Waterbury Democrat., 1901-02-27
\ PROHIBITION DRAMA.

'.I have been spending my vacation at the home of my brother In little town in the middle of Kansas" said a New Orleans man, "and during M.y stay there 1 saw some funny exnibi- tiOns of the actual workings of prohibi- ton.
 T don't drink myself, but have a number of friends up there who take their nose paint pretty regularly. so it wasn't long before became acquaint- ed with the fact that the principal bar of the place was located directly i'll the rear of the prescription case of the leading drug store.
 Two or three flagons were. kept standing on the marble ledge behind the ground glass screen. together with tumblers, ice water, lemons and su- gar. and in one corner was barrel of beer put in in pints. Whenever an habitue of the establishment wanted & life preserver he simply strolled back of the case, helped himself and depos- ited the price in the slot Of a cash box.
 "I dare say you have seen the hero in the melodrama, who saunters down the stage i'll blissful ignorance of the villain crouehing in plain view behind a small pasteboard rock. Well, that was the attitude of the druggist while ceremonies were in progress in the rear of the ground glass screen.
 Under the polite conventions of the house he was supposed to be totally unaware Of what was going on. and was consequently able to swear, if necessary, that no liquor was sold on edge I was told he had testified on r;n 6iffaront fAof ha tnnrar saw anybody take a drink in the store all of which was doubtless per fectly true Incidentally he was. superintendent of the biggest Sunday school in town.
 "The arrangement I have described would have worked very well had it not been for the fact that there was a stong prohibition sentiment in the place. especially among the women. who organized themselves into smell ing committees. and were continually prowling around looking for evidence of violations of the law.
 'The drug store had large trade in fancy goods, soaps, perfumery and so on, and a group of ladies clustered around the soda fountain near the door. in ear-shot of the tinkle of the glasses and popping of the beer corks in the sub rosa groggery at the other end of the establishment
 ''1n order to drown these suspicious noises the, proprietor kept q big phono- graph constantly grinding on the front counter. He had a supply of the most vociferous cylinders in the market and rag time, coon songs, brass band over- lures. anvil choruses and all that sort of thing and the deXterity with which he would snatch out the record and jam on another was wonderful to be- hold.
 ."The old customers of the bar had learned to know exactly when each cylinder was about to become ex- hausted and at that stage of proceed ings sudden hush would fall over the group. They would stand transfxed. with their glasses in the, air, until the new record began to below, and then jollity again resumed sway.
 "One prominent citizen was barred out because he was stone deaf. He was otherwise unobiectionable. and had thirst that was without peer in that congressional district: but the poor fellow could never catch the stop note,' and his patronage was conse- quently regarded as too dangerous.
 ''rhe only time I ever came near getting caught the druggist told me in strict confidence, 'was about six months ago. when I got in a lot of new records from Chicago. One of them was a rattling good recitation. loud enough to loosen the wall paper. but unfortunately there was a dead stop right in the middle. The pho- nograph people called 1t an ''oratori- cal pause,'' but in plain Enelfsh the fellow simply ceased speaking for about five minutes.
 '''I didn't know anything about the confounded gap. and the afternoon l put on the cylinder for the first time l had at least a dozen women at the counter. and among them tine president of our local Women's Christian Tenn perance union. started the thing go- ing and they were all immensely amused. but presently. to my horror. we struck the oratorical pause. The recitation stopped stock still, and at the same time we heard the voice of old Judge - saving: "Well. boys. think I'll have about four fingers or good Kentucky bourbon
 "'The women alb looked daggers 9t me, and I thought I'd faint in my tracks. The episode came mighty near getting me indicted.' he added, and had big mind to put in claim for damages with the record manu- facturers. After the store closed l took an axe and didn't do thing to that cylinder '"-New Orleans Times Democrat.