Temperance, Prohibition and Bootlegging
Ratification of the 18th Amendment, ushered in one of the most romanticized but violent periods in our nation’s history. Americans readily broke what they saw as a ridiculous law with the overflow of rebellious action pulling down established social conventions regarding gender and station. Emancipated “Flapper Girls” danced the Lindy with “West Eggs” in dingy speakeasies while white knuckled bootleggers raced against the police and hijackers to deliver illegal booze. It was the time of G-men, gangsters and moonshiners. For those modeling the Victorian 1890s, roaring twenties or depression years adding this bit of color to your layout is an easy way to show that you “know your onions…yowza, yowza and how!”
Part One: Temperance and Public Demonstrations
Load up your “smashers” and grab your axe, it is time to chase demon rum from our lives and join Carrie Nation for a “hatchetation”.
Prohibition movements leveraging political action had existed since the early 1800’s but did not get nationally organized until 1873 with the creation of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Formed under the broad mission statement of, “A sober and pure world”, it invested its efforts first in temperance through abstinence then under the direction of it second president, Frances Willard. He quickly added a number of social reforms including suffrage, labor rights, sanitation, public health and world peace.
As evidenced by its name the WCTU was designed for women. This led to it being criticized as gender-biased despite the many male supporters. The name also alienated women of other faiths such as Jews, Hindus and Buddhists who held the same moral view on abstinence.
Public demonstrations by the WCTU took two forms which reflected the groups divided opinion on how to achieve reform. Part of the membership felt that their goals could be reached by personal interaction with their fellow citizens while the rest were convinced that legislation should be the focus of their efforts.
The first and most common action was a holdover from the defunct pre-civil war American Temperance Society (ATS). The ATS had thought to solve the problem of drunkenness by convincing tavern owners to close their shops or switch to non-alcohol-based drinks such as lemonade and tea. They also sought to proselytize their religious views to the customer base. In this effort groups of women would kneel outside of the saloons in their town often enduring verbal and physical abuse from the crowd. It was not uncommon for them to be soaked with a fire hose or buckets of stale beer while being mocked. In extreme cases they were physically assaulted.
The second form of demonstration was the picket march or parade. This was especially common in larger cities where hundreds of members could be brought in from the surrounding area and the goal was to influence politicians and civic leaders. Counter demonstration by “Wets” might also be an unwelcome part of the event.
Not every gathering was organized or supported by the WCTU. Many small-town churches and civic groups promoted abstinence from alcohol on a personal level. Any group of citizens could gather outside of a saloon or brewery to proclaim their oath of sobriety. Most of these were led and attended only by men but could be mixed. They commonly carried an American flag but would not include banners or signs promoting other social issues. Women’s church groups also existed, especially in the south, but had little interest in partisan politics as they considered the WCTU’s interest in suffrage to be radical. They contented themselves with saving the poor immigrant from his hellish ways or bringing drunks to salvation.
It was from such humble roots that the most dramatic superstar of the early prohibition movement hailed, Carrie Nation of Kansas. Having lost her first husband to alcoholism she became a devout proponent of total abstinence. She was a member of the WCTU and later the Anti-Saloon League. Out spoken and possessed of radical zeal she would confront tavern owners with the greeting, “Good morning, destroyer of men’s souls”, and then proceed to smash their business with rocks and bricks she carried in a sack. She called these “smashers” but quickly adopted a small axe because it was easier to handle. Although most active in Kansas she traveled the southwest leading protests and performing “Hatchetations” on any saloon she came across. Nation was sometimes accompanied by an organ player and a small choir but often worked alone. Standing six feet at 175 pounds there were few men willing to confront her once she started swinging.
Modeling ideas 1870s to 1920:
Modeling a confrontation scene in front of a saloon should feature WCTU members holding signs bearing their logo and cloth banners extolling the advice “Moderation in all things healthful; total abstinence from all things harmful”, “God Wills It”, or “Lips that Touch Liquor Shall Not Touch Ours”. An era appropriate (43 star) American flag would also be prevalent. Some of the ladies might be holding Bibles, hymnals or flowers. I think it could be represented with as few as three women figures and equal number of men although a larger group will certainly increase the visual impact.
Modeling a march or parade scene should feature WCTU members carrying the same sorts of signs listed above as well as those promoting suffrage or other reform issues such as anti-tobacco or gambling slogans. Members might wear a sash proclaiming their hometown membership location. In some cases, a wagon or carriage with leaders of the WCTU riding in it would be part of the procession. It would need quite q few figures. Preiser has a large selection of Victorian era men and women in 1/22.5 but the other scales will be hard to come by.
Since I model the 1930s I will not be building one of these scenes. The public demonstrations would have come and gone for my time period.
Part Two: Scofflaws and Revenuers
By January of 1919 Wayne Wheeler (a lawyer for the Anti-Saloon League) had managed to get the “National Prohibition Act” through congress. It was immediately vetoed by Woodrow Wilson. Congress bowing to public pressure overrode the veto and the law went into effect under the 18th Amendment in January of 1920. It was often referred to unofficially as the “Volstead Act”, a reference to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Andrew Volstead, who managed the legislation.
It did not take long for criminals to capitalize on the situation. Reportedly the first violation was in Chicago on January 17 at 12:59 am. Just one minute after the law went into effect. According to police reports, six armed men stole $100,000 worth of “medicinal” whiskey from two freight-train cars.
Most violators were not so flamboyant. People home brewed wine and beer or got possession of small amounts of liquor reserved for “medicinal or scientific use”. Urban legend claims that early sellers would keep a flask hidden in their trousers or skirt and sell shots to passersby. Thus, the term “boot-legger” came into the parlance.
The law was complicated with a number of vague or inconsistent policies. These had to work their way through the courts. For example; the production, transport and sale of intoxicating liquor was illegal but its purchase was not as ruled in United States v. Norris.
The difficulty of prosecution was complicated by weak and selective enforcement. A lot of the population along with law enforcement did not agree with the law and saw it as an intrusion on their constitutional rights. Basically, the government should not be legislating morality.
In the end most convictions were centered around related crimes, theft violence and “gasp” tax evasion. Liquor required a tax stamp and that alone motivated most investigations. Of course, you could not get a tax stamp for something that was illegal in the first place so droves of IRS agents descended into rural America to find the violators. Being tax collectors, they were often called “T-men” or “Revenuers”.
Searching for stills was dangerous business. People had what little money they could raise tied up in their still and supplies. Since the normal tactic of the Federal Agents was to smash the still and dump or burn the liquor this often resulted in violent confrontations.
For those who made moonshine the production was just the beginning. Once it was distilled and bottled it had to be delivered. To accomplish this task the bootleggers would either creatively hide the shipment disguised as a mundane product or soup-up their cars and try to out run the police. Another urban myth is that this led to the development of stock-car racing.
Modeling Ideas: 1920-1940
I considered several options for modeling this era…
- Enact scale legislation and force my little Woodland Scenics people into abstinence.
- Place an ambiguous door in the side wall of one of my buildings and tell visitors to the layout they can get a drink there if they know the password.
Neither of these seemed to fit. Not dynamic enough. I think some sketchy hillbilly types making a delivery would be a good start. Easy enough.
How about a still? This was the idea behind my “Moonshiners shack”. Joe Miner has fallen on hard times and together with two friends has hidden a still inside his house. Unfortunately, the local boss has shown up to collect his cut. Inside we have Joe’s friends reaching for the sky while a tommy gun toting goon covers them. On the porch the boss is making Joe an offer he can"t refuse.
The house is typical of a depression era shack. Frame construction with board and bat siding. Old newspapers cover the walls to help seal out the drafts. Joe keeps a bed here so that someone can tend the fire under the still and churn the mash barrels as needed. There are a number of miscellaneous details: bags of sugar, cases of 1 quart Ball Jars and assorted vegetable crates for hiding deliveries.
The center piece is the still. This is called a “submarine” because of its shape. It features wood sides with copper sheet around the outside as well as copper tubing. Barrels of mash sit on the back porch until done fermenting. They are then emptied into the still and cooked to evaporate the alcohol out as vapor. The vapor is then cooled in the condenser barrel back into liquid and poured into the glass jars for sale.
I have found a few figures in 1/24th and 1/29th suitable for Police and gangsters but for 1/20.3 they had to be made.
Trench coats and tommy guns. Yep, that will do it.
Part Three: Rise of the Gangsters
On December 5, 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified repealing the Eighteenth Amendment. Prohibition ended, organized crime did not. For thirteen years it had been the law of the land and violating it had made fortunes for many powerful criminals; to keep the money flowing they branched out into other areas. These rackets included extortion, gambling and prostitution.
The shakedown was well established from the early days of illegal alcohol sales. Buy your liquor from us or else sales teams visited the taverns, restaurants and saloons in territory controlled by a gang. Now it was, “buy insurance from us or you might have an accident”. Or the ever popular, “do you smell smoke?”
Hand in hand with this was illegal and unregulated gambling. Anything from wagers at the local billiards parlor to underground casinos. Numbers rackets in the inner city to bookies at the bar.
Even the working girls had to pony up part of their take along with the hijackers and fences of stolen merchandise.
Some criminals just did not have the business acumen for this. They turned instead to bank robbing. Who better to rob than small banks across the rural Midwest. With a fast car, a desperate gang and plenty of guns they cut a swath of revenge and opportunity against the banks across the country.
Many of the gangs and their leaders rose to prominence as rural heroes. In depression era America the Robin Hood myth played well and anything that hurt banks was seen as payback for home foreclosures and farm seizures. Despite being murderous scum, men like John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Jack McGurk were idolized. The ladies were not to be out done with Ma Barker and Bonnie Parker proving just as vicious.
All of them ended their days in a hail of bullets courtesy of the FBI. Rumor is in 1933 George “Machine Gun” Kelly spouted the phrase “Don’t shoot G-man” when confronted by Melvin Pervis. A scene popularized in the 1974 movie, “Melvin Purvis, G-Man”. Bonnie and Clyde were not so eloquent when Frank Hamer finished them on a back road in Louisiana.
Not every criminal was willing to shoot it out and most did prison time. Some work gangs were chained together at the ankle or to a 20 lbs steel ball to hinder escape. In most cases the prisoners were unfettered with heavily armed guards watching. The latter would be on foot with dogs or mounted on horseback. Escape attempts were generally considered grounds for the use of deadly force.
While most prisoners returned to the prison at night in the deep south and parts of the west they would be held at remote camps due to the large travel distances. These camps usually consisted of portable cages for sleeping. A honey bucket was available inside but no showers. Meals were served from a truck or tent. Prisoners under these conditions would often stay out for three to ten days.
Modeling Ideas: 1930- 1950
Modeling all of this would constitute quite a crime wave on my layout. Fortunately I have a jail and since it is the west, a gallows for the worst offenders.
There is a bank planned for the town of Broken Wheel, it would be perfect for a robbery. There is also a general store that could be the focus of a stick-up.
I already have a billiards parlor.
And some prostitutes.
Perhaps the best scene is the chain gang.All of the figures had to be made for 1/20.3 but I believe Prieser makes a prisoner set in 1/22.5 scale.
Of course a paddy wagon for chasing down the “runners”
Period clothing for state and county prisoners was usually striped dungarees with work boots and a hat.
If nothing else a few wanted posters can be tacked up.
That brings everything current to the 1950s. After that the hoodlums became jet setting playboys before turning into drug dealers in the 70’s.
The 16 and 17 yld get really worked up about and start getting mad the more I string them along.
