The Daily Eagle contained a statement of the facts. The Journal not only gave the facts but was loud in its praise of the chief and his force.
It was only a short time after "Slim's" arrest and conviction and while he was still in durance vile that two policemen surprised a party of poker players in a room at The Antler House. The players were prominent business men. They were playing for big stakes. It was one-thirty in the morning, almost the same hour that "Slim" had been arrested and taken to jail. Were these poker players taken to jail? Oh, no, they were taken to the city building. The chief was then called. He called the police judge, who was accommodating enough to get out of bed to accommodate this group of business men. Each man was permitted to enter a fictitious name on the record and deposit a cash bond of twenty dollars for his appearance. (Of course they forfeited the bonds.) No reference was made of this raid by the Journal. The Eagle simply stated the facts, without giving names and without any comment.
The day following this event Judge Rider, who was the youngest judge of a district court in the state, being only thirty-three years old, met Springer on the street. Judge Rider was a clean-cut, straight, upstanding man who had a strong sense of justice. He could not resist this opportunity of taking Springer to task.
"Hello, Springer."
"Hello, judge."
"Say, Springer, how did you happen to overlook such an important news item as the raid of The Antler House?"
"I didn't overlook it, judge. I purposely omitted it."
"Why should such an important bit of news be omitted from the columns of the Journal?"
"Judge, it wouldn't do to give that affair publicity. Every one of those fellows were prominent business men."
"If a business man violates the law he should pay the penalty the same as the friendless outcast. If publicity and the condemnation of the public is to be a part of the penalty he should have that, too."