Durango’s Strict Sunday Ordinance
DURANGO, Colo., has a pretty strong Sunday law of its own,—Ordinance No. 229. The municipal officials have ordered it to be carried out and enforced to the letter. The Durango Telegraph, which went to press with its Sunday edition before midnight Saturday, among other things tells us that “It will now be a criminal offense to mow the lawn or milk the cow, unless the latter work can be proven to be a work of charity or mercy. A strict enforcement will tie up the street-cars, shut down the light-plant, unless they come under the provisions of mercy or charity. Engineers and trainmen on incoming or outgoing freight or passenger trains will also be subject to arrest and fine. We know it will be pleaded that work on newspapers, lines of transportation, telephone and telegraphic communication, and the furnishing of electric lights, is work of necessity. But the store-keeper might maintain that the sale of groceries to a hungry man was also a necessity. . . . The ordinance does not provide for the stopping of watches and clocks, but such flagrant violations will no doubt be covered with a codicil. Hens that lay eggs on Sunday will not be punished for the first offense, but if the offense is repeated it will call for a straight-jacket until they consent to hold off until Monday. But now for Sunday—Sunday under the Blue Laws: ‘Do all work before twelve o’clock Saturday, for Sunday we will rest—or be arrested.’”