Perhaps one of the most welcome impacts of Prohibition is the survival of the Maryland state reptile, the diamondback terrapin. Really! Between the 1850s and Prohibition, the U.S. developed a love affair with turtle soup. By the 1910s, overharvesting left the terrapin on the verge of extinction. But sherry or Madeira wine are essential ingredients in turtle soup and they were no longer readily available after 1920. Terrapin soup fell off menus and the little reptile staged a minor comeback. Today, the diamondback terrapin is designated as “near threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, largely due to climate change and sea level rise, but it still survives, partly through the reprieve granted by Prohibition.
investigating “vice and violations of the prohibition law.” Whidbee claimed he was sold “about a half-pint of corn liquor in a coco [sic] cola bottle” from George Satchell, a charge Satchell denied. However, it came out that Satchell had multiple previous convictions for selling illegal liquor. A jury found Satchell guilty and sent him to the state penitentiary for five years. The severity of the sentence for selling fewer than six shots of liquor evidently took into account the repeated nature of his violations. Local police were also active in the community, trying to ferret out prohibition violations. On the 4th of July, 1928, Northampton Constable J.R. Belote executed a search warrant looking for illegal booze at the restaurant of Edward Bloxom in Eastville. The search yielded “one pickle jar containing one pint and one jug containing 3 quarts.” But the jury found Bloxom
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not guilty, perhaps unwilling to convict a respected local businessman for such a paltry violation. Out-of-state rumrunners carrying booze from the ships of Rum Row were also in the sights of the local police. In October 1932, Mr. C.B. Cherrix was apprehended in an Oldsmobile full of booze displaying Maryland license plates. Cherrix was prosecuted and his car was impounded and sold at auction, but it brought just $61. After deducting advertising for the sale, the Sheriff’s commission, storage, and court costs, there was just $7.95 left to transmit to the state’s Literary Fund, as required by state law. There were dozens of arrests in Northampton County for operating illegal stills during Prohibition. In November 1929, a Justice of the Peace swore out a warrant for constables to search the buildings belonging to John Dryden and his wife Mary near Jamesville, not far from today’s YMCA Camp Silver Beach. Four lawmen descended on the Dryden’s property and found “one five-gallon keg whiskey, one gallon jug whiskey, and one 7 quart [keg] whiskey in the barn…One still made of copper capacity 20 gallons in home on said premises.” His indictment notes that Dryden was not a duly licensed druggist and had no permit to operate a still. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and a fine of $50. The Northampton County court records also chronicle frequent prosecutions for “driving under the influence of an intoxicating substance” during Prohibition. Under prohibition laws, the act of drinking alcohol was not itself punishable, but drinking and driving most absolutely was and occurred with regularity. Ultimately, it became clear that the Volstead Act was unenforceable and that Prohibition had many unexpected consequences including runaway crime, high levels of alcohol consumption, and lost federal and state tax revenue. At 5:32 p.m. on December 5, 1933, national prohibition ended with the ratification of the 21st amendment. Surprisingly, the 21st amendment did not end the federal government’s appetite for legislating morality by banning widely popular substances. Passage of the “Marihuana Tax Act” in 1937
