Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-07-18
RUM IN MAINE.
Workings Of the Prohibition Law
IN lewiston.
arrival, Of Our Correspondents Efforts
to Obtain 4 Drink,--lnhuenee Of
the Law on Poiitics-Ruied
+ So. bya Rum Ring.
DOES PROHIBITION PRoHiBiT7
SAT- Correspondence Of the Register.

II
Portland, have come over to the thriyin
city of Lewiston, where / have made my
self at home, and began my investigation
by inquiry, by observation and by expert
ment The morning after my arrival
astonished the clerk at the hotel by boldl.
and loudly asking: where is the bar
rocmT His answer was supplements,
with an exhortation to suffer deprivation
as heroically as could, and with smil,
that did not misinterpret After break
isst SS6 ,nsss.teS sss de'0S4sd !. RssssS
that prudent silence and one
dollar in advance might work q miracle
| analogous to Moses miracle in dry land
| and so it came to pass. The porter at once
became confidential and told me that those
who "was obleeged to have it" could al
| ways get it If they managed right. There
are number of places in the town where
liquors are sold openly, or with q mere
mockery of concealment that any
stranger can smile away; and
there are other places where
All Kinds OF Drinks
are ostensibly given away. Toone of these
l am indebted to the hotel porter for an in
PRODUCTION. After a short conference be-
tween him and the grocer, was asked IL |
wished to buy lot Of matches. Twenty
five cents" The box of matches was care
fully wrapped up while we were discussing
that it was very warm day. you will
find water sir, in the back room on the
table" Near the table stood two men who
had just "taken water" and behind the
cooler, labelled lice water" l discovered
a decantes that was not labelled at all. At
another grocery" / found an Ingeniously
constructed water cooler which / have been
told has been patented and Is in almost
general use. The uninitiated man turns
the faucet and water runs out. Under
the faucet, however, is a modest button
which the wise man who has bought a box
of matches, pushes before he turns the
faucet, and a miracle like unton that at
Cana of Galilee is wrought There is no
difficulty for such as are "obleeged to have
it'' in getting any kind of matches, and
the trade in matches is large enough in
Lewiston to enrich several grocers. But /
have not been able to find at any time of
the day or of the night, at any grocery"
Crowd OF Noisy Drinkers,
nor have l seen at any one of them
drunken man.
Indeed, have seen only three drunken
men this week, and have been carefully
looking for drunken men. Yet not q day
has passed but / have discovered new
places and new methods Of procuring
drinks. One effect of the law that is soon
noticed is that many men of the class who
in other States drink regularly, but never
drink at home, here drink regularly, in
deed, and always at home. / do not refer
lies, but to the habit of regularly taking a
drink of whisky two or three, or
four times day. Two friends, who in
other States would go to dram shop, here
go to the house of one or of the other for
precisely the same purpose. There are
homes in Lewiston where no intoxicating
drinks were ever offered to a guest years
ae4 BtEheEe atiQadyQ or Il" ""leponade' is
State for forty years, yet until 1868 there
No Restraint
put upon the sale of liquors in this city.
In walking down Liston street, one OF
the principal thoroughfares, one could
sOpnt S.Ia at lea" vbeS twenty translated iasedi
indicated anything in the way of liz;
uor that was called for, from q Tom anu
Jerry to hot Scotch.
The city was under Republican rule. In
the year 1855 Col. Waldron was appointed
Marshal, and it was then that the law was
first enforced. He held the office two
wears, and enforced the law imparti ally
and to the best of his ability, and succeed
ed so we'll that he closed all the rum shops
on Liston street A large number OF the
dealers served out long sentences IN the
county Jail, others fed the town to escape
from the law, while others were so impov-
erished by fires that they were
Obliged to leave ,roh thG I;ouor ossideTs sald IN
the slum holes of the town by person
who carried il on their person or concealed
il in their closets and this was OF the vilest
quality and only used by the lowest people.
Col. Waidron enforced the law so well
and impartially that his Republican
brethren, headed by Mayor W. p: Frye,
(noy Senator Frye(, began TO be alarmed,
and il is 9. fact that w z. Frye and other
party leaders and liquor men came to him
and said: "Friend Waldron you are carry
ing this thing little to far. We are get
ting unpopular and will certainly loose
votes. You must hold up"
Col. Waldron said: 80 long as the law
is on the statute book so long will enforce
it as swore TO do when took
MY Oath OF Once"
The result was that the third year he was
not wanted for Marshal.
Another man was chosen, and things
changed Drug stores began 70 spring into
existence on every corner. There were no
Xxx signs up, but liquors could be OBJ
tanned almost anywhere. and as might be
supposed the sale OF it went into the hands
of a rum ring. which, with a few smart
leaders and politicians controlled a num-
her of hundred votes. BY turning these
votes over TO the Republicans they were
allowed. and are allowed 10 day, to supply
rum sellers as we'll as druggists, with all
their rum, which is of very cheap quality.
The leaders of this gang were then Mr..
Henry Hines and Mike Ward, who, with a
number Of followers, brought rum into the
city at night with teams, IL being brought
within five or six miles OF the city on the
train.
This rum ring would have one or two OF
its members on the police force (they have
three members to-day and would inform
and help them ferrit out any poor devil
who dared to sell rum not purchased from
them. and the Journal would TEEN with
such items as sPoIiceman x seized half
gallon of liquor off Mrs. Duferty,n or ten
gallons of lfauor were seized by Marshal n
and possee at Danville Junction Let the
good work 20 on" But il was noticeable
that all the liduor seized was from persons
irving to do business outside the ring.
This thing continued until Ward and
| Hines were seized by the United States
| Government for selling
without U.s.. License.
and laid in Jail few months for II, and it
was known fact that at the time the
| Lewiston Marshal was in Portland. where
| the trial took place, lobbying for them the
| best he could, bue-without avail
The year Mr.. Noyes CDemocrap was
| Marshal, his assistant was Mr.. I'd. Wig
| gins, now one of the celebrated Boston de-
tectiyes. Noyes tried his best 10 enforce
| the law, but could do nothing with the
| men he had on the force. One dark night
| a countryman rushed midtown and inform
| ed him that he passed q big load OF rum
| coming to town, about five miles away
| Marshal Ecyes, with two Others, intercept
| ed the team, and at the same time found
| his assistant, Virgins, and two more OF hil
| force plotting the load Of rum 70 the city
| Virgins and the two assistants were dis
charged in disgrace.
The rum ring most Of this time voiint
with the Democrats, because their vote
were not needed by the Republicans
! They still made their trade with Republicar
J L. l. fn& &hx HaSkNaf hid