Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-30
THE SPEAK EASIES.
Institutions OF the Great Gas City
With Names That Fit.
THE LAWLEsS SALE OF LIQUOR
And Some Interesting Facts Concerning
the Places of Sale.
UNCLE SAM ABOUT TO TACKLE THEM

watchingP'
No man knows who invented the term
"speak easy" now famous as the generic
name of such places as circulate the flowing
bowl among presumably trustworthy per-
sons, unrestrained by any consideration save
fear that the limbs of the law may be
lingering somewhere in the vicinity and be
attracted by indiscreetly boisterous CONVEX
sations to the fact that something illicit is
in progress.
What is a "speak easy?"
1t is a place where people speak easy
while they are taking glass of beer or a
drink of some other liquor. Not that it is
an offense against the laws of the Common
wealth or Of the United States to take q
drink of liquor in that or any other way,
but that it is an offense against both to sell
without permission of the law. It is the
man who sells it who is in danger and it is
the man who sells who says to his Gus
toners: 'Whisper! Speak easyl The police
are watchingl"
The genius who heard this warning, and
from it evolved the name "speak easy" as
the common designation of those places
where liquor is sold without leave or
lice. e of the legally constituted authorities,
is thus far anonymous. Many men can tell
who it was they first heard using the term,
but these, invariably, when chased into q
corner, had heard it used by some one be-
fore them. An eminent restaurateur is the
person one man first heard telling about
speak easies," A certain police officer Of
Hi5ernian extraction, is the first individual
another man heard using the term. And
SO it goes.
PITTsBURG INVENTION.
"Speak-easies" have always existed, no
matter who first called them by that name.
They have been s'holes in the wall,' and va
rious other things descriptive of their lead
ing peculiarities, but it is only within very
recent times, and in the city of Pittsburg,
that they have been dubbed "speak-easies.
Travellers who come and go between the
city of natural gas and other centers of
population have caught the name and borne
it with them all over the country. Johns
town, however, has perhaps been the great
est disseminator of the name. The sale of
liquor has been absolutely prohibited there.
Only in quiet and secluded places, and in
quiet and transformations manner, can it be
obtained without the knowledge Of the
constituted authorities, and it was
the Pittsburgers, who were first at Johns
town with relief, who gave the familiar
L
it spread broadcast by the crowds of sight
seers who came with the opening of the
railroads and at once recognized its appli-
cability. But the first Pittsburger who
used the name is yet among the missing.
Even his remains have not been found.
Whether he will ever be discovered is
question, and his unsolved identity will
probably go bowling down the alsles of
time in parallel line with the conundrum
concerning who it was that lifted certain
Mr.. Patterson a blow abaft the wheel
house or elsewhere, and thereby made him
famous. That the gentleman was of Hi
bernian persuasion seems to be an admitted
fact Quick Hibernian wit, it is felt, would
have caught the idea readily, and until it is
disproven that an immigrant from the green
sod originated the term let it be laid at his
door.
"Speak-easies" are commonly reputed to
be thick as leaves that strew the brooks
of Vallombrosa. This, however, is a sup
position, not certainty. That there are
such places, few or many, is proven
by prosecutions frequently brought
by the police, mainly the result
OF the greater rush of business to such
places on Sunday, when licensed saloons
are closed by law. There are also other
prosecutions brought before the, various
individuals. Sometimes these are pushed
to trial and sometimes they stop short of
court, being settled in one way or the other
The aldermen say that charges of
VIOLATIONS OF THE LIQUOR Law
being only misdemeanors, they cannot re-
fuse to permit Withdrawals of suits. Con-
sequently they take little or no account of
these matters unless there is . hearing.
The greater number OF these suits, they
think, are simply outgrowths of neighbor-
hood rows, and cooler reflections or clos
ing of the imminent deadly breach by
peaceful advances is the cause of withdraw
ais of suits. OF course there are other |
allegations, and there are those who say
that "speak easies, being vulnerable and |
fearsome of the bright light of publicity are !
often glad to pay something to prosecutors |
to be relieved from prosecution. This re-
port cannot be nailed as a fact for black |
mailers are not spelling their trade by tell !
ing on themselves, and the proprietors of |
speak easies" are compelled by their pc |
culiar situation to keen quiet-in fact to
speak even easier than they desire their |
customers to speak.
But an enemy bigger than any that has |
yet revealed itself is "camped on the trail''
of the "speak easy" Each seller of ardent |
beverages is liable to Uncle Sam to the ex-
tent Of $25 year, and provided said seller
fails to come to hand at the proper time the |
fee is increased as penalty and the sur
plus in the National Treasury is made to |
groan as it moves its unwieldly bulk up one |
more peg. The duty of collecting the Gov
ernment license fee rests with Collector
Warmcastle's deputies, and they are pre-
pairing to act. They would have acted be-
fore, but other business has interfered. |
Just now the business of the internal |
revenue Office has been greatly increased by
the transfer from the outgoing to the new
That rush will soon be over and |
then comes the summer quiet. During the
heated term distillers and others engaged in
the production of taxable beverages take
rest. The consequent lull will give the de-
sired opportunity for the minions of your
Uncle Samuel to turn their attention to
the ''speak-easies." They have been keep
ing their eyes open and have some spotted
or at least they think they have. They will
spot more, or think they will. Then
the proprietors of the "speak-easies"
the added penalty or take the consequences.
They will also have the doubtful satisfac-
tion of knowing that they will have to take
other consequences if they pay, for they
will thereby discover themselves to the To-
cal authorities, and under Mr.. Brooks law
no payment can then save them.
SOME POLITICS IN IT.
The fact that the federal machinery that
will be set in motion against the "speak
sasies" is in the hands Of Mr.. Quay 'sfriends
will not dispose the federal officials to move
gently in the detection of places where
liquor is illicitly disposed of in Mr.. Magee's
political domain. There may be no intent
o show that Mr.. Magee's city government