GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



April, 1921 



O 



[[ 



N page 754 



of the De- 



c e m b e r 

 Gleanings I men- 

 tioned J. H. Mil- 

 ler of Newiirk, 

 O., the man who 

 had just "huilt 

 a synagogue. ' ' 

 Well, during tiie 

 Sunday after- 

 noon Ernest and 

 I spent at his 

 home he gave us 

 many important 

 lessons and facts 

 i n regard t o 

 ' ' civic govern- 

 ment. " His sudden death shortly after calls 

 forth this Home Paper. The following is 

 taken from the American Issue: 



FormeT Senator -T. H. Miller of Newark died at 

 his home in that city Dec. 6th. Mr. Miller was the 

 leader of the dry forces in his home city some years 

 ago when it required moral and physical courage 

 to be prominently identified with the Prohibition 

 cause. 



No other town in Ohio was dominated by a worse 

 gang of wet ruffians than was Newark a dozen or 

 fifteen years ago. The members of this gang not onlv 

 ran the saloons, but the officers and the town as 

 well. They had no regard for law or decency. They 

 were brutal and defiant. 



Mr. Miller stood out as the leader of the moral 

 forces of the community during those dark years. 

 He was unassuming and mild-mannered, but he was 

 not afraid. He fought that wet crowd thru the 

 years. They tried to destroy him and his business. 

 They attacked him one night with the evidpnt pur- 

 pose of killing him, and they almost succeeded, 

 for he carried to his grave evidence of his strug- 

 gle. 



This was about the time the attention of the 

 country was directed to Newark by reason of the 

 lynching of a dry detective by a mob directed hv 

 the saloonkeepers. It was the beginning of the end. 

 Prohibition came to Newark, the old wet gang was 

 scattered, and a new and better day dawned on that 

 busy little city. 



Mr. Miller often remarked in the more recent 

 years that God was good to him to permit him to 

 live to see the new Newark, and to have its people 

 realize the blessings of Prohibition. Not only did he 

 live to see the change, but his fellow-townsmen and 

 his district honored him by electing him to the Ohio 

 Senate where he served with credit to himself and 

 his constituents. 



But nothing in his official life overshadowed what 

 he accomplished as the dry leader of Newark in 

 the days when such leadership invited death itself. 



The following from one of the great men 

 of our day gives us some further light in 

 regard to the man: 

 My Dear Mrs. Miller: 



I did not learn of yo\ir liushand's death until I 

 passed thru ynur city last Thursday. I am greatly 

 shocked and distressed at the sad news. 



I prized his friendship and appreciated his high 

 character and sturdy citizenship. His death is a 

 loss to our party and his State. To me it is a per- 

 sonal grief. I share your sorrow. 



With sincerest sympathy, T am. 



Very truly yours, 



W. J. Bryan. 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



The wages of sin is death : but tlie gift of God is 

 eternal life. — Rom. 6;23. 



Thou Shalt not kill. — Ex. 20 ;i;!. 



For he loveth our nation, and he hath built \is 

 a synagogue. — Luke 7:.5. 



In the Ameri- 

 can M a g a z ine 

 for April, 1911, 

 appeared an ar- 

 ticle by Ray 

 Stannard Baker, 

 entitled "The 

 Thin Crust of 

 Civilization: A 

 St u a y of the 

 Liquor Traffic in 

 a Modern Amer- 

 i c a n City." 

 From this article 

 d s c r iptive of 

 the Newark riot 

 Muly 8, 1910), 

 • I make clippings 



as below: 



One night they threw beer bottles thru the win- 

 dows of Judge Seward's home; another night they 

 attacked Secretary Mitchell's hou.se; they sent threat- 

 ening letters; and finally, one evening not long 

 before the riot, three thugs followed J. H. Miller 

 thru the streets and just as he reached home as- 

 saulted and beat him brutally, knocking in his 

 teeth. He wears the scars to this day. 



While the iron doors of the jail were being beaten 

 down, and while the man, Etherington, was being 

 taken from the jail and hanged at the corner of the 

 courthouse square, this man, wearing the uniform 

 of chief of police, was then at a neai'by grocery and 

 saloon, in company with others, engaged in a social 

 game of cards. 



I went to the county jail, M-lirrc all the men 

 who had been caught were locked up. It was one 

 of the most tragic sights I ever saw in my life. I 

 had expected to find a group of hard-looking row- 

 dies. Instead of that, most of the prisoners were 

 scarcely more than boys — "ju'st town boys," the 

 sheriff said. One, charged with first degree murder, 

 was only 17 years old, two were 19, two were 20, 

 two were 22, two were 23 and two were 24. The 

 others were mostly under 30 years old — just full- 

 blooded, adventurous, excitement-loving boys. Most 

 of them had been educated right there in the public 

 schools of Newark and had grown up there — ripe 

 products of the Newark system. 



What a farce it all is I Spend thousands yearly in 

 schools, boast about enlightenment, and turn boys 

 and* girls loose for amusement in a town infested 

 with 80 saloons and 30 or 40 houses of prostitution! 

 There were half a dozen or more schools in Newark, 

 16 churches, one feebly-supported Young Men's 

 Christian Association building, no playgrounds, no 

 library building at all — and 80 saloons, occupying 

 the best business sites in town and working day 

 and nightl 



During that eventful Sunday afternoon 

 Mr. Miller gave me some important facts 

 in regard to the .Newark tragedy that I 

 think have never been published. I asked 

 what afterward became of the leaders of 

 that gang of anarchists. I think he counted 

 up a full half dozrii who conimitted filicide. 

 Sad to relate, quite a, few irniiicii took part. 

 While poor Etherington was being drawn 

 up by the rope, one iroiuaii yelled, "Pull him 

 up higher, so we voiiieii folks can see him. ' ' 

 This woman was a suicide inside of a year. 

 See our first text. ' ' The wages of sin ' ' are 

 not always paid "every Saturday night," 



