The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-06-26
PROHIBITION IN KANSAS.
Its Practical Workings as witnessed by An
ODsefNlhR correspondent.
LGorham lKas.l Cor. Chicago Times.l

Observing Correspondent.
[Gorham (Kas) Cor. Chicago Times.l
The interesting "reminiscences were sud-
denly interrupted by the appearance of
the village blacksmith, Dave Morgan,
Keeling along the street much the worse
for liquor. He was headed for home, but
il was evident that he would not reach his
destination for some time unless he re-
ceived assistance. 1t was not the length
but the width of the road that kept him
back. Whenever Dave would shout:
"Hoor-ray for Gineral Jackson % the little
clump of men in front of the postoffice
would laugh and jest coarsely at poor
Dawes expense.
Il thought Kansas was prohibition
state" said Ben Juvenal, the liyeryman,
intending to be satirical.
$50 it is" said Jim Black, the postmas-
ter, whose nose combined the dignity of
beak with the good nature of bottle.
But what has prohibition got to do with
the Columbia river salmon, I'd like to
know? That's genuine Columbia river
salmon that Dawes been takin'."
''You don't mean itw exclaimed Juve-
nal in surprise. He had recently moved
up from Texas.
Yes, that's right, boys" chimed in the
station agent. 81 never see no whisky or
beer comm here over the Union Pacific
road either from Kansas City or Denver,
but | do see boxes of salmon once in a
while. There's an old farmer down
toward Russell, the county seat, who is
leetle too sly for the prohibitiOnists. Never
mind who ne is, but I'll tell you how he
works the thing. When he goes TO Kan
sas City he orders a ten-gallon keg of the
genuine old stuff and has it packed in
box and labeled on the end Columbia
River Salmon Then in his shipping di-
rections he gives the town OF Gorham in
stead of Russell, where he usually receives
his freight. This cute trick throws his
neighbors off the track. The stuff is de-
livered here and the old man takes half
day off and drives over here after it. The
next day or two he will have several
sheets in the wind and everybody'll think
its peppermint or hard cider that he is
drinking"
Eyes" continued the agent, sit is won
derful what names the farmers round here
will invent to get around the state law
preventing the transportation of liquor by
the railroads There's old man Johnson
out west of here who buys his stuff in
Denver. He'll have a five-gallon demi-
john coming every few days securely
packed in 4 butter-pail with little butter
all right. He also plays the trick of hav-
ing his liquor shipped, not to his own sta
ton, but to the next station beyond or to
this place, in order to throw his neighbors
off the scent"
did you fellers never see the way them
whisky men down in Kansas City have
things fixed for the Kansas trader" said
Jim Black. "All along that avenue there
in front of the union depot every other
door is saloon or liquor store. And they
all have signs out saying ali goods are Sc
curely packed for shipment, according to
the latest approved style of the art. Kegs
and demijohns and jugs and bottles are
! packed secure from observation and
shipped under whatever name you like
the best. Half of them fellers couldn' t
live if it wasn't for the Kansas trade"
ooh, you're all right" said the agent,
who had been waiting for chance to con-
tinue his narrative. 81 read the other
day in a Kansas paper which is printed in
| another county, an account of a special
meeting of the town council. l want 10
read part of il to you, Just to give you an
idea of how prohibition works over there.
In that town the women vote at all munic-
| ipal and school elections. The following
resolutions were introduced by the coun-
cilmen:
"'Whereas, Our city calaboose is small. out
! of sight and insufficient TO hold the hayward
| and inebriated, be it therefore
Resolved, That we build a new calabooss
| in the city park
"'Resolved, That the new calaboose be built
| out of the materials Of the old one.
RESOLVED, That the old one be used until
| the new one is built by the city marshall
'MayOr-Brethre1 these resolutions are
laws and this council now stands adjourned un-
til the police judge gets such further political
| information as will suit our necessities
"'Police Judge-If the city marshal is not too
drunk he will put the last speaker into our cal.
abcose unless he can give good bond for my
COSTS"
! $50 that is a specimen of a prohibition
! city council in Kansas, is it2 said Ben
Juvenal, sneeringly. "Well, 1 believe I'll
! leave the state of st. John and 90 back to
Texas, where they don't practice the hypo-
| critic quite so much"
ooh, we'll, it's about the same in Iowa, -
exclaimed the agent. II used to have
charge of a station on the Burlington road
in that state. Iowa has a state law pre-
venting the transportation of liquor by
| the railroads. But the trouble is the law
does not prevent. l saw carloads of beer
carried there as Milwaukee conversation
water, Best's tonic, maltine, lagerine, etc
| ludL Tue way IL was ldDeleu anu Inat
the way it was put down in the way-bills
1t was no unusual sight to see shipments
OF beer-kegs, empty and filled, covered
with burlap. Whisky and other liquors
were shipped as 'Moxie nerve food vine
gar 'yarnish, nuts and bolts hardware,
red paint and mineral water But the
name in most general use for whisky ship
ments was barb-wire. The use of barb
wire for fences in Iowa is very extensive
and that word became favorite label fol-
private packages of liquor consigned to
thirsty farmers.
"Clandestine retail dealers adopted
other convenient names. There was q
regular dictionary of secret terms in use
between the wholesale men and their lows
customers, and skilled packers were EN-.
ployed by the former to put up the goods
in such manner as 10 avoid suspicion
and attention from anybody who might be
nosing around. That's the way the thing
is worked in Iowa and Kansas. Money
will buy whisky here as well as anywhere
else"
Nearly everybody needs good medicine a
| thfa eaaeon 10 rurifv tho blood aud huild m r