674 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct. 15 



Yt'l the Yates attempted murder and accomplish- 

 ed suicide assert with emphasis a fact long recog- 

 nized hereabout. Rocl<y Kiver and its roadhouses 

 are a disgrace to this whole community. More 

 than that, they are a menace. 



Not many days ago, according to the confession 

 of one of the youths involved, two men loaded them- 

 selves with liquor at roadhouses in the neighbor- 

 hood, and started out to rob anybody or everybody 

 they encountered on the highways, finally murder- 

 ing a market woman as she was driving home t,o 

 Kockport Math her husband and child. The con- 

 fession of the one murderer who was caught con- 

 tained many such statements as these: 



"Then we went to Fischer's place at theRockport 

 club and had more drinks." 



Or, " We went to a saloon at Kamms Comers and 

 had more drinks." 



The two murderers, according to the confession, 

 had drinks at city and suburban saloons designated 

 as Kundtz's, Upham's, Nau's, the Mushroom, and 

 so on. Then they felt inspired to burn barns, steal 

 horses, shoot at passing vehicles, and murder a wo- 

 man. 



Yates, would-be murderer, had been "drinking 

 heavily." The woman whom he shot twice with 

 murderous intent is said to have toured the road- 

 houses with him. At White's roadhouse in Rocky 

 River, where the crime was committed, they were 

 served drinks at 3:40 a.m. The witness who testifies 

 to this circumstance is a deputy marshal of Rocky 

 River village, one Timerman, and according to his 

 own story he did not interfere until after the drinks 

 had been served and Y'ateshad empted his revolver 

 at and into the Singer woman! 



Rocky River, with its roadhouses and poolrooms, 

 has long been a stench in Cleveland's nostrils. 

 County officers have raided its resorts repeatedly, 

 and repeatedly its unlawful practices have been 

 resumed. L.aw enforcement seems to be regarded 

 by the village officers as a joke. They attempt to 

 conceal crime. 



Other suburban communities may be lax in such 

 matters. The roadhouses where the Rayner mur- 

 der was incubated were, perhaps, not those of 

 Rocky River itself. But this village has well earned 

 its evil eminence among Cleveland's suburbs, and 

 its ill repute is the more intolerable because of its 

 proximity to such ideal residence districts as Lake- 

 wood, Oakwood, and Clifton Park. 



It is not to be believed that all or most of the citi- 

 zens of Rocky River are evil-disposed persons who 

 find pleasure or profit in law-breaking, or relish 

 their municipality's bad name. Probably most of 

 the voters of the village have been indiflerent rath- 

 er than culpable. The Ohio Statutes ofTer them 

 every opportunity to show their respectability by 

 voting their notorious resorts out of existence. 



If Rocky River fails to redeem itself by electing 

 officers able and willing to enforce the laws, inter- 

 ference from outside should not be delayed mvich 

 longer. Negligent or incompetent municipal offi- 

 cers can be removed. Count.v officers can enforce 

 laws when local officers fail. Cities are authorized 

 to exercise police power, when necessary, outside 

 their boundaries. Rocky River has been endured 

 as Cleveland's hell-hole long enough. 



Amen to the concluding paragraph from 

 the above.* 



ROOSEVELT AND LORIMER. 



May God be praised that we have at least 

 afeiv men who stand in high places before 

 the people who refuse to have fellowshij) 

 with grafters. Recently Roosevelt was in- 

 vited to be present at some banquet where 

 Senator Lorimer (see p. 599) was also to be 

 present; but, of course, this created havoc 

 in the Republican camp; and finally the 

 following telegram was sent to Lorimer: 



Col. Roosevelt positively declines to sit at the 

 same table with you. Our invitation to you for 

 this evening is therefore withdrawn. 



*By the way, I looked over the number of the 

 Cleveland paper containing the quotation above 

 very carefully, and I can not find a single adver- 

 tLsement of liquors of any sort. 



Once more may God be praised that the 

 time seems to be coming when good men 

 will refuse to sit down at the same table 

 with a grafter. 



The following, which we clip from the 

 Commoner, is W. J. Bryan's opinion in re- 

 gard to Roosevelt's conduct as above: 



Some may be inclined to question the good taste 

 of Mr. Roosevelt's refusal to dine with Senator Lor- 

 imer at the Hamilton Club banquet. Mr. Roose- 

 velt's action was indeed extraordinary, but it is 

 probable that the American people will overlook 

 the question of taste in recognition of the distinct 

 public service Mr. Roosevelt rendered when he 

 gave emphasis to the fact that men who profit po- 

 litically through bribery are not fit for the society 

 of honest men. It is quite true that Senator Lor- 

 imer has not been convicted of actually paying 

 bribes, but the evidence that some one purchased 

 votes for him is so complete that, regardless of the 

 verdicts of juries, the public mind is convinced. 



And finally we have on the pages of Holy 

 Writ, authority for Roosevelt's decision. 

 See below: 



I have written unto you not to keep company, if 

 any man that Is called a brother be a fornicator, or 

 covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, 

 or an extortioner, with such a one, no, not to eat. 

 — L Cor. 5; 11, 



AN AUTOMOBILE THAT COSTS BUT LITTLE 



IF ANY' MORE THAN A GOOD 



HORSE AND BUGGY'. 



Our older readers will remember that I had 

 one of the first bicycles (a velocipede) that 

 ever came into the State of Ohio. They will 

 also remember that I ran from Medina to 

 Traverse City, Mich., with one of the first au- 

 tomobiles — an Olds runabout; and my write- 

 ups on the automobile and the automobile 

 industry since then would make quite a 

 book. But of late Ernest has done most of 

 the talking on automobiles; but I am ready 

 just now, after having had quite a wide ex- 

 perience with machines of different makes 

 (each of the five different members of our 

 firm has an automobile of his own) for 

 another automobile talk. 



In the first place, although I admire the 

 two and three thousand dollar machines, I 

 would not want one for my own use. In 

 fact, if somebody would make me a present 

 of a ifoOOO machine it would put me in a bad 

 predicament. My conscience would trouble 

 me every mile I rode in it because of using 

 so much treasure here on earth that might 

 be used for treasure laid up in heaven — to _ 

 give to foreign missions, for instance, or m 

 fighting the rum-traffic here at home. My ^ 

 first Olds runabout that I have been using 

 for six seasons, and that has carried not only 

 two people but four and even more over 

 thousands of miles, is, as a natural conse- 

 quence, getting to be old and infirm, and 

 we need a new one in our Florida home. 

 What shall it be? Our children suggest a 

 thousand-dollar machine; but neither Mrs. 

 Root nor I feel like using so much money 

 for that purpose. Day before yesterday Hu- 

 ber and I took a trip of about thirty miles 

 to see a machine made by Sears, Roebuck 

 & Co., of Chicago, that costs only $395. 

 They make a machine for only $870; but 



