The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-14
Vagabond
from
Indiana
ERNIE PYLE

MOBILE, Ala, March l4-"But
A'A what about reformers9" I said
to my Mobile friend. What about
the professional bluenoses? Don't
they ever make fuss?"
why" said my friend. '1f a re-
former stuck his head up in Mo-
bile they'd run him out of town
before shutdown"
We were sitting in a restaurant
eating lunch. 1t wasn't a doggy
restaurant at ALL just a couple Of
jumps ahead of a greasy spoon"
but the food was all right.
There were booths along one side,
and we were in one of them. Along
the other side was bar, with bot
ties of whisky pyramided before the
mirror, and a bartender in white
mixing drinks, and couple of men
drinking at the bar.
This place has been a bar for 20
years, I guess" my friend said.
And It never has closed. Never
closed single day during prohibi-
ton. Never locked its doors or
worked behind a curtain.
Alabama is one of two bone-dry
states left in the Union. Kansas is
the other. No beer or wine even.
But you see how much attention
we pay to it,"
"DEOPLE in Mobile" he added
won't stand for any monkey
ing with their liberties. Why. there
hasn't been liquor conviction here
since I can remember, and with ev-
erythilig running wide open
They can't even get liquor Jury
here. Haven't had one for two
years. The jurors simply tell the
judge they'll acquit the defendant
no matter what the evidence, so
they just can't get a jury. and no.
body is ever tried.
Sure, we have raids. But they're
the funniest things you ever saw.
The officers come in and take a bot
tie or two. just enough for evidence
sc they collect their raiding fee,
and that's all there is to it. Nobody
ever has to go to court or pay a
fine or anything"
N7E were paying so little atten-
w ton that we didn't even notice
at first when the five men walked
in. A couple of them were big fat
men. Looked liked politicians.
Some of them walked into the
back room and couple of others
walked around behind the bar, took
flashlights out of their hip pockets
and started opening cabinet doors.
That's when we first noticed them.
When I looked at my friend, he
was about to explode. It's raid"
he practically shouted in a stage
whisper. boy, this is wonderful.
They don't raid this place once in
month. Now you can say you've
seen raid in Alabama"
One of the big fat men took a
bottle of whisky out of one cabinet,
and set it on the bar 1t only had
about four drinks left in it. One
of the weaving blokes at the bar
looked at it greedily
you working here now?" the fat
man asked the bartender in a
friendly voice.
Yeah" said the bartender. Let
the boss off as easy as you can, will
your" He meant by that, not to
take too much of the boss whisky.
TINE fat man turned and started
l. looking behind other cabinet
doors. The Swaying old soak at
the bar kept looking at the bottle.
Suddenly, he made up his mind. He
reached over, unscrewed the cap,
poured a big drink, and downed it,
Then he looked all around, as if h3
expected applause. He got it..
The onlookers shouted and
laughed. Nov you can say you've
had a drink of government liquor"
one fellow yelled at him. The soak
was beaming. 1--WE been waiting
for that for years." he said. The
officers paid no attention.
Finally, they were through. That
one half-empty bottle was all they
took. That, and one case of beer.
They took a case off the top of about
80 cases piled at the back of the
room.
The big fellow took some papers
out of his pocket and put them on
the bar, and took out his pencil
and signed his name at the bottom.
Then he took the bottle of whisky
and another fellow took the case of
beer, and they said, 80 long" and
all walked out.
The spectators stepped up to the
bar. The bartender opened cabi-
net door Zone that had been looked
into with a flashlight a minute bez
fore) and took out bottle of whisky
and started pouring drinks. Every
hoJry 1o44O6od