SPEAK-EASIES A STONE'S THROW FROM STATION STEPS.
POLICE MUST CLEAN UP MALDEN'S LIQUOR DISTRICT BEFORE JUDGE RILEY WILL " SOAK " DRUNKS."
A man can stand on the steps of the station-house of the Malden Police Department and heave a twenty-pound shot and hit at least six speak-easies, according to Judge Thomas P. Riley, of the Malden District Court, who unburdened himself this morning on the subject of prohibition enforcement. Two unfortunate "drunks" arraigned before him as the results of a "party " on such stuff as is sold in this Volstead era caused the judge's comment.
-"I warn the chief of police of this city," said Judge Riley, " that I will not ` soak' drunks brought before me, until such time as the people who sell liquor to them are brought here. I know of a section along Charles Street where there are at least twenty speak-easies.
In Suffolk Square they are distilling swill. The people go out into the streets and collect garbage and distil that. When- ever a police officer arrests a ' drunk ' he doesn't know whether to take him to the station-house or to the hospital, fearing that he will the on the way. Hospitals are filled with such cases, so that legitimate cases are crowded out. Men's livers look like corroded sponges when autopsies are performed in the morgue. There are 250 to 300 places in this court district where a man can get a drink anywhere from twenty-five cents to $2 a pint."
The justice ended his speech by filing cases for drunkenness against two men who wore said to have assaulted Patrolman Charles P. Riley. The court congratulated Officer Riley for not losing his temper and beating his prisoners, and announced that all efforts would be made to protect officers of the law who were trying to stamp out the illicit liquor traffic in the vicinity.
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