BOWDEN WILL STOP
THE 'BOOZE' JOINTS.
CHIEF IS DETERMINED TO DRIVE
THEM OUT OF BUSINESS.
Three Arrests Were Made Yesterday,
and the News Caused Other
Blind Tiger Operators
to Close.
The police of Kansas City, Kas., are prosecuting the crusade against the keepers of "blind tigers," and individual "drunks" vigorously. Between midnight Saturday night and sunup yesterday morning three "blind tigers" were raided, in which the alleged proprietors and eleven patrons were taken into custody and locked up at No. 3 police station. In addition to the arrests made in these raids twenty-six individuals were arrested and locked up at the different police stations on the charge of drunkenness. All of these offenders will be arraigned before Judge J. T. Sims in police court this morning, an it is more than probable that the court will follow out the administration's policy in its efforts to rid the city of this particular class of lawbreakers.
"I propose to make it my personal duty to see to the elimination of all 'blind tigers,' petit gambling games, and the like, which now infest the city," said Chief of Police Bowden last night. "I was out until 1 o'clock yesterday morning with a squad of patrolmen in plain clothes, and I propose to keep the good work up until the town is cleaned up of this class of offenders. Police Judge Sims is tendering material assistance to the department in showing those convicted but little mercy, and we hope to put a stop to the illegal sale of 'booze' on the Kansas side of the state line."
The chief says he will work every night for an indefinite length of time with the plain clothes squad, and visit every section of the city. In the raids made early yesterday morning, Jim Pullum was arrested in his place of business, across Kansas avenue from the Swift Packing Company's plant. Seven male frequenters and two women were taken into custody, the men being taken to jail and the women allowed to go home. Nealie Butler, who conducts a restaurant near Kansas and Packard, was taken in tow along with four frequenters.
The raids of Saturday night and early yesterday morning were noised around the city yesterday, and many of the proprietors of "blind tigers" closed. The crusade, however, is being kept up, so the chief states, and those who shut their doors yesterday figuring that the closing would only be a temporary move, may expect trouble the minute they resume business.
