USA > Ohio > Memories of the crusade a thrilling account of the great uprising of the women of Ohio in 1873, against the liquor crime > Part 9
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casioned by the news of the firing on Sumter at the outbreak of the Rebellion.
Last week the ladies who had been laboring so faithfully to persuade the liquor-sellers to abandon their death-dealing traffic,appeared to be discouraged by their want of success, as the stubborn enemy still refused to yield, in spite of their prayers and entreaties. At this juncture it was suggested that the Macedon- ian cry for help be sent over to our neighboring town of Washington C. H., where the ladies had already achieved a grand success in a similar movement, al- though commenced two or three days after ours. The good women of Washington promptly responded to the call and on Monday last four of the most active leaders in the work, namely: Mrs. Rev. Geo. Car- penter, Mrs. Judge McLean, Mrs. Judge Priddy and Miss Anna Ustic, came over, accompanied by Mr. P. E. Morehouse, Superintendent of the Washington Union Schools, and Mr. C. S. Dean, teacher in the High School department. On Monday night our large Music Hall was densely packed, and stirring and eloquent addresses were delivered by Messrs. Dean and Morehouse, who gave a history of the movement in Washington, in which they had actively co-operated with the ladies. Their story was listened to with the deepest of interest, and aroused every temperance man and woman to a determination to renew the conflict at once and never give it up until victory is won. At the suggestion of Mr. Dean it was determined that the temperance men here should adopt the plan pursued at Washington, and hold a continuous prayer-meeting in one of the churches, while the ladies were visiting the saloons, and that at the close of each prayer the bell be rung to encour- age the ladies with the thought that fervent prayers were ascending to God for their work.
The ladies were greatly encouraged by the visit of their sisters from Washington, and a new impulse was given to the work.
From the Cincinnati Gasctte, under date of January 26th, I copy a very correct report of the work in Hillsboro from the beginning to that date :
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Dr. Dio Lewis, on the 22nd of December last, visited Hillsboro by invitation of the local Lec- ture Association and addressed us. At the close of the lecture he announced that he would remain and on the next evening speak on the subject of temper- ance. At that meeting he broached his plan for a campaign against the enemy and enlisted a large number of ladies in the enterprise, besides securing the names of many gentlemen to "back " the move- ment. From here he went to Washington C. H., and inaugurated a like work, whence this has been often called the Washington C. H. movement. Since that time Hillsboro has been the scene of constant excite- ment.
Every morning at 9 o'clock the basement of the Presbyterian Church is filled with women and men who meet for prayers. After an hour's devotional exercise, the women start upon their round of visita- tion. They enter each saloon, drug-store and hotel with their "dealer's pledge," asking the proprietors to sign it. When met with refusal they sing and pray, plead and exhort, beseech, implore and sing and pray again, until the dealer yields to their en- treaties or it is time to go elsewhere. Every night meetings are held in the audience-room of the Pres- byterian or Methodist Church, or else in our com- modious Town Hall.
These rooms are crowded nightly, and the meet- ings are full of interest. More than four weeks of such labor have passed, and instead of flagging, our zeal steadily increases. All denominations are represented ; all parties, all classes, all colors, are represented. The leading spirits are the women of our most influential families, and with them march, and work, and kneel, and pray, the representatives of every circle in our village society. On the first morning of their visiting, their pledge was signed by J. J. Brown and Laybert Isamen, druggists. These men had nobly shown their Christian integrity and honesty by the willingness, even earnestness, with which they responded to their duty. Dr. W. R. Smith, another druggist, signed reluctantly, and with a promise that is thoroughly unsatisfactory to all who are in earnest in the matter. His position as an
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elder in the Presbyterian Church, and his earnest- ness heretofore in public prayer, had caused many to hope for better things from him.
But action has been postponed in his case, as personal friends trust that by private persuasion he may be brought to see the error of his ways.
Of the fourth druggist, more anon. His name it is "tegus" to dwell upon : it is William Henry Harri- son Dunn. Of the saloons, that of Joseph Lance was soon closed. It was a hard place, known as the "Lava Bed." After a prayer-meeting or two Joe was arrested for illegal selling of liquors, and stands over to court on two indictments. He is a clever fellow who got into a bad business. His establish- ment is closed, never to reopen, and he is selling fish. They are known as "cold-water fish," and find ready sale in these cold-water times. The saloons kept respectively by Dr. Roch and William Schwartz, held out longer, but two weeks siege brought them to terms. They re-shipped their liquors to Cincin- nati and sold out their traps at auction. The ladies attended in force, anxious to secure mementoes. It was fun to see our pious sisters stringing home from this sale, lugging bottles, tumblers, beer-mugs and decanters. One good mother in Israel, hugging to her bosom a long-necked fancy bottle with a marble arrangement to its mouth, and a pictured label lettered "Whisky," was an object for contemplation, as she stood waiting to get one of those "pretty glasses with handles to them," before she went home.
The women left their measure for a hundred pairs of shoes, more or less, with Roch, and he is now pegging away at his trade with an easy conscience and satisfied face. Mr. Schwartz has bought a stock of groceries, and bids fair with the patronage of the temperance people to do a good business. Billy is said to be about the happiest man in town since his "change of base," as he thoroughly hated his former occupation.
Of the other saloons and hotels, none have as yet come fully to their duty, though their trade in liquor is cut down to such an infinitesimal figure as to be virtually extinct. A little back-door work is going on, but they all know that spies are thick
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about them, and those who fear not God have a wholesome respect for law, as it will be enforced under the present circumstances. I understand that a number of indictments will probably be found by our grand jury, which sits this week. These, if secured. will help out the praying handsomely. Meanwhile the battle wages around Dunn's drug store. It is felt that until he surrenders nothing further can be accomplished. His yielding would be speedily followed by a rout and capture of the rest. Daily, scores of women visit him to sing and pray. On Friday last, for the first time, they found his door locked in their faces, so that their prayer- meetings have since been held on the pavement in front of his establishment.
It is a thrilling sight to see these women commun- ing with their Maker before his store, while he sits communing with himself within. It is sincerely to be regretted that he has allowed himself to be thus placed as an obstacle to the progress of the work. His high sense of honor and frank, open disposition would have inclined him to a better course, but he has unfortunately yielded to the influence of corrupt counselors in this matter. They have nothing to lose by their action, while he suffers severely in pocket and public esteem by being used as a protec- tion for worse men. Of course, sooner or later he must surrender ; no man can stand long against the moral power of the whole community when it is brought to bear at short range on him. (The sequel proved that the reporter reckoned without his host. ) An Irishman standing across the street the other day watching the women before this store, removed his stub pipe, blew out a contemplative cloud of smoke and blurted out: "Och ! begory ! they'll jist pray the boots off of him." The fact is, the Lord is at the head of this movement, and will no doubt prove a match for Mr. Dunn. (And he did, for the man never prospered in his business afterwards, but succeeded meantime in giving the temperance friends much trouble.)
' Turning a corner on last Saturday afternoon, I came unexpectedly upon fifty women kneeling on the pavement and stone steps before this store. A
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daughter of a former Governor of Ohio was leading in prayer. Surrounding her were the mothers, wives and daughters of former Congressmen and Legisla- tors, of our lawyers, physicians, bankers, ministers, teachers, business men of all kinds. Indeed, there were gathered there representatives from nearly every household of the town. The day was bitter cold, a piercing north wind swept the street, chilling us all to the bone. The plaintive, tender, earnest tones of that pleading wife and mother arose on the blast and were carried to every heart within reach. Passers-by uncovered their heads, for the place whereon they trod was "holy ground." The eyes of hardened men filled with tears, and many turned away saying they could not bear to look on such a sight. When the voice of prayer was hushed, the women arose and began to sing softly a sweet hymn, some old familiar words and tune, such as our moth- ers sang to us in childhood days. We thought, "Can mortal man resist such efforts?" An old rough- visaged farmer, wiping the tears from his eyes with his fists, ejaculated, "'Pears to me like a rail would go through that door mighty durned quick." Then the'women kneel and once more the earnest tones of prayer are borne upon the breeze. So, from 10 A. M. to 4 P. M. the work goes on, the ladies relieving each other by relays.
Close by is the residence of the Hon. John A. Smith, our former M. C., and now our delegate to the Constitutional Convention. His noble, warm- hearted wife has provided a bounteous lunch to which the workers resort, then away to kneel and pray. The effect upon the spectators is indescribable. No sneer is heard, scarcely a light word is spoken. The spirit of devotion is abroad, and those who would scorn to pray themselves, yet feel that here is something which they must at least respect. Many a "God bless them" falls from lips unaccustomed to use the name of Deity only in blasphemy. There is not a man who sees them kneeling there, but feels that if he were entering Heaven's gate and one of these women were to appear, he would stand aside and let her go in first. Our work is not attended with what is called enthusiasm, or rather the enthu-
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siasm has been guided to a purpose. We propose to settle this thing forever while we are at it. Our good citizens have raised a subscription, in the form of a "guarantee fund," to assist this movement. This now amounts to about $13,000, and can easily be raised to $100,000 if necessary; a little opposition will run the figures up indefinitely. A little experi- ence with Judge Steel would no doubt teach the whisky men that it is illegal to sell liquor contrary to law, a seeming plain proposition, but one which they seem slow to heed.
I have tried to give a full and yet as brief an account as possible of our work here. It is a weary struggle. Delicate women have for a month past trudged through storm and slush, and knelt in filthy rum-holes, and on cold pavements, offering up their lives and health as a free sacrifice to the good of mankind. The end is not yet, but their hearts grow stronger, their faith brighter, their prayers more earnest with each day. Whatever outside scoffers may say, we of Hillsboro will hereafter have no sneer for women, and no sneer at prayers. I should perhaps speak of the thorough Christian spirit that pervades the community. As the breath of roses ladens the air of summer evenings, so the prayers of these women seem to be diffused by the January winds, and to fall in blessing on every heart. The feeling is one of yearning love and pity for those who stand out against their duty to their fellow men. It is true that some of us remember at times that our Master once used the scourge on evil men, and we feel as though one or two of these recreants should be driven from God's temple, but the spirit of kindness reigns, and instead of blows our people favor invitations and entreaties. Yet back of Mercy, Justice stands, and when the one can not persuade the other will surely compel.
Later .- I have just learned that a dispatch has been received from Cincinnati that $16,000 have been raised there to "back" our whisky men, Send it along, gentlemen, currency is scarce up here, but we will see you and go double. Cincinnati can not force a thing on this community which we will not have. "F."
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The observant reader will not fail to note the very evident quickening of the hitherto inactive and inoperative male conscience in regard to the laws which had for so long remained a dead letter; and this was a notable result everywhere. The sight of gentle, frail women turning out in the most inclement weather, marching through rain, snow or sleet, entering the vilest of dens, amid the fumes of liquor and tobacco-a place they had always been taught they should not seem to see in passing, or even refer to-and there kneeling and crying to God to have mercy upon and touch the heart of the seller - or, being locked out, kneeling on the pavement or frozen ground and thus continuing their devo- tions through the whole day, and into days and weeks, was indeed a sight to quicken the sensi- bilities of any Christian man into wonderful activity. What wonder, when he saw his own wife and daughter among them, if many a man under the impulse of the newly awakened con- science and regard for his wife, felt as though it would be a source of satisfaction to "go in and clean 'em out." Many a time this would have been done, especially where insult or disrespect was offered to the women, if the women had not stood between their husbands and the offenders.
Ah, me ! if they had not lapsed into their old lethargic indifference as soon as the exciting scenes passed from their sight, we would not to-day, thirteen years later, be, to all human appearances, as far from the fruition of hope as
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we were then. Then, indeed, the Lord had virtually given the enemy into our hands ; but the men failed to come up and hold the citadel after we had taken it. "We thought the whole Christian world had risen up against us, and we knew it would be no use to try to withstand them," said the saloonist.
Alas ! alas ! we had come in sight of the promised land, but through their business and political complicity with the traffic they were shorn of their moral strength and we were not permitted to enter in. And so have we been wandering, and the probability is that we shall continue to wander in this wilderness of sin till we make up the measure of our forty years, as the children of disobedience did in the long ago for a less heinous offense. Who can count, or who will stand for the souls that shall go down to the drunkard's eternity as the years roll on.
CHAPTER VIII.
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Reports of Washington, Wilmington, New Vienna, Waynesville and Franklin
HOUGH I have quoted quite at length from the reports of the beginning of the work at Washington C. H., I find in the history of their work sent me by the President, Mrs. Carpenter, some further accounts that I am sure will be of interest.
Mass-meetings were held nightly, with new victories reported constantly, until Friday, Jan- uary 2d, one week from the beginning of the work. At the public meeting held in the even- ing the Secretary reported every liquor-dealer unconditionally surrendered, -some having shipped their liquors back to the wholesale dealers, others poured them into the gutters, and the druggists all had signed the druggists' pledge ( which was to the effect that they would sell only on the physician's prescription for medicinal purposes and mechanical uses). Thus, a campaign of prayer and song had in eight days closed eleven saloons and pledged three drug- stores to sell only on prescription.
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At first men had wondered, scoffed and laughed, then criticized, respected and yielded. Morning prayer and mass-meetings continued to be held and the pledge circulated, and commit- tees sent out to aid the movement elsewhere. (I may say here that the point of contention between Hillsboro and Washington was that Hillsboro moved out a day or two in advance and therefore claimed precedence as to time, and Washington rid the town of the saloons in little over a week, and so claimed precedence as to results, and indeed because of their wonderful success it was at first known as the "Washing- ton movement.") To proceed with the narrative : Early in the third week the discouraging news came that a new man had come to open up in one of the deserted saloons, and that he was backed by a whisky house in Cincinnati to the amount of $5,000, to break down the movement. On Wednesday, January 14th, the whisky was unloaded at his room. About forty women were on the ground and followed the liquor in, and remained, holding an uninterrupted prayer- meeting all day and until eleven o'clock at night. The next day, though bitter cold, was spent in the same place and manner, without fire or chairs, two hours of that time the women being locked in while the proprietor was off attending a trial. On the following day, the coldest day of all the winter of 1874, the women were locked out, and stood on the street holding religious services all day long. Next morning a tabernacle
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was built in the street just in front of the house, and was occupied for the double purpose of watching and praying. But before night the sheriff closed the saloon and the proprietor sur- rendered.
A short time after, on a dying bed, this four- days liquor dealer sent for some of the women to tell them their songs and prayers had never ceased to ring in his ears, and begged them to pray again in his behalf. So he passed away.
But there were two places outside the corpor- ation that the ladies saw must be closed or the work of death still go on. I will let my friend Beadle, in his own peculiarly lively fashion, give this part of the Washington "Whisky war." He says :
I reached Washington at noon of January 20th, and seeking Mr. Beck's beer-garden, found him in a state of terrible nervousness, as the ladies had spent the forenoon in his place. He evidently regarded me as a spy, but was much molified when I answered that I was only a journalist, and made voluminous complaints in high Dutch and low English.
"I got no witnesses. Dem vimen, dey set up a shob on me. But you don't been a bitual drunkard ? Oh, no, you don't look like him. Vell, coom in, coom in. Vat you want, peer or vine? I dells you dem vimens is shust awful. Py shinks, dey build a house right in de shtreet und shtay mit a man all day, a singin' and oder foolishness. But dey don't get in here once again already."
In obedience to his instruction I had entered by a side door-the front was locked and barred-to find four customers indulging in liquor, beer and pigs'-feet. One announced himself as an original granger, the second as a retired sailor, while the others were non-committal. They stated that two spies had just appealed for admission. Men who
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would come in and drink, they were habitual drunk- ards under the Adair law. I find it everywhere to be the great horror of saloon-keepers. It allows wife, child, or other relative particularly interested, to prosecute for sale of liquor to husband or father, and almost any one may prosecute for sale of liquor to an habitual drunkard.
Hereupon Mr. Beadle indulges in a little moralizing on the constitutionality of the law, and the chance it made here for black-mailing. It is always a question with some men when a law proves itself efficient against the liquor traffic, whether it is constitutional, and lest it may be, they hasten, under bribe or lash of the liquor- archy, to break its force, as that of the Adair law was broken shortly after this.
He continues :
Mr. Beck kept open house all that night. The sounds of revelry were plainly heard in town, and in the morning several drunken men came into town, one of whom tumbled down in a livery-stable and went to sleep in the manger, from. which he was carried to the lock-up.
Matters were evidently coming to a crisis, and I went out early; but the ladies reached there in force just before me. I met Mr. Beck hurrying into town to consult a lawyer, or as he phrased it, "to see mine gounsel, ven I no got a right to my own broperty."
The main body of the ladies soon arrived and took up a position with right center on the door-step, the wings extending each way beyond the corners of the house, and a rearward column along the walk to the gate. In ludicrous contrast the routed revelers who had been scared out of the saloon, stood in a little knot fifty feet away, still gnawing at the pigs'-feet they held onto in their hurried flight, while I took a convenient seat on the fence. The ladies then sang :
" Oh, do not be discouraged, For Jesus is your friend ; He will give you grace to conquer And keep you to the end."
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As the twenty or more clear, sweet voices mingled in the chorus-
" I'm glad I'm in this army,"
the effect was surprising. I felt all the enthusiasm of the occasion, while the pigs'-feet party, if they did not feel guilty, certainly looked so. The singing was followed by a prayer from Mrs. Mills Gardner. She prayed for the blessing of God on the temperance cause generally, and in this place in particular, then for Mr. Beck, his family and friends, and all that pertained to him, and closed with an eloquent plea for guidance in the difficult and delicate task they had undertaken : it was eminently fitting to the place and the occasion. As the concluding sentences were being uttered, Mr. Beck and his " gounsel " arrived. The ladies paid no attention to either, but broke forth in loud strains :
" Must Jesus bear the cross alone? No, there's a cross for me."
Then the lawyer borrowed some of my paper, whispering at the same time : "I must take down their names; guess I shall have to prosecute some of them before we stop this thing."
I should need the pen of an Irving, and the pencil of a Darley, to give any adequate idea of the scene. On one side, a score of elegant ladies, singing with all the earnestness of impassioned nature; a few yards away a knot of disturbed revelers, uncertain whether to stand or fly; half-way between, the nervous Beck, bobbing around like a case of fiddle- strings with a hundred pounds of lager beer fat hung on them, and on the fence by the ladies a cold- blooded lawyer and excited reporter, scribbling away as if their lives depended on it. It was painful from its very intensity.
The song ended, the presiding lady called upon Mrs. Wendell, and again arose the voice of prayer, so clear, so sweet, so full of pleading tenderness, that it seemed she would, by the strength of womanly love, compel the very heavens to open and send down in answer a spark of divine grace that would turn the saloon-keeper from his purpose. The sky, which had been overcast all morning, began to
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crear, the occasional drops of rain ceased to fall, and a gentle south wind made the air soft and balmy. It almost seemed that nature had joined in the prayer. Again the ladies sang :
" Are there no foes for me to face,"
with the camp-meeting chorus,
"Oh, how I love Jesus, Because he first loved me."
As the song concluded, the lawyer suddenly stepped forward and said: "Now, ladies, I have a word to say before this performance goes any further. Mr. Beck has employed me as attorney. He can not speak good English and I speak for him. He is engaged in a legitimate business, and you are tres- passing on his property and right. If this thing is carried any further you will be called to account in the court, and I can assure you the court will sustain the man. He has talked with you all he desires to. He does not want to put you out forcibly ; that would be unmanly, and he does not want to act rudely. But he tells you to go. As his attorney, I now warn you to desist from any further annoyance."
Again the ladies sang-
" My soul be on thy guard, Ten thousand foes arise,"
and Mrs. Carpenter followed with a fervent prayer for the lawyer and his client ; but they had fled from the scene, leaving the house locked up.
After taking counsel, the ladies decided to leave Mr. Beck's premises and take a position in an adjoin- ing lot. They sent for the " tabernacle," a rude frame building they had used in front of Slater's saloon. This they erected on an adjoining lot, put up an immense light to illuminate the entrance to the beer-garden, and kept up a guard from early morning till midnight.
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