The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1917-02-09
atlanta COns..,l.1..iion Giges Vivid
Description of the Thirst Line
Liquor Depot Appears to Be Busiset Spot in
Joyous Capital

The Atlanta Constitution recently
devoted a whole page of one of It's
Sunday issues to an illustrated article
by Britt Craig showing how prohibi-
ton does not prohibit in the capital
city Of Georgia. The article is accom-
panied by pictures Of Atlanta's
thirst lines"
+ Britt Craig first describes the loca-
ton of the big liquor G1pot near the
Terminal Station in Atlanta, and then
IN part says:
'To accommodate Atlanta's inter-
state liquor traffic would require
terms of acreage rather than inte-
riors.
Il went into the place. There were
SIN lines Of negr0eS-men and women
stretching away from as many win
dows, alphabetically designated. Each
line contained as many as twenty or
thirty candidates for LIQUOR shipments.
There were dozens of groups of strag-
glers about the place, some Of the
stragglerS being disappointed souls,
whose supplies had failed to arrive,
and others being there for the pur-
pose of ascertainiGg to whom among
their in mates had come shipments
upon which they could draw.
There were only four white pa
irons in the place-four Young men
who stood II line at q single window,
which, I understood, was being used
entirely for the white service. A sec
ond window, installed for whites at
the opening of the depot, has been
closed for lack OF use.
"ln al there were 200-or perhaps
250-negroes eagerly lined up at this
connecting point with Darktow
mirage Of paradise, Chattanooga.
NEARLY every class of blacks was
represented. There was the buxom
washerwoman, bulky of frame, arms
akimbO, eyes agiow with expectation;
the giant truck driver, loud voiced,
muscular; the thin, nervous gambling
negro; the sport, fancily attired in
checks and colors; his girl, the fash
ion plate of colored under society"
naughty, saucy; the plain loafers of
Decatur street; the police characters,
who knew that the credentials calling
for two quarts of liquor We're also
passports to the stockade.
"a huge yellow negro, with frog
like eyes, a Drotuberant embonpont,
and a profuse sweat beading his brow,
fell away from the line at the window
marked "A to b. Detection vas
plainly writ upon him, disappointment
seemed to wither his stoclly frame.
addressing no one in particular,
but the entire collection Of his imme-
date hearers in general, he was heard
to say:
"Iawd, that stuff sho is a long
time coming, amt it -
"He went to the doorway. where he
stood, wrapped in meditation and
pathos.
"'See that nigger?' squint-eyed
low dariEey. OATS de bully of my
stree out, boy, two ouahts dat didn't |
come down throwed him higher'n a |
kite. i his present state of discom-
fit-chore [ could whip him myself !
''Pres antly the bully was seen to
move OF up tie street. He won't in !
the wake of an u1dersized civilian. |
who, bearing a modest package be- |
meath his arm. was stealing into a |
side street, sSealthiiy seeking TO elude |
the eyes Il va+chfli acoua;ntancns.
con the sidewalks Of me vicinity, |
md on the street corners, were g. h
cred urfnportant persons of color, |
whose mission it was to SPOT, hawk |
Ike, friends who bad knelt beneath |
the fountain of Chattanooga They |
we're q viQilant lot. Suspense hung |
over them in clouds. Occasionally |
one or more would become separated
from the nondescript group, or