Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-04-19
In pr,es. Maine.

For over a week now Maine has
been as dry as the proverbial bone,
all on account of the Sturgis bill,
which passed the Legislature re-
Gently, and which provided for the
strict enforcement of the prohibitory
law. This bill suthorizsd the Cover
nor to appoint three commissioners
in each county to see that the law is
properly enforced, and so it was no,
absolutely necessary for the Sheriffs
to be any more strenuous than they
have been heretofore, but most of
them, either for political or other
reasons, decided to carry out the
law to the letter. Consequently
dealers and saloon keepers had only
a short time to get their goods out
of the State. OF course, this dry
ness has given rise to many funny
happenings and has made Maine the
butt of many joke.
As soon as Sheriff Pennell began
his active campaign in Portland, and
all the saloons and kitchen bar rooms
were closed, the pocket peddlers be-
gan to swarm about the city. These
petty tradesmen in "booze" carry
pint and half pint bottles of whiskey
concealed in their clothes, and sell to
itenarant customers ei,hei hy the
bottle or drink. They reap fabulous
profit, sometimes selling the poorest
grades of whiskey at SO pint, or 25
or 80 cents drink. Their methods
of carrying the stuff are ingenious,
and on one man who was recently
searched were found fifteen quarts Of
liquor. Hehad specially constructed
pockets in his underclothes, his vest,
trousers, jacket and ulster, and even
carried half pint in his hat. He
was, however, an exceptionally,
greedy one. Many of them manu-
facture their so.called whiskey out of
alcohol, brown sugar and water, and
one or two drinks of the concoction
is enough to give the Oldest topper a
horrible case of delirium tremens.
The way that they obtain custo-
m ers, and especially the manner in
which they gull strangers, is amusing.
The most successful pocket .peddlers
are generally associated with some
nicely dressed chap of good address,
who carries no liquor himself. This
"capper" walks along the street until
he sees some likely victim. If he be
a stranger (and these shrewd fellows
rarely mistake one) the "capper"
walks up to him and politely in
quires for some mythical street. Of
course the stranger cannot direct
him, but as they walk along they
drift into conversation,
which the "capper," if he thinks well,
cleverly directs to the liquor ques-
tion. They laugh and chat over the
absurd prohibition law, and then the
"capper" generally unbosoms himself
something like this:
"To tell the truth / was looking
for such and such street because I
heard of place where you could get
a nice little drink on that street. Pm
sure its quite near here, and if you'll
join me, we'n go down and have a
quiet TASTE"
Of course the "capper" leads his
victim down side street, and as
soon as they are well along in
the shadow of the buildings al
smooth-looking chap accosts them
with: "Perhaps | know what you
gentlemen are looking for.' OIL
course, they ali smile, retire to an al
leyway and take another kind of a
''smile," the "capper" buying the
first drink, after which operation he
goes after another victim.