The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-07-30
BY BRUCE CATION,
MA Service Writer

DI IN AO4Ng
NEA Service Writer
DETROIT, July 30.-Because OF
a special election and the murder
Of Gerald Buckley. radio vice cru
ssder, this city today is really dry
for the first time since he national
prohibition law went into effect.
The doors Of the blind pigs"
that have swung merrily to admit
the thirsty lUr ten long years, are
closed. Detroit, which has enjoyed
or endured-the reputation Of
being one Of Americas wettest
cities. has suddenly discovered that
going dry Is a process that can be
accomplished, temporarily at least,
in one day. That is, if it is really
desired to accomplish this.
The Job was done easily, If
somewhat m~yStcriously. Ore nor
ing, a few days after the recall
election and 4 scant forty-eight
hours after the city's sensational
murder, the saloons we're open for
business as usual. Shortly after
noon the word went out to close up.
BY night-fal Detroit was a desert.
Two Factors Enter
It was Just as simple as that.
Everything dates back TO these
two startling developments-the
election and the murder.
First, Mayor Charles Bowles, who
has been in Office for only six
months. was recalled from Office in
a special election that climaXed one
OF the bitterest campaigns Detroit
has eve seen.
Two hours after the final result
was announced, Buckley, popular
radio broadcaster, who had fought
Mayor BoWles with all his power
throughout the campaign, was shot
to death by three gunner in the
lobby Of the La Sale hotel.
Those two events turned Detroit
topSy-turvy. They explain, among
other things, the city's unprece-
dented aridity.
Booze Issue in Campaign
during the recall campaign one
Of the chief points at issue was
Detroit's reputation as a wide open
town.
Mayor Bowles had been elected on
a reform platform. During last falls
campaign he had assailed the blind
pigS-they call the saloons by that
name here, instead of calling them
s~peakeaSies - the gambling joints
and the disorderly houses, and had
promised a house cleaning.
But he had been in Office only
a short time before it was discov-
cred that conditions we're worse than
they had been before. The blind
pigs" were thriving, with only per-
functory attempts at concealment.
Disorderly houses we're numerous.
The police made plenty of raids.
Commissioner Thomas Wilcox points
out that they have raided LOO blind
pigs in two months; but somehow
the biggest ones escaped untouched.
The problem of bringing prohibition
TO Detroit seemed as unsolyable as
ever.
Then Came Prohibition
Then came the election, the
crushing defeat OF Mayor Bowles,
and the murder of Buckley-and,
Immediately thereafter, prohibition.
The police launched a great
series of raids two nights after the
election. But it was not the raids
that did the trick.
Investigators who made the
rounds of the blind pigs" found
them locked up; or else they were
dark and empty. with the proprie-
tors standing ii the doorways and
waving prospective customers away
with the remark, THE towns too
hot now. Soys-we got the word to
close up ana stay closed for a few
weeks"
Beat Raiders TO II
How did the word go out?
Nobody car say. But so out it
did, 10 the diSnldy OF the thirsty.
Police Commissioner Wilcox vows
that the city will be dry from now
on. as long as In commissioner of
police" His raiding squads are still
busy, hopping up such obscure cor
nerS as were missed by the mysteri-
u word" in Its strange peregrina-
tons through tie city.
But for The most part they are
not needed. The wise boys-and
Detroit's liquor sellers. taken as a
group. are as canny as the next
ones-didnt wait for the raiders.