p. 19 | The Sunday Law Cases at Kansas City

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · May 14, 1908

The Sunday Law Cases at Kansas City

By JOHN S. WIGHTMAN.

I WILL report concerning the status of the cases now well known as the Theatrical Sunday law cases of Kansas City, in which it is sought to show that the selling of tickets and ushering of people to their seats, etc., on Sunday, is “labor” within the meaning of the statute, and to restrain it. The cases, as all know, were first brought to national view by the sweeping decision of Judge W. H. Wallace in January, in which he stated that ministers and judges were united in the work of protecting the Sabbath from desecration; and the wholesale indictments—two thousand and over—which followed. As all must see, the chief question in the minds of public citizens has been, “What is, and what is not, permissible on Sunday? What constitutes ‘labor’ on the Christian Sabbath according to an act of assembly?” whereas it ought to be, “Should Sunday as a religious institution be protected at all by civil law?”

Feeling that Judge Wallace was prejudiced against them, and unfair in his decisions, the theater managers secured a writ of mandamus from the supreme court, practically compelling Judge Wallace to transfer the numerous cases to Judge Porterfield’s court, the second division of the criminal court. In the first case tried, conviction failed on account of disagreement of the jury. The second trial resulted in conviction of the defendant, and a nominal fine of one dollar. Then came a caustic censure of Judge Porterfield’s court and jury by Judge Wallace, upon failure to convict in the first case. This was resented by Judge Porterfield in his court. A surprising result has been reached in this peculiar way. The courts, at variance upon contested points, have evidently turned the legal scales in favor of the defendants. Finding that the evidence in three thousand cases was wholly insufficient, County Prosecutor Kimball, on April 20 in Judge Porterfield’s court in the brief space of five minutes, dismissed three thousand cases, and cleared the docket to April 3.

This is not the end of the crusade, however, though it strongly indicates a final collapse. This week the grand jury will indict other theater folks who worked in the playhouses last Sunday, but none of these will be tried until after Saturday, when an argument for and against a new trial in the case of the only theater manager found guilty, will be heard. In the meantime the reports of the theater cases are occupying prominent columns in the journals of Kansas City, and the public is thinking upon the right and wrong of the question. It is to be hoped that the questions of civil and religious rights may yet work into and claim the attention of those engaged in this crusade for Sunday enforcement.

JOHN S. WIGHTMAN.