Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-02-02
Mrs. Nation, Saloon Smasher


get enough evidence to send to jail
chuckled TO themselves as they thought
OF the increase In their business which
would result from the incarceration Of
the other liquor sellers. But they did
not chuckle when Mrs. Nation appeared
In their palaces with her paving stones
and proceeded to put them out Of busi-
ness by smashing their fixtures, As
narrated by the New York Press she
either closed up by law every saloon
in Medicine Lodge or put II out OF
business and made wreck Of 1t by
eKing the law in her own hands Since
then the liquor business in Medicine
Lodge has languished, and those who
sell do 80 most secretly, keeping an eye
cut all the time for the annroach ot
tue terrible crusader with her paving
stones.
Mrs. Nation Is a good-looking woman.
between fifty and sixty, She has been
twice married Her FIRST husband died
of drink, but her present husband Is a
prosperous lawyer, who takes little in
terest In alcohol, morally or physically.
After her work Of reformation was
completed In Medicine Lodge, Mrs. Ma
ton rested a while, and then decided
that Kiowa would be good field Of
usefulness for her In Klowa she pur
sued the same course as in Medicine
Lodge Her name inspired terror among
the saloonkeepers of Kiowa and in a
short time ~ place was practically
free Of rumshops All visible signs Of
saloons evaporated soon after her ar
rival. For some time Mrs. Nation did
not smash any saloons, but contented
herself with temperance work with the
Women's Christian Temperance Union,
she stlll was active In procuring evil
dence against those who sold lIduor H.
legally, and in many other ways made
II so that liquor sellers Of Kansas were
kept alive to the fact that she had not
abandoned the Warmth.
Recently she decided that drastic
measures were necessary In Wichita,
The town is the home OF Gov, Stanley,
who was elected on platform with
prohibition plank But the saloons
have been running openly, the proprie-
tors simply being arrested once month
as a matter Of form and paying a small
fine.
Mrs. Nation went around 10 the sa-
looms one day and told them TO close up.
The proprletors and bartenders laughed
the experience OF Medicine Lodge and
Kiowa. They remembered them after.
ward. TO their sorrow The SWEETEST
drinking place I'm Wichita was the bar
of the Carey house. and that place was
selected by Mrs Nation as her first
point Of attack. On the evening Of the
day in which she had given her warning
she suddenly entered the saloon with a
brown paper bundle IN her arms. This
was her ammunition box, and from u
she drew the paving stones with which
she onened q hot fire on the saloon.
The bartender lodged down behind the
bar. the customers rushed out Of the
doors and Mrs Nation blazed away
until two policemen captured her and /
led her 10 the fail. BY the time the
policemen appeared on the scene how |
ever Mrs Nation had expressed her /
IDEAS concerning the temperance ques-
ton by smashing property 70 the value |
OF $1,000. The saloon looked as II free /
fight had been in progress there. Mir |
rors were smashed and broken bottles |
lay all about from which wines and |
spread out In a lake over the /
floor. A valuable picture representing 1
that highly improper person. Cleopatra.
taking a bath. was the especial object
nf the wrath and missiles or Mrs, Ma
ton and Mark Antony would never
have known his "tootsy- wootsey" az
ter Mrs. Nation got through with her.
The frightened bartender reappeared
from under the bar when the police had
safely secured the invader and. standing
In the middle OF the wreck charged her
with malicious mischief In destroying
when they got Mrs Nation 10 the
iai they We're In as big a quandary as
,ver what 20 do with her. II the
charges against her We're pressed there
was every probability that she and her
friends would have the PROPRIETOR Of
he Carey house arrested for Illegal
LIQUOR selling and II they let her go she
declared she would smash every other
ialoon In Wichita. Mrs. Nation de-
Jared that she would not accept her
iberty on bail but would he brought
lut on a writ of habeas corpus.
From all over the country mallbags
ull Of letters came 10 her approving
ler course and the members Of the
Fomen's Christian Temperance union
4 Wichita went ~ The iail and held !
enuqrance r,oefir7s there. Tho people
Who represented the liquor dealers o.