State v. O'Leary
| Decision Date | 27 November 1900 |
| Docket Number | 19,005 |
| Citation | 58 N.E. 703,155 Ind. 526 |
| Parties | The State v. O'Leary et al |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
From the Porter Circuit Court.
Affirmed.
W. L Taylor, Attorney-General, Merrill Moores, S. T. Sutton, J. W Youche and O. J. Bruce, for State.
J. B Peterson, S. N. Chambers, S. O. Pickens and C. W. Moores, for appellees.
This was an application on behalf of the State for a restraining order forbidding the defendants from keeping and maintaining a gambling house in the town of Roby, in Lake county, Indiana. To render the injunction effectual, the appointment of a receiver, to take possession of the room and building where the gambling was alleged to be carried on, was asked for. Prayer for a permanent injunction on the final hearing of the cause.
The proceeding was by information filed in the Lake Circuit Court, by the Attorney-General and the prosecuting attorney of that county, which was duly verified.
The information charges, in substance, that all of the defendants, except Annie O'Leary, are, and since September 1, 1898, have been, unlawfully engaged in the business of selling pools, and keeping a room in which to sell pools, and in recording and registering bets and wagers upon the results of trials of skill, speed, and power of endurance of man and beasts in a certain room and building in Lake county, and State of Indiana, owned by the defendant, Annie O'Leary, but the real ownership of which is believed by plaintiff to be in James O'Leary; that the defendants on every day since September 1, 1898, up to and at the time of the filing of the information, unlawfully kept in said county and State a certain room and building, afterwards in said information particularly described, with apparatus, blackboards, blanks, papers, and other devices for the purpose of recording and registering bets and wagers upon the results of trials and contests of skill, speed, and power of endurance of man and beasts, and that unlawfully upon each of said days said defendants have recorded and registered bets and wagers, and sold pools upon the results of such trials and contests, said defendants upon each and all of said days being either the owners, lessees, or occupants of said room and building, and then and there unlawfully and knowingly permitted said room to be occupied, and did then and there unlawfully keep and exhibit apparatus, blackboard, blanks, papers, and divers other devices, for the purpose of recording and registering bets and wagers upon trials and contests of skill, etc.; all in violation of the criminal law of the State of Indiana. That said pool room and business was widely advertised by the defendants in papers having a large circulation among gamblers and sporting men throughout the State of Indiana, and other states; that the defendants, in order to bring a large number of gamblers from neighboring towns and cities to said pool room, ran, and did cause to be run, special trains from Chicago, and that they are now upon each and every day bringing together upon the premises aforesaid great crowds of persons ranging from 300 to 800, and will, unless enjoined and restrained from so doing, continue running said special trains and bringing together and causing to congregate in said room and said building said gamblers from said cities and towns; that on September 23, 1898, affidavits and informations were filed against said defendants charging them with the crime of pool selling, and that warrants were issued for the arrest of said defendants and were placed in the hands of the sheriff of Lake county to be served; that, notwithstanding the defendants were all in said room and building, the sheriff was unable to secure the arrest of more than three of them, for the reasons that the defendants at the time had assumed fictitious names, and denied that they were the persons named in the warrants; that the defendants are all residents of foreign states, but follow pool selling and gambling in various towns and cities, and, when driven from one place, always assume another and different name; that the gamblers who constitute the crowds which are brought together at Roby from this and other states are the friends of the defendants, and conspire and confederate with them in avoiding the process of the court and in avoiding arrests upon warrants in the hands of the sheriff, thereby rendering the arrest of the defendants by the sheriff and other peace officers impossible.
That for the purpose of preventing prosecutions against them and deterring witnesses from giving evidence, whenever prosecutions are threatened or begun, the defendants circulate and publish reports that such proceedings are taken with a view of extorting blackmail from them; that the defendants claim to have organized a club, and are insisting upon the right to gather together gamblers and vicious persons, and to bring them in train loads to the said room and building to violate the criminal laws of Indiana, and to prevent persons coming into the room and building from furnishing testimony or identifying the persons for whom warrants are issued upon indictments and affidavits, and that the defendants have excluded, and claimed the right to exclude, from said room and building others than the sheriff and his deputies; that the defendants come on the same special trains with crowds of gamblers, criminals, and immoral persons to the said room and building, and leave on the same trains, so that the sheriff has no opportunity to make arrests except while the defendants are either in said room or with said crowds; that said room has never been used for any other purpose than for pool selling and other forms of gambling; that the room and building are provided with doors and other devices to prevent peace officers from entering, and that the defendants have placed at the doors men as guards to prevent any person from entering who might in any manner interfere with the violation of the criminal laws of the State, or who might truthfully testify against the violations of the laws; and that the room is so fortified that only the so-called members of the club, who are gamblers and criminals, are permitted to enter; that the room and building, and the real estate upon which the building is located, are in that part of the city of Hammond known as Roby, being the place indicated by the publications and score cards; that Hammond has a population of from 10,000 to 15,000 inhabitants, with a city government, mayor, and a large number of policemen, and that within a half mile of the room, and on the same public street, are two school buildings in which public school is being held; that within one-half mile of the room and building is located the town of Whiting, with a population of nearly 3,500 inhabitants, and near by is situated the city of East Chicago, with about the same population; that the defendants have continued daily to bring upon the said premises and into the said room, for the purposes aforesaid, large crowds of gamblers, and have each day continued in the same open and public manner, persistently, repeatedly, continuously, and intentionally to violate the laws of Indiana in defiance of the officers and inhabitants of the city of Hammond, the town of Whiting, the city of East Chicago, and the officers and citizens of Lake county, and are now asserting their intention so to continue such unlawful acts in defiance of such officers and inhabitants, and that they will do so unless enjoined; that because of such unlawful acts of the defendants, the citizens of the towns and cities, before named, in Lake county, have been essentially interfered with in the comfortable enjoyment of their lives and property, and that their general moral welfare is greatly injured, and the name and good repute of the citizens of Lake county is and will be greatly injured; that it is the purpose and design of the defendants permanently to establish gambling and pool selling in said building, and to continue to bring large crowds of gamblers, criminals, and immoral people into Lake county, in defiance of its citizens, officers, and the laws of Indiana, and that the defendants purpose to avoid arrests and prosecutions by the means aforesaid.
It is further charged that the room and building so used are entered from another building near by, so that it is necessary, in order effectually to enjoin and prohibit the doing of the things alleged in said room, and to prevent others from entering and using said building, to appoint a receiver with authority to take possession of the said room and building; that there is no adequate or effective remedy at law for the redress of the grievances...
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