Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-01-20
The Country Home
BY MRS. w. I'll. IELTON
The BoOtlegging Atlanta Still in Fine
Location

After took the "flu" last October,
felt obliged to go to a sanitarium to
be nursed and doctored. I had rooms
in the fourth story of the new annex
built by Drs. Davis and Fischer, on
Linden street, Atlanta, and near the
corner Of West Peachtree street.
During my stay 7 could overlook the
building where the detectives found
the big still, and where they also
found a big supply of liquor, and
around which a story could be writ
ten which would beggar any fiction
story, that I can now recall, written
during later years.
Sometimes the smoke would roll
out the chimneys Of this building.
AS reclined on my hospital bed,
wondered what this house was used
for, and why the chimneys were so
much used judging from the clouds
of smoke when there We're no meal
times to be provided for. L could
see no boarders coming up the walk
and it seemed to be- q silent house.
The newspapers reported that the
house with the still in it was next
door to the Davis-Fischer hospital,
and, if so, L looked over the roof ev-
cry day I was there, as mine was the
corner room, fronting Linden street.
This goes to show that people are
making intoxicants in the most I'M
likely places. Nowadays, nobody
could ever expect a big still to be
located in such an exclusive neigh.
borhood, and between the two Peach
tree streets. But the detectives
found it, and If the reporters are cor
rect, I could look down on the house
and never suspect the location of
any sort of a bootlegging plant.
We in Georgia worked hard to get
rid of the saloon evil. The work COW
cred many, many years of constant
agitation of the subject.
I have saved a clipping that was
printed in the Semi Weekly on No
vember 26, 1915, where I told the
readers of the paper that had seen
Governor Nat Harris sign the prohi-
bition bill that made Georgia a
"bone-dry state" BECAUSE I have for
long time been a friend to Gov
ernor Harris, and he is still alive, I
am going to reprint what I said
| about him in the Semi Weekly more
than eigffr~ years ago.
GOVERNOR HARRIS SIGNS THE
PROHIBITION BILL
"By the merest chance, I witness
ed the signing of the prohibition bill
when Governor Harris placed his
name on the document last Wednes.
day afternoon.
my hostess in Atlanta was invited
| to be present and she invited me to
go along. I stood at the governors
left hand, saw him write his name,
and heard him say, This is the law
Of Georgia now have known
Governor Harris nearly fifty years.
His father died in my county short
/ ly after the close of the war, leav-
ing widow and a large family of
| fatherless children in war-straitened
| circumstances. AS long as they
lived in my vicinity the future gov
| ernor was a frequent and welcomed
visitor in our home. My deceased
husband was an active friend in
trying to secure some educational OPP
| portunities for him, and it is need
| less to say that the ambitious youth
seized gladly such opportunities for
| advancement.
$50 was more than glad to stand
at the governors left hand and
watch him write the signature which
was necessary to make the new pro-
hibition, measure the law of Georgia.
He writes a beautiful and legible
handwriting and I expect he can COM
pare handwriting with any governor
that Georgia ever had. have always
thought that the statewide prohi
law that was first enacted into law
in this state was quite good enough,
but we must now struggle with the
enforcement with it's new provisions
and penalties.
1T am reliably informed that Sa-
vannah has never excluded bar
rooms and open drinking places, and
there seemed to be such a dearth
Of honorable officials that liquor sell
ers had no rebuke and the courts
were too timid to punish law VIC
lators."
"We will now see what will hap
pen when the new law goes into
effect next May, and we will also
see whether our congressman will
vote as the state directs in the ma
tional legislature"
The story Of this still in Atlanta
was like a thunder-clap out of clear
sky to me. OF all the possible places
for constructing a mandatory to
violate the prohibition laws of the
state, the location that was selected
was among the most unlikely.
900 - ~eamm