The recent trend of “Dry January,” forgoing alcohol for the month, brings to mind some of the past attempts in Barry County to wet one’s whistle.
Attitudes toward liquor in Barry County seemed fairly divisive throughout local history. In 1892, Cassville had two licensed saloons on the Square, one being the Van Hook and Edens saloon and Will Scott operating the second, both buildings being destroyed in the fire of 1893.
But, many parts of Barry County had illegal saloons known as a “Blind Tiger.” In that same year, Exeter residents were circulating a petition to legalize saloons in the town on the premise that it would “down the blind tigers.”
However, the newspaper implied that legalization of saloons in Cassville had yet to result in any of the “blind tigers” closing. A similar debate was occurring in the town of Purdy, with concerned citizen Mr. E. Jones writing the paper that “Temperance is wounded, if not slain, in the house of its professed friends, when leading churchmen take up arms in defense of open saloons.”
By 1898 both Cassville saloons had closed, and no new licenses were issued, leaving the newspaper to ponder how so many leave Cassville intoxicated.
Despite opposition, alcohol seemed widely available throughout the county in the 1890s. In 1893, W.W. Frost obtained a license for a saloon in Seligman. S.W. Peirce, of Monett, was also granted a saloon license. Monett also had the Gem Saloon at Fifth and Broadway run by J.F. Crowell.
At Pioneer, Missouri, in 1892, someone broke into Conley’s saloon and stole a small amount of money and some bottles. In 1895, a newspaper item stated that “Jenkins people are rejoicing over the death to their blind tiger.”
In 1903, Gus Shoen was brought before the justice of the peace W.S. Barr in Corsicana, charged with keeping open a saloon on Sunday. Winfield Scott Barr is the grandfather of Mary Beck. I find it amusing that someone charged with illegal alcohol distribution was brought before a justice with the name of Barr.
It must have been a good omen, as Justice Barr stated, “I don’t see from the evidence how I can convict, therefore the defendant is discharged,” despite sworn testimony from Abe Williams that Mr. Shoen’s saloon was open on Sunday.
A concerned Corsicana Citizen wrote the Cassville newspaper encouraging Prosecuting Attorney D.H. Kemp to keep at it as, “Men of one kind of business have no more rights and privileges under the law than another. If at first you don’t succeed, try them again.”
On May 3, 1909, noted prohibitionist Carrie Nation gave a lecture at the M.E. Church at Exeter on the evils of alcohol.
Recently returning from a speaking tour in Great Britain, where she was pelted with eggs at one engagement, she spoke of conditions in Great Britain being worse than in this country, with “the drunken women, naked children and thousands of unemployed.”
At the meeting’s close she sold souvenir hatchets, and a silver collection for Mrs. Nation was taken up in the amount of $14, close to $500 in today’s money adjusted for inflation. The next day, she went on to Cassville to speak at the Baptist Church, and then on to Monett.
Eventually Carrie got her way when national prohibition took effect in 1920 and lasted to 1933. But that didn’t seem to put an end to liquor consumption, as plenty of arrests for illegal possession were made during that time frame.
By 1934, liquor licenses were once again being issued in the state of Missouri. In the 1940s, Bythel Shore had a liquor store in Cassville, and Frank Newell had one next to the Hounditch Inn, and then next to Hailey’s Ford dealership after the Hounditch building burned in 1940.
Miller’s Drug also sold liquor up until 1941. The Pelican Cafe north of First National Bank sold liquor, as well as fishing tackle, and next to the Pelican Cafe at 9th and Main was the long bar.
A beer could also be ordered at the Cassville Cafe on the southeast corner of the Square until 1945 when the restaurant was purchased by Clarence Ennis who then advertised “Soft Drinks Only.”
The argument over what should and should not be permitted under a system of moral capitalism is never ending, but time seems to take some of the bitterness out of the opinions of the past.
In that way, history, like an intoxicant, is best when well aged and shared with others.
Jeremiah Buntin is a historian at the Barry County Museum. He may be reached at jbuntin@barrycomuseum.
org.
