The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-10-14

keep us from freezing. Our hostess in
tended to do the best she could for our
comfort, but it was at period when the
use and the sale of rum in Oxford county
and all over the State, kept the people
pinched for want of the comforts of home.
Since the passage of the Maine law this
has been greatly changed everywhere
over the State
While ON one of his tours, Mr.. Dow,
who was then chief engineer of the fire
company, was annoyed by the occurrence
of great many fires. 1t has been limited
that some OF these were set to call atten-
ton to the fact that the chief engineer
was away. At any rate the opponents of
Mr.. Dow's principles made charges
against him and there was protracted
meeting in February, 1913. Mr.. Dow
was sustained, however.
Mr.. Dow began to circulate petitions to
the legislature and also went there in
person to urge the prohibitory law for
long time before such law was actually
enacted. The day of his triumph came
in 1851. That year he was elected mayor
of Portland as a Wing, but really as it
would appear, on the temperance issue.
Thus he took with him some additional
prestige, when he went as usual to ask
The legislature was Democratic and it
might seem that there would be little
chance for Wing to get it to pass such a
law Indeed an old Hunker member APP
pealed to his fellow Democrats not to
''follow this popinjay Wing, Lord Mayor
of Portland' But there were other
agencies at work which made the Demo-
cratic majority vulnerable. The party was
not then in good discipline in Maine.
fractional feeling had been bred in the
session before by protrated effort to
elect Hannibal Hamlin, with his anti
slavery tendencies, as a United States
Senator. The Hamlin men were generally
for the law which extorted from ''Shep'
Carey, leader of the Wild Cat Democracy,
the expression of disgust, "Niggers are
now swallowed up in rum. 1t used to be
niggers first and rum afterwards; now it
is rum first and niggers afterwards" The
bill as Mr. Dow drafted it, passed the
House SO to 40. and the Senate Is to 10. 1t
is said that some voted for the bill ex-
pecting that Gov. Hubbard, who did not
| sympathize with the movement, would
veto it. But he signed it. There is a
profane legend that he remarked, "They
may skin their own skunks; l shall sign
it, However that may be the law was
placed on the statute books and Mr. Dow,
| as the mayor of the first city in the State,
went home to enforce it. Gen. Dow was
| so good at enforcement, attacking whole
salers and retailers alike that he succeed
ed in getting defeated for mayor in
1852. But in 1855 he again was elected,
this time going in as Republican, the
| old Wing party being on its last legs. 1t
was in 1855 that the legislature made
some needed amendments, SO that the law
was called the "Dow intensified" With
this new weapon Mr.. Dow preceded to
enforce again. 1t was during this period
in June 1855, that the famous riot oc-
CURED at Old City hall. The city govern
ment had brought quantity of liquor
for sale in the agency, and the opponents
of the law determined to hold the mayor
responsible for the sale of the liquor.
They went to Judge Carter of the
municipal court, and got a warrant, with
which they intended to get possession
of the liquors. But Judge Carter was
friendly to the mayor and gave the war-
rant to Deputy Marshal Ring, who with
a squad of police went to the basement of
the city building where the liquors were
stored. A mob lad gathered around the
entrance and began to stone the door.
Ring asked the mob to desst. The sheriff
of the county ordered them to disperse.
Mayor Dow, who had repaired to the
scene hastily, also gave the same order,
but the mob persisted and redoubled the
violence of its attacks. The police fired
| blank cartridges, which action the mob
| interpreted as a sign of weakness. Then
the police fired bullets and John Robbins,
the mate of an Eastport vessel then in the
harbor, was shot dead. Prior to the fir
ing the Light Guards had arrived at the
| building but were stoned and retired to
their armOry somewhat demoraliZed
Then the mayor called out the Rifle
Guards and led them into the building
through a door ON Middle street side
| while the mob was on the Congress street
side These militia men fired through
the Congress street door by squads of
! four, and ten OF twelve rioters We're
wounded.
| This ended the riot, but Mayor Dow was
brought before the municipal court ON
charge of illegal sale of liquors. The pros
ecuting attorney was Nathan Clifford,
afterward on the United States supreme
bench, and the attorney for the defence
was William Pitt Fessenden. Mayor Dow
was acquitted.
| The riot had great effect in the State,
and Poor John Robbins was the cry on
| every anti Maine law stump in the next
campaign. The prejudice caused by the
affair resulted in the election of Samuel
| Wells, Democrat and anti Maine law, by
| about 1000 majority.
But this relapse was only temporary
and the friends of the law soon regained
control. The law, much amended and
still an object of considerable controversy,
is on the statute books, fortified by con-
stitutional amendment. Mr. Dow in all
the years since has watched over it So
licitiously, generally appearing before the
Legislature every winter until kept at
home by his infirmities.
While in 1874 Oglethorpe forbade the
sale of rum in Georgia. and while James
Appleton, of this city, as chairman of a
committee of the legislature, made re-
port in favor of Prohibition in 1887, Gen.
Dow may yet be fairly called the father
| of prohibition. He it was who furnished
the persistence and ardor for the long con-
flict to make the idea a reality. The idea
became popular and many States adopted
it. OF late the tide has been the other
way, and with the exception of Maine,
New Hampshire and Vermont, the States
have generally adopted other methods of
dealing with the liquor traffic.
Mr.. Dow was a member of the State
legislature in 1858 and 1859. In 1857 he
visited England and addressed audiences
| in all the large cities.