Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-17
J.RARLEYCORN WAKE
ENDS At MIDNIGHT;
LID DOWN TIGHT
Hard Stuff" Flowed Free in New
York; High Jinks at the
Hotels.
DRY FERRETS ON DUTY

flinltN alter midnight TINS ulbfniHE, anu
1T that moment from the 3t.aI- &c To the
Pacific aud from the Canadian line 10 the
southprnnlost limits of the Land of the
Free, not t. melt on Alaska, all the island
. IrosS, ssio2s and Brooklyn was heard the
olaue t the coffin Ild Is il dropped down
over all that j. mortal oi that once popular
iavol.t,, John Barltycorn
ls the clocks got around To- indicating
the tune u.cl uuCd III the amer dn cI I
rational prohibition became au actually.
National grIcf hccamc intense. No one
interviewed along Broadway express d
tho iaIht,st pleasure at the thought that
america thus had >tmtcd 10 head the
whole gosh darncd world along the straight
ard narrow road 81 virtue Instead there
wer lamentations over the fact that from
noW ON !; VIII be unlawful even % show
iaSk oi booze IN a public place The
CriC~ of anguish wcrr loud over the tact
that some 10000. 600 gallons of excellent
hqinr are under lock and seal IN various
bonded warehouses throughout the coun-
try
Up IN the hotel district IN spite Of the
wcather-but that must como later
Some o the fcW sofcr persons along the
slippery and formerly gay White Way
thought back to the good old days of -
and - when the famous Women Crusade
crcaked away to slow start and, plIotcd
by a crowd oi enthusiasts. gradually de-
vcloped INTO the Women Christian
Temperance Union. an organization NJ
winch oncc upon time II was safe a.
pakr iun The Whisky Can Tickle | :
Tub thcs used to call u Others rc-
memhcrcd the birth Of the Autl-SaIoon
League IN lSq3 and Don Marquis au-
thor irleud Old Soak. who Was met up
with out sid, Tom lIcalv ;, sad he clearly
remembered the inception IF The anti
bquor movement which occurred away
hack IN i>5s-
Others remembered that the annual
tax collected hy the Federal Government
an Intoxicating liquor was around $500,
GOO GOO One man sand hc trusted the
Government would find Il convenient 81
tick some oi tho future taNc~ upon rrom-
aont upijit organizations such as the
intl-Saoon League
The enforcement Of constitutional pro
h4h,tion ~ this section 1T tho land falls
to the lot II Dan G Porter Supervisor
I The Internal Revenue Department
,grnt> and the men st the Police de-
n#rtmcnt COL Porter SAID vest srlav hc
,iIlut think thcrc'd hc anything doing
tor any one asl night lie ssid hc hc-
icvCd the common sense ot hotel pro-
nricfors and managers and saloon own
yrs would make any great effort hS Fed
cral agcnts futile.
There viii not BE- any violations To
speak of. sand Col Dan
He lct il hc known. however that hc
expected the $4,000 mCn oi tho Police
Department and his own lo0 trusted It'll
quisItors would ferret ont any ono and
every one who might think to put orc
over on Iucle sam lie said New Nulk
would be pr ttv wcll covered hN cops and
so on and that chance bartenIcrs Who
were willing to cvade the lttsr II the
nv for an old pa' might expect to he icd
.outh feet TIN
But up in the hotel bolt still il i~nt
slnc IL tell that
Those i0N prohibition enforcement spn-
.alIst> under q Dan ( hccanc known
4trr and from q sober source were
setting ready to descend n 1ock~ On
various suspect ~ host lr7es tlIf eWn ANA
awIt 1vn II was learned tb;t ; ~omo
# The operatives who EaVc hc,a taught
+, scent booze fart 7er 1hau i can hc
4card or "a clear ui~ht had hecu entrusted
maps and diagrams ol these suspected
districts From COL Dan Office down
in the Custom lin5iSe had cony forth the
order \ dry cleaning and SPAR nonc
Il was hint td that th,I~ IAN fLc en-
srlclt]y frs; - that - one would got
pr, ummcdIaf civ and second - thai i
II ii Oh Saak pal, might c,t i dozen
sg two last drinks before lie cIf.rc conn
tr1. 5cc4mc q desert. L vas >.tId too that
i NA> the ann unofficial ann that is d.
III Government uot lcai Johnny Bar
icvrarn T. suicide hGt > cIve him an on
Dortunte for 81 least three good caie hra-
t}on> and a final flourish
New up ia the Hotel DIS, ssh
Wat
Z Cht along through the evening and
up II the fity-ninta second after uud-
night cops Federal agent and cT tic>
NJ the Ant)-Saloon Lcaguc 4ll of ali
the hundreds q innoccnt lttj parties
where the hosts supplied the VIII re-
w1taal gratis OF where hat j manager.
had conserted II store under iock and
key and seal the personally owned arj-
vate stock OF patrons Of long and good
standing
Col. Porter said ea~ller IN the evening
he had taken the proper measures 10 make
sure every one dealing in drinks that CON
rca' kick knew just what thcv should
know about the provisions of tho ueu
law He said he had no dotib, that hotel
and restaur2n managers were iuiv iu-
formed Of the fact that the mere sight of
4 liquor bottle on their premises. owned
though II might be by 9 dea' friend ~
patron of wears standing, would leave
hem habie 10 prosecution And so at ono
minute after midnight down went the }ld
II the coffin
From that moment, one operative cX-
blamed, any one who wanted 10 ex-
Derienre the sensation OF being raided
night stand on q street corner, withdraw
! pint flask from bis pistol pocAet and
axe 3 drink That's how drastic and
,verfhine tlir prohibition dictum i
IL the facc ID such 8 brilliant outlook
7 Nas forecast that couple Of thousand
aloons II the metropolitan district would
le closed M Tor ever and ever within day
y two over IN Brooklyn John 5. Ben
lett, counsel for the BROOKLYN Retail
lquor Dealers Association estimated
ast night about - per cent of the most
lga.v polished b1r rails viii b. scra pp,-d
II nnt suoner lii this CON
ecfl9rl, NJ. Pennett vito stands to lose
e,od icb, spoke ve.v scnSibh IS follows.
ost Of oHr members know that the
nh3e Vlll net huv tie onf-taf 0f per
ent stuff and 81 lau Il ling citizens
lcy rannaf srlI anything else So there
: Hnfhl.c 81 10 bIi close 9p.
lil- ~ @ ~ word stuff in referring
e 81, onl.- "ga' drink thar now comes il
Is carried llc hint u sarcasm
I.ut II the hotels Oh. boy Of course
e hquor drunk vas privately owned