, an ordinance was past fixing the license fee at $250, the limit then permitted by law. On May 26, 1899 a petition was presented to the council signed by 11 saloon keepers, asking license fee to be fixed at $150. A motion was made that the fee be fixed at $150. Motion was lost by a tie vote, Mayor Milford voting “No.” This is the last change that has been made concerning liquor licenses in Attica excepting a change permitting the licenses to be paid quarterly instead of annually, and if saloon licenses next week are granted under the old law this ordinance will properly govern. If in'the meantime however, and before licenses are granted the Governor should sign the Proctor Restrictive bill the license fee will be $200 in so far as it applies to Attica, unless the council immediately get busy and fixes the fee at any amount notexceeding $300.
Newspaper Details
Attica Saturday Press
Attica, Indiana, US
Sat, Mar 04, 1911
Page 1
Full Page
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USA 07 Jun 2025
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