The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1919-11-29
OF Local Interest
IMMENSE QUANTITY OF BEER
SEIZED BY ZION POLICE AND
CONDEMNED BY COURT OR
DER, SPLIT INTO ZION
CITY SEWER
An Event Without Parallel in ANY
Other City - Attracts Wide
Newspaper Attention
&C. 3. w \

; the seizure of beer passing through Zion
CITY and Benton Township, by Chief of
Police Becker and Constable Earl w. Cas-
person. AS result of these seizures. nu-
merous cases have been tried in both the
federal and state courts, attracting wide at
tention
On last Friday, Chief of Police Becker.
acting under orders from Circuit Tudge
Claire I. Edwards, superintended the spill
ing Of $4,000 bottles and "a kegs of beer
into the sewer of Zion City an event which
seldom if ever has been duplicated in anv
other city of the United States.
Shortly before 9 o'clock in the morning
Mayor Clendinen, City Attorney Forby,
Chief of Police Becker and crowd of other
people gathered in the open space at the
northwest corner of the Administration
Building, where the court order was to be
carried out
A large elevated trough had been CON
structed, so that after the metal caps had
been removed from the bottles the cases of
beer could be turned upside down over the
trough and the contents flow in stream
into the mouth of the sewer.
When the time arrived to begin, City At
torney Forby mounted an improvised plat
form to deliver brief address, Just then
the y o'clock prayer bell rang, and all heads
were bowed in devotion, thus forming fit
ting opening to the occasion
Deacon Forby drew attention to the
crimes and misery which liquor has caused.
and delivered an arraignment against Tohn
Barleycorn, at the close of which he said:
LET his sinking blood flow into the
sewer Let the execution proceed"
The Waukegan Sun, in the opening
i paragraph of well-written description of
the event, said:
One OF the most unusual ceremonies
ever enacted in this country, and to the
mind of some of the "boozers" of bvgone
days what probably will be termed one of
the most 'reprehensible acts ever COM
mltted, was witnessed this morning at Zion
City when the arduous task began of empty
ing 1900 gallons of beer into the sewer
of Zion. Probably no event like it ever
has taken place in the worlds history, and
accordingly it was rather significant and
fitting that it should take place in a city
like Zion, where booze and beer never had
place even during the wet period in this
country"
Mayor Clendinen and Chief of Police
Becker, at the solicitation of Chicago news
paper men, posed for snapshots taken in
the act of pouring beer in to the sewer. Later
in the day, the General Overseer also COM.
piled with requests of the camera men,
pouring some beer into the sewer while
they snapped his picture.
The work proceeded rapidly, a consider
able force of men being employed all
through the day, far into the night and a
| portion of the next forenoon before the
work was completed
The empty bottles have been sold for
over $1,000, this amount to be used in help
ing to defray the expenses incurred.
Chief of Police Becker, when asked to
give brief resume of the beer seizures,
made the following statement
"On July |, 1919, law was passed by the
Illinois legislature called the Search and
Seizure Act, making it unlawful to trans
! port beer containing more than one-half of
one per cent alcohol anywhere in the state
about August 10, a lot of trucks began
passing through Zion City, carrying cases
and barrels which looked suspiciously like
they were Transporting beer. We let this
continue for about FIVE days. before really
knowing just what the new law prescribed.
con August IS, we made our first arrest
in Zion City, capturing six trucks On Au-
gust 1o, we took sixteen more trucks, and
since then at various times, we have cap
tured other trucks and touring cars contain
ing beer, until we had in our possession
139, o77 bottles both pint and quart Of
brands such as 'Miller's High Life 'Pabst
Blue Ribbon 'Blatz Private Stock and
'Waukesha Health Beer We also had
about "a barrels of lager beer in custody.
"Sixty- y-three men have been held over
to the grand jury who have been arrested
in and near Zion City for transporting this
beer About thirty cases have been tried,
the defendants pleading guilty, and twenty
one loads of beer have been condemned by
Circuit Judge Claire C. Edwards, who ap-
pointed myself to destroy the beer
In conference with Mayor Clendinen
and City Attorney Forby it was agreed that
on November q the first allotment of beer
condemned by the Judge should be split
This consisted of about 5000 bottles and
"a kegs. 1t took 362 barrels and 702 cases
to hold these bottles It took force of
about IS men 20 hours to spill the beer into
the sewer.
"The beer and trucks seized in Zion City
had a property value of over 100000
The actual wholesale cost of the beer de
stroyed last Friday was between SIS 5000
and $200O0 and it would have sold in