The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-02-18
THE HISTORY OF THE .DISPENSARY LAW,
now II WAS BROUGHT ABOUT.
athens, Ga, Devised the Plan 20 Pre-.
vent II Return to the Saloon System
LARRY CAN'T Proposed IL as IA
Compromise in South Carolina

vent II Return TO the Saloon System
Larry CAN'T Proposed /, as !,
: Compromise in South Carolina.
Piedmont Headlight, Feb. T..
y great deal has been said and writ.
ten about the diSprr&Hry law, and in
order that the truc history Of this at.
tcmpt 10 centre! the Liquor business
may be known, VIC Eavc decided to
give "n authentic account CT the first
law, and how it came TO bc Introduced
in South Carolina.
For SIX years the city Uf Athens, Ca,
had tried total prohibition, ana the
experiment was = farce. Daring the
last year Of prohibition there were
over Il hundred har-roOms in thc place,
many Of them licensed by the l.. ).
EoICrnmcnt, and run almost openly.
| Some ol the urug stores also sold WniS-
key. and being operated by physicians,
the law could not reach them. When
arraiGnCd before court, they claimed
tu&t the liquor had been prescribed
and furnished rs Il medicine, and lurius
acquitted prisoners without leaving
! 'h''" seats. While many indictments
, .... found with the exception of Il few
negroes, u0t single conviction Of Il
man WAC could employ q lawyer was
made. Those bar-roum drug stores
nladc n IrrCut d'al Of money, and the
| proprietor Of ON" lnlu the senior editor
Of The iiCdUijyht hat the last wear
| prohibition was in force his net profits
were ovcr $ll,uuu. Any enc who de-
sired could huy all the whiskuv he
wanted, only tho purchaser had to get
y prC:cripMnn, tUHt would lat indie
| init"iN. u il said that during the
| prohshttl0n ora :. stranger went into Il
| drug store aGd asked thr proprietor to
pre-, "ibc for him. "Thlts all right"
Wa the reply I'll set YOU strAiyhL
in :; ,uinutc," and wrapping up Il quart
bot Of whiskcy handed II out. The
cus5 mcr opened the package, and
seeing what it WAS replied, "Why. |
don't want this stun: am Il prohlhi.
tiouist | want Il dose OF pills us my
liver is dcranWcd."
The people OF Athens became thor
ou&hly di,gustCd with this farce Of
prohibition. They saw That 50 far
from !iuuNr drinking Decreasing, THAT
1t was cuntantty growing, while their
city was deprived Of the license from
bar rooms. so another petition for an
clcction was gotten ur, and soon it be-
came apparent that the county would
90 by IN overwhelming majority ion
liquor.
The State University is located il
| , II
cd that if bar rooms were voted back
It would Withdraw the arpropriAtio iol
from that institution, which would So
riOusly irjnrc the town. Macy citizen:
and property N-OwnCrS did not desire
this, bat they also saw that their calls,
, was lost unless something could b.
:. done to divide the liquor vote. i}u
they woe ut sCa.
The senior editor OF Tho lIcadligh n
was living in Athens at that time, ano
one day, while walking up Cullcg,
Avtnn@, "e were, cali@d to the +.
smith curuor by Hon. ". w. Ruckcr, q
prominent lawyer OF that city, and
now Assistant District Attorney il
Georgia, who was talking with Capt
John w. l5rumby, leading citizen o
Athens. BJtn those gentlemen haC
: supported the prohibition cause, au(
they were vitality Interested in tn,
pros pcriiy OF their city.
MIR. ltUCicr stated tnat unless some
!, thing was done that liquor would carr,
!, the election by Il Thousand majority
I and that IL would pull down the Uni
v'rstty and seriously il lure the lutur,
. Of Athens. He said he had devised
y plan hy which he thought 4 comprO
: mise could DC made, and wanted !,
: set oar opinion thereon. He thcl
Y outlined the dispCnsnrN scheme, stat
: ing thN5 he believed tha people wopl,
= be satisfied with this. We heartily
/, agreed to his proposition. as Isl
: did Capt. l}"unby, and Mr. Rucitcr al
once went to his oilicc and drew up I;
bill to hc submitted to the Leg piSlHtlrC,
and got The promise Of all the leading
/ pronibiLi0nista in the county to work
, for its enactment. And juat here VIC
will state that thj$ di~pcGsnry ~uggCs-
ton Was devised by MR. thicker before
be- had heard Of the GUth"nbur" ,ya.
TEN, and il is entirety original with
that gentleman.
The campaign was at once started
on new liU"s, and TIC prohibition
speakers all began 10 talk dispcnsary.
OF course il met with bitter opposition
from the advocates OF harrOoms. Hon.
Pope Barrow, ext nitcd States Suna-
. tor, ;,rd now one Of the leading law
= yrra Of Savannah. denounced the
proposition from the stamp. and said
, BE would risk his legal reputation that
, such . law would not stand the test OF
] the Supreme Court. Capt. ". Il.
, bumrtg. and other hriliiant lawyers.
, iuu@t, the proposition from every
. I.luup in th" county. But Tn" idea
, took WltH tn" people, and many
/ cuuu.u~ were made. The election
D. came c", aud h,1h sides were 1T !nc
g polls Ihu vote was close and hutiy
. contested Mr.. VIII Dorsey took OH
. hi~ cont "g&ln-t the diaponsHry, and
n mad Lc been >uppOl ted strongly would
. have carried the day. But when the
( vote Was cOun,od it was found that the
!, liquor men were defeated by only
g seven minority.
=. committee Of Alicnians went to At
=, IlSEnnSnrN hi