The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-03-16

/ ana regulars brewery boxes of bottle
and key beer
IN Typical Blind PIC.
visited Dickinson, Fargo, Grand
Forks, Minot, Mandan, principal cities
In the state, and Bismarck, the cap,taI
of prohibition North Dakota, There
wasn't a place I couldn't have bought
a drink. Pigs all the way. Possibly
as typical as any was the one under
livery stable next to an abandoned
church, one minute walk from the bus
mess section of Bismarck. The sun
was well up when / sauntered across
the tracks from the Northern Pacific
railroad station to the cellar. There
was a worn path in the snow. didn't
require a sailing chart The door was
opened with unusual caution. because
court was In session. Inside were five
men besides the bigger" Two of the
customers wore fur-lined coats. so fire.
quently seen in the northwest. and one
was ornafnented with a fair-sized dia-
mond. The other three were laborers.
Could Destroy the Evidence Quickly.
The old bigger" or bartender. would
adorn any dime novel. He was short
small featured, lightweight with beadv'
eyes and black, dropping mustache.
AS long as / was in the place he never
uttered a sound, nor did he take his
eyes from me. Strangers are suspi-
cious characters until proved otherwise
man would lay a dollar on the conn
ter, the bigger" would go to another
part of the cellar and bring ont two
or three quarts, as indicated by the
All hands would drink out of the Same
bottles There were no fixtures in the
place except the board on two beer
kegs used for a counter. Not a. glass
In sight. A single empty room heated
by broken-down stove and a pretty
badly battered oil lamp. In case of a
raid all the bigger would have to do
to destroy every vestige of evidence
would be to smash the bottles He
had Ratchet handy, This "pigger''
was so crafty that in case of trouble
he would probably slide through a
crack and vanish into thin air.
Bad Whisky Plentiful.
So much bad whisky comes into
North Dakota under prohibition that
Dr. f.. F. Ladd, state pure food COM
missioner. began to grab samples for
investigation. He issued a list of reg
istered goods and advised the people to
buy stuff which had been looked into
Or. Laid told me that presumably he
was examining whisky which was not
to be sold in violation of the law RI
was not his part TO see to the en-
forcement., however, and for that reaZ
son his men board trains, Jag wagons
or anything which carries LIQUOR. ANY
thing suspicious is seized. He found
that Sfrom 20 to 80 per cent of the
Whlskeys sold in the drug stores In
1907 and 1903 were not pure. Some Of
these specimens contained methyl al
cohol: others, labeled twelve wears
old, contained no whisky. one sam
pie of pigger's Scotch Irish came
near killing the. parties using 1t. An
other seller sold colored alcohol and
added carbolic acid to give IL a wood
odor. A sample sold on the Fourth of
July by ''pigger'' killed two. The
same kind of a merchant. in double
violation, sold mixture Of wood
alcohol and grain alcohol to Indians
of the Turtle Mountain reservation.
and killed twelve.
Governor Hdrke's Opinion.
Does prohibition in North Dakota
Like every other Law, it ii. easy to
where the sentiment of the
people Is in favor of the law, and difn-
cult to enforce where the sentiment
q the people is against it," Governor
Burke told me.
1T is quite likely that there is as
much, or almost as much, LIQUOR con-
iuned In North Dakota at present AZ
here would be If the sale thereof was
licensed" writes George Al. Bangs az
irand Forks, leading North Dakota
awyer- Il doubt seriously If there
re more than a few towns In the
tate in which liquor cannot be OBJ
aimed"