State Ex Rel. Cowie v. La Crosse Theaters Co.

The case is an appeal from an order overruling a demurrer to the complaint for insufficiency of facts stated. The action is brought by a private person upon leave of court first granted pursuant to sec. 280.02, Stats. The prayer is for an injunction abating as a nuisance the continuance of Bank Nights by a theater company in three of its theaters in La Crosse. The claim that the continuance constitutes a public nuisance is grounded on the theory that the practice involved in Bank Nights constitutes the operation of a lottery, and that a lottery is a public nuisance and may be abated as such.

Th…