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PROHIBITION
In 1907, as the first seeds of Prohibition began to take root, Mobile Mayor
Patrick J. Lyons organized a delegation of prominent local citizens to
lobby the Alabama Legislature to oppose a statewide Prohibition bill.
Lyons, a brewery owner, had an especially vested interest in the mission, but
he was hardly the bill’s most vocal opponent. N.J. McDermott, president of
the Bank of Mobile, threatened Mobile County legislatures. “Unless anti-
prohibitionists win,” McDermott wrote, “please give notice that Mobile is
prepared to secede from the State of Alabama.”
The delegation and McDermott were ultimately unsuccessful, and Alabama
went cold turkey five full years before the rest of the nation when its legislature
passed the “bone dry” law.
Statewide Prohibition, even national Prohibition, didn’t stop the flow of
booze into Alabama; sales and consumption just went underground. Mobile’s
port made smuggling easy, and the state’s caves made easy hiding places.
Underground tunnels were built, and bars and restaurants became speakeasies.
Most people turned a blind eye to the blind tigers (disguised liquors shops),
but not the feds. In 1920, the first year of Prohibition, Alabama led the country
in the number of illegal moonshine stills exposed by the government. And in
November 1923, federal agents netted 23 people and $100,000 worth of scotch,
cognac and champagne in a raid of warehouses, offices and underground liquor
shops. Further efforts to enforce Prohibition led to alcohol-related corruption
and violence, police shootings, court battles and indictments against some of
the city’s most prominent citizens.
The US would repeal Prohibition in 1933, but most of Alabama would remain
dry until 1937. Some counties and cities held out longer. Ashland and Lineville,
the last remaining cities in opposition, threw out Prohibition in March of this
year. Over two-dozen counties in neighboring Mississippi remain mostly dry.
Sources include the Mobile-Press Register, Birmingham News and . To learn more
visit [ABOVE PHOTO] Norman Dean / Birmingham News / . For more
historic photos, visit ​
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Mississippi was the first state to approve the 18th amendment
and the last one to repeal it. This story appeared in the
Mobile Press Register the day after the law was appealed.
Biloxi, Miss., July 28 (AP)—Police cruisers, sirens
screaming and lights flashing, escorted the big truck into
Biloxi. The van sped to the plush Broadwater Beach Hotel.
The crowd of onlookers cheered when the truck’s rear
doors were opened, revealing 77 cases. They were carried
into the hotel by waiters.
Louis Cobb opened one, took out a bottle of Scotch whiskey.
He poured some into a glass with ice, added a dash of soda,
and handed it to T.M. Dorsett, the hotel manager.
“Ahh,” said Dorsett, lifting the glass.
As Dorsett downed the drink in the glare of a floodlight,
Mayor Dan Guice and other officials snipped a tricolor
ribbon stretched across the entrance to the lounge.
There were more cheers.
It was 6:55 last night.
Drinking on the Mississippi Gulf Coast isn’t uncommon.
But Dorsette’s tippling has special significance. It was the
first legal drink of whiskey poured in Mississippi after 58
years of Prohibition, which really never did work.
The Gulf Coast, particularly, never paid any attention to
Prohibition.
A score of more rushed into the Broadwater’s lounge
when the ribbon was severed by the mayor and County
Supervisors Laz Quave.
“It’s on the house,” cried Dorsett.
And it was until three cases were consumed. Then the
cash register began to ring.
“It still tastes the same,” said one drinker. “But somehow
it seems better because it’s legal.”
Bone D ry
by Marcy, Rouses Creative irector